Who to cancel, who to stan, the online left has a lot on their plate lately. The most recent topic for discord in the ranks has formed around the topic of strategy. We find ourselves in almost the exact same situation as we were in 2016, are we just that bad at this- or are we missing something?
Biden is the nominee, there is no way around it at this point. But does that mean that we all have to fall in line behind him, or embrace the blame for letting the slow creep of fascism take hold in our country? Well…kind of?
In my heart of hearts, I don’t like a thing about Biden. He doesn’t share my personal policy prescriptions for the country’s future, not a one. He doesn’t seem interested in doing anything but going back to the “glory days” of Obama. Which to those in the know, was only about 20% better than things are now. At the end of the day, it’s that 20% that we are meant to vote for.
Will the country move forward? No, not in my opinion. It will basically stay the same, but some minority groups can rest at least a little easy that things won’t get worst for them. Ruth Bader Ginsburg is at deaths door and needs a replacement it seems, so it would be nice for her position to be filled by someone that isn’t hard right. Biden offers damage mitigation and little else.
I think it’s fairly obvious that most people who are on the left and oppose voting for Biden, are fully aware that he’s better than Trump. Yes you will see a lot of equivalency happening on twitter, and I would honestly be hard pressed to argue with many of the critiques. At the end of the day the establishment powers that be have very similar big picture goals, regardless of the letter next to their name.
No, I think that despite the realization that Biden is better than Trump the ones that are so vocal about not voting for Biden are focused on the shitty game the political parties play with us:
“Vote for us or be stuck with the crap alternative, you have no other options- suck it.” – DNC/RNC
People are tired of the binary choice of two politicians that do not truly represent the best interests of the country, and they are tired of being told that’s just the way it is. They will swear to give you what you want next time but this election is just TOO important, it always is.
I am struggling with the same thought process. I feel dirty giving my vote to Biden and the DNC after all the bullshit, but at the same time see no path forward than to continue to do so. Progressives have been winning in several races around the country recently, we are pushing the party further left slowly but surely. It would be a shame to give Trump four more years to put up even more roadblocks, we have enough of those on our own side to worry about.
I know you’ve seen it. Sprinkled inside of various political comment threads across the internet, and the occasional high profile youtuber or writer- the harrowing tales of “why I left the left”.
Every single one of them spin a heartfelt yarn about how they searched for community and camaraderie in the online left and were instead greeted by hate and ridicule. That level of pure vitriol spewed by social justice warriors and woke college students pushed, nay, forcefully SHOVED them out of the left and into the open and loving arms of the conservative movement. There they found the fellowship that they were so desperate to find, and saw the error of their ways in their former beliefs. They would no longer let a movement full of uninviting jerks blind them from the true problems plaguing our great nation, and the super real solutions to fix them.
Sounds like bullshit? Well that’s because it is (mostly).
The left is full of sarcastic assholes and know-it-all gatekeepers, so on that part they couldn’t be more correct. They are beyond mean to the right, the center, and even worse to each other. What in the fuck does that have to do with who I think the president should be? How shallow does someone’s beliefs have to be to change based on who gave them a compliment last? Man I really wanted to support universal healthcare but some dude with BLM in their bio told me to fuck myself!
Politics is about what direction we should go in, and who should be driving. We take an honest look at the injustices and challenges facing our people and see what can be done to fix them. The journey is complicated but the starting line is pretty simple. Who should have rights or what policies help the average American best is not connected to which side of the political spectrum invited me over for coffee.
So you know that it’s a position either made up by bad-faith actors trying to paint the left as universally terrible, or people that were never left leaning in the first place.
These sorts of narratives are really only made to push the uninformed to the right. People just getting into politics might see these accounts of the abusive left and not give them a second look, till they have already assumed the position waiting patiently for trickle-down to trickle down to them. Any ideology that requires such obfuscation must have some pretty shit ideas if you ask me.
Just come clean with what you really believe and make your arguments, then let the asshole left show up and make fun of them.
There seems to be two sides in this country right now. Either you believe that Russia is actively infiltrating our political process and trying to sow discontent among the masses, or you believe the Russia narrative is bullshit and just a distraction. This question has divided the country like nothing in recent memory, but it doesn’t have to- regardless of how you answer it.
