Just because voting doesn't matter in the way it's advertised doesn't mean it actually has no effect whatsoever. It does. Just not the one we was told. That means not to rely on voting as the be all end all, but recognizing at times we can shift things ever so slightly away from the worst case scenario.
As for reduction, it doesn't require biden to do anything other than not make things worse than trump would. You answered the question. You believe that harm reduction as in, avoiding a worse outcome of an already bad outcome isn't worth it. If you can't have good, there's no point stopping the worst. I do not understand that stance, besides being blinded to material outcome by anger. I do understand anger. I feel it with you. I just cannot allow that anger to put people on a sacrificial block they don't have to be on.
I pain for the palastinians. I cannot express that enough. But right now, with the methods readily available to us, I believe that trump would ruin more of their lives too. I can't be so angry as to remove myself from the outcome and pretend that it wasn't my fault.
My personal or our group rejection of the system has no actual material effect except to make things worse. You can't just reject society without having the organized structure in place to actively rebel against it. Just not participating does nothing but make things worse.
Voting doesn't stop you from organizing, unionizing and joining local organizations. It does nothing at all but make things worse. Is your argument accelerationist? Do you want things to get bad before getting better? If not I don't see the point in your stance. I don't want to be mean, I don't mean to be rude. I genuinely do not understand. Do you not care what happens tomorrow?
So you should vote for trump then. If you believe him to be the less harmful of the two options. This is me baiting you to tell me you think trump is a less harmful option. Or did you not understand what harm reduction means? Or was is just not enough people whomst harm would be reduced for you to think it's worth it? Or is the people's whos harm would be reduced not be worthy of it?
I cannot in good conscious as a cis straight man tell my non binary partner that they need to be the sacrifice to the political statement of "sticking it to the libs"
Zionism is fascism, Biden is a fascist, but Biden ain't the one talking about declaring himself a dictator. Sure it's 99 vs 100% Hitler, but there is no other option. And my morals say that when you have a bad choice and a worse choice, you don't stand on pride and choose none just for the choice to be made for you.
I think you misunderstood me. I am saying do not just go vote and then chill. Voting does not stop you from organizing, volunteering and getting involved in your local community and leftist orgs. I'm saying voting is not the be all end all. It's not the secret weapon. But it is a small, basically functionless tool for harm reduction.
Biden is putting palastinians in the fucking ground and that is a complaint, but voting or not voting in this election doesn't change that. That's not on the table. US is going to commit genocide no matter the winner and it fucking sucks. But what do you want me to do? You want me as a cis straight white man to tell my queer friends that I'm willing to sacrifice their life and safety to make a point? For what? To what end? What's your preferred outcome here?
At the end of the day, I'm not an accelerationist. I have a preferred outcome here, and no amount of wishing for a 3rd choice will change anything. Not choosing ain't gonna stop the choice from being made. And I'll take the, however small, less worse choice than the other.
Voting as well has no effect on your effect you can do in your community. It doesn't effect the orgs your in or whatever activism your up to. The best case scenario is you own the libs and while they scratch their head wondering for the billionth time why we won't vote for them and change nothing, more people suffer than would have otherwise.
I am not willing to sacrifice people, especially knowing the groups targeted will not be me.
Those are valid complaints, and all day fuck Joe biden, but at the end of the day I am not an accelerationist. I see no argument from a leftist perspective for not voting for our shitty option unless you think things getting worse will make them better faster. What is the outcome you have in mind? Don't vote to stick it to the libs, trump gets elected and then we all suffer that much more? For what?
That's not really an answer to the question. Are you implying that the US military threatened Japan into crashing its own economy? I don't think that's how that would work.
Thank you for the thought out reply. Very good at explaining the point. Especially compared to reddit. I'm new and still sussing out the culture here. I was worried i could possibly catch a ban for asking as well lol.
Hey, genuine question here. Why include Russia in this? They are, to my understanding, a capitalist oligarch hellscape. Where queer folk are criminalized and hunted from public life. A different imperial power currently engaged in killing folk. Why is Russia doing good a good thing at all? Just in the fact its showing a country can exist outside the NATO sphere at all? Is it in any way support of Russian policies?
Once again, none of the above is intended to be read as aggressive or trick questions. They are just what's on my mind.
Just because voting doesn't matter in the way it's advertised doesn't mean it actually has no effect whatsoever. It does. Just not the one we was told. That means not to rely on voting as the be all end all, but recognizing at times we can shift things ever so slightly away from the worst case scenario.
As for reduction, it doesn't require biden to do anything other than not make things worse than trump would. You answered the question. You believe that harm reduction as in, avoiding a worse outcome of an already bad outcome isn't worth it. If you can't have good, there's no point stopping the worst. I do not understand that stance, besides being blinded to material outcome by anger. I do understand anger. I feel it with you. I just cannot allow that anger to put people on a sacrificial block they don't have to be on.
I pain for the palastinians. I cannot express that enough. But right now, with the methods readily available to us, I believe that trump would ruin more of their lives too. I can't be so angry as to remove myself from the outcome and pretend that it wasn't my fault.