this post was submitted on 06 Nov 2024
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Leopards Ate My Face

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Because you now did it to yourself.

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[–] Carighan@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Because you fall into the same "but what about?!"-thing modern far right excels at.

You myopically focus on a single issue, trying desperately to use it as a crowbar to dislodge an otherwise sensible point, ignoring that everything is inherently a compromise, in particular in a 2-party system. Hence any voter who is not as easily blinded - and it's not like Harris wasn't very open during speeches about how much the right deals in fearmongering and disinformation, going as far as openly mocking people for made-up bullshit stats they're yelling - would be able to inform themselves and realize that:

  • Even if they'd like their candidate of choice to act differently about a specific issue in a specific country on the other side of the globe, there are a million other also-important issues that are strictly going to work out better under this candidate.
  • The candidate that now won has in fact very openly declared that he wants said genocide to accelerate and wants the IDF to "finish the job".

So, even if we were to just focus on this particular issue, the voters very much vote pro-genocide when they vote for Trump. I love how he's technically correct though when he says he wants to end the war in Gaza, people are just too stupid to realize how he means it.

But more importantly, and the central point I'm making, you're under the belief that reaction to a single issue should matter. Any voter who lets this argument slide has inherently lost themselves to the populist and fascist movements as they excel at exploiting this, and in fact stoke this belief whenever they can. Politics on a large scale cannot be judged based on single issues. Because if you try to, you exactly fall into this trap. You automatically end up being barraged by appeals to emotion, constantly, and you'll let those decide things for you.

Hence, blaming the voters. For not actually engaging with the democratic process, just with hate- and fearmongering and then wondering why that that ended up controlling them when they sought it out themselves.

[–] hernanca@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

As I said in another comment, I don't even think the Palestinian genocide is something the American people cares enough about. I can't see how this single issue in isolation could have cost Harris the election, especially by such a margin. BUT, it informs how they think. And it shows. The Dems apparently thought that they could win the election by being as far right as they could get away with. It's their failure for campaigning cowardly and saying always the safe thing that does well in focus groups. Every election they lose is a chance for the Overton Window to move to the right. They tried to capture votes from people from the right of them MUCH harder than from the left of them on almost every issue.

If a voter is already right leaning, especially in the USA, they won't vote for Fascism Light, they will vote for Fascism Plus.

you’re under the belief that reaction to a single issue should matter

This is certainly not true. I understand the need for compromise but I also understand that there's stuff one should not compromise about. Otherwise, what makes us different from the fascists if we're willing to help kill an entire nation "on the other side of the globe" (as if distance makes their lives less valuable) if it serves us here?

I agree with you that voters have not engaged in the process and many failed to do the most basic of civil duties. But when it happens at such a scale something else is afoot. It was Harris' election to lose and she did.

You seem to have made many false assumptions about me but still, genuinely, thanks for the reply.

[–] Carighan@lemmy.world 0 points 2 weeks ago

You seem to have made many false assumptions about me but still, genuinely, thanks for the reply.

Oh yeah sorry, I should have been clear about this: I wasn't talking specifically about you, english is not my primary language and it sometimes becomes easier to write that way and I do it automatically. Thank you for not being offended by it. >.<