Try to have a debate on the internet about politics, go ahead try. Unless you answered the question with a full yes I believe, or any similar answer void of skepticism, at some point you are likely to be called a bot. This is a reference to reports(BBC February 2018) that there are Russian troll farms that have people posing as Americans all over the internet in various comment sections, their only mission to stir shit up. These Russian bots pose as Bernie bros to keep the democratic party divided. People will be presented with an opposing viewpoint, they will go to the persons profile, and if it doesn’t have enough recent traffic or something seems “off” then it must be a fake profile belonging to a Russian bot- and will be called out as such.
Come at the situation from a different angle, come across someone who doesn’t believe in the Russian narrative and try to answer the question as if you do- turns out you’re a Hillbot. This is a reference to an organization called Correct The Record that pledged one million dollars to “find and confront social media users who post unflattering messages about the democratic frontrunner” (LA Times May 2016), it’s brought up pretty frequently in progressive circles and used as an insult and a way to shut down the conversation. Don’t think Bernie would have won? Hillbot. Think that Cory Booker and Kamala Harris are great candidates for the 2020 elections? Hillbot. Think the Steele dossier is real? Hillbot.
Whether you are being accused of being a Russian bot or a Hillbot or some variation of either, it doesn’t matter. They all serve the same purpose: they shut down any meaningful conversation on the spot. Whichever direction RussiaGate ends up in doesn’t matter. Trump could be indicted for collusion tomorrow, or the information could leak that Tim Kaine was the puppetmaster behind the whole smear campaign; it’s not going to fix the countries issues, it’s not going to help the average person.
Our government is still full of bought and paid for bums, we still have problems with healthcare and unemployment, we are still fighting wars across the world that we have no business being a part of. Whether you want to Make America Great Again, or think we are Stronger Together- we can’t get to any of these issues with this holding back the conversation.
So the next time you come across someone who thinks differently than you, try to go out on a limb and assume the person is real and genuine. Engage in the kind of debates that get people working towards good things in this country, don’t shut down the conversation soon as there is a disagreement. Don’t let this narrative make you assume that anyone who disagrees with you is a shill, and doesn’t have a legit argument to make, bots are keeping you in your bubble and it’s simply not healthy for political discourse.
After all, if you can’t hang in a debate with a “bot”, maybe you aren’t as informed as you think you are.
November 8th will be the culmination of a year long campaign by various politicians and their surrogates to convince people to vote for their candidates, and as an American citizen you can vote for anyone you want- at least that’s the way it’s supposed to work.
This election season has been marred by the admission of many that it’s another decision between the lesser of two evils. People complain and they wish: IF ONLY there was another option, or I don’t know dozens of other options?
I have already lost half my audience with that one, “A vote for third party is a vote for Trump/Hillary” rings through the comment section with a resounding “meh”.
A vote for Jill Stein is a vote for progressives, a vote for Gary Johnson is a vote for libertarians, and a vote for Vermin Supreme is a vote for free ponies. Your vote goes EXACTLY to who you want it to go to, that’s how it works. This is the ONE time that you are supposed to have the same amount of power as even the most rich and powerful in the country- so why are some so eager to throw it away at a candidate that doesn’t represent them?
You think it’s a coincidence that both Red and Blue agree 100% that third party voting is a waste of a vote? They disagree on everything from whether Russia should continue not being a parking lot all the way to who is allowed to go to the bathroom where, and you don’t think it’s strange that they just decided to hold hands and block third parties out of some shared principal? Well that would be a trick question, because although it may not be a principal- keeping power consolidated between two major parties is definitely one of the only things they can agree on.
America is based around capitalism, there is a free market and with fierce competition the strong thrive and the weak collapse. This system works so well that we have laws in place to prevent the exclusion of competition- monopolies are illegal in America, as long as they aren’t political monopolies. America is faced with the lesser of two evils EVERY four years because there is zero competition in our system, Red and Blue can field ANYONE they choose because there isn’t anywhere else viable the voter can go…and they intend to keep it that way.
If Americans could only get a breather from the beating over the head they are receiving from the media, about how you only have two viable choices- then MAYBE those choices start to become viable. Maybe, just maybe Americans can switch from their keyhole sized outlook on American politics to a window- then maybe we get some competition into the system, and Red and Blue have to switch from fielding some evils to a few goods.
So as election day swiftly approaches, and you see more and more smears against third parties remember the real reason the DNC and the RNC agree on only this one subject. They don’t want competition, they want to remain the political equivalent to Time Warner cable: ya they give you service, but it’s shitty and it’s slow, and there is no other option.
When did the line between loyal supporter and blind follower become so blurred? Why does the American media demand we see everything in black and white as they write their stories in various shades of grey? This election season has pushed the limits of what it means for the country to be polarized.
November 8th is rapidly approaching; Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are both deeply embroiled in their own scandals that may ultimately end up tipping the scale one way or the other. However, depending on who you ask, it’s much ado about nothing vs the literal end of life as we know it.
Trump is currently being accused by no less than 12 women of varying degrees of sexual assault- and the list of potential victims is growing by the day. His comments to Billy Bush have been well documented(ad nausem)for weeks, and a plethora of people continue to denounce him and distance themselves from what they see as a rapist. Trump supporters on the other hand, only see a horde of liberal hypocrites being outraged at Trump for things they support in other people i.e; Michele Obama’s call out of Trump for his rhetoric on women, at the same time promoting Beyonce as a role model for little girls, when her shows and music are often sexually charged.
The critics might have a point, but does that erase or excuse all Trump has said or the example he will surely set? Is there a limit to the speech of a man known for “Telling it like it is” ?
Clinton is under daily attack by Wikileaks- private emails from her campaign are being released in the thousands almost daily. These emails are said to show a clay candidate that is molded on the fly depending on where the polls tell her to go, is beholden to big donors, and thinks its mandatory to hide what you really think from the public- for the public good of course. Go ahead and bring these up to a Clinton supporter and you’ll get an earful about Julian Assange’s agenda, his pending charges, and Russia’s attempts to influence our election.
Can we afford to gloss over the content of these emails because we may not approve of the source? How much journalism in the modern history of the world would have to be stricken from the record if that were common practice?
All the while the media pushes the drug we have all become addicted to: there is only one right opinion and all others are an affront to intellectuals and freedom itself. Conflict between political ideologies is great for ratings and clicks, but its shit for keeping a country from tearing itself apart. We have to accept that there are things out there that we may disagree with, that challenge our world view- but when we decide not to absorb and analyze new information from different perspectives, and stay in our respective bubbles with everyone else who thinks our way, how can we then come out and have a REAL and productive discussion about the issues? What’s the point of discussion when absolutely nothing the other side says could ever change your mind?
Candidates that are supposed to be for the people NEED feedback from the people, its ridiculous to not hold them up to higher standards than the rest of us or give them free passes when they screw up just because you see the other candidate as worse.
We need to continue to question everything, no matter how entrenched we are in our beliefs we HAVE to allow for the possibility that we may be wrong- this is the future of the country we all love at stake, not just who gets to be right. The longer we stay in our corners, foaming at the mouth being worked up into truly believing its us vs them, the more brutal the inevitable fight will be.
We are lucky enough to live in a country where the majority have access to the entire worlds accumulated knowledge at a moments notice. Your only limit is your data plan or download speed, so why do people in the year 2016 still have absolutely no idea how to wield it properly?
I recently was browsing facebook and noticed a meme my friend had posted, nothing too outrageous like Obama is behind 911(or was he), just making fun of animal rights protestors- I’m the last person you’ll see telling someone that’s not funny or chastising them for a perceived lack of a sense of humor, but this was something that I just had to comment on and set straight.
The meme showed a picture of animal protesters standing in front of the milk aisle at a grocery store, they had signs and pictures, and their message was that cows shouldn’t have to die for milk. The meme was of course making fun of these protestors, you don’t kill cows to make milk DUH- and at first glance, I laughed.
It doesn’t take long too Google something, it’s so easy and synonymous with searching that Google is a verb these days instead of a company. Four minutes into Google and chill I was a subject matter expert, I skimmed through a few sites some pro animal and some pro eating animals but one thing was clear: although obviously the action of milking the cow doesn’t kill it, the cow is forced to be perpetually pregnant for years, is beaten and abused, and the constant stress and torment drains the animal and takes its average 20 year life span down to less than five, and in the end yes they are slaughtered the same as cows bred for meat- just takes a few extra years of torture.
Now you may have tuned out by now but I can assure you this isn’t some diatribe trying to convince anyone to go vegan(I sure as hell am not doing it) the point is that misinformation is so widespread that people will literally take anything at face value, as long as it’s something they already believe- animal protestors are dumb liberal hippies that don’t understand the world, so the meme must have been right.
Practice safe memeing and #searchbeforeyoupost , let’s at least ATTEMPT to cut down on the crap that circulates online- and let’s at least ATTEMPT to think outside our respective boxes.
Independently Angry 