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Joined 11 months ago
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Cake day: August 4th, 2023

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  • Youā€™re changing the subject. My claim was about 2020, not 2024. This year, yes, Bidenā€™s candidacy is inevitable. It is almost unheard of to challenge an incumbent president, and Democrats want to avoid an intra-party fight. When Ted Kennedy challenged Jimmy Carter in 1980, it was a disaster that damaged the party for a long time.

    I agree with you that Biden is a weak candidate and there are better candidates. But you made the extreme claim that elections donā€™t matter, that we have no choice, that shadowy elites choose all the candidates, and other silly conspiracy theories.

    Conspiracy theories donā€™t become justified just because youā€™re apathetic and angry. Iā€™m not sure how you think youā€™re being rebellious. When you donā€™t vote, thatā€™s not rebellion. No one cares. You donā€™t matter, politically.


  • Thatā€™s not what you said in the comment I responded to. You claimed that Nader could have won if progressives had voted for him instead of Gore, but there arenā€™t enough progressive votes.

    Voting in a FPTP two party system is a coordination game, one where it is mathematically impossible for third parties to win. Pretending otherwise is sadly delusional.

    Itā€™s like youā€™re trying to decide which building to buy as a group to start co-op housing. Almost everyone prefers building A, but you prefer building B. If you all donā€™t compromise, then there is not enough money and youā€™re all homeless. In a democracy, it is obviously more fair if you compromise than everyone else compromises. You either donā€™t believe in democracy, or youā€™re happy with things never getting better.


  • If you think Bidenā€™s candidacy was inevitable, you were asleep during the primaries. Hereā€™s the simple obvious explanation: Biden never lost his nationwide polling lead, not once, during the whole race. Are the polls part of the conspiracy too?

    The craziest thing about your conspiracy theory is that itā€™s flatly contradicted by Trump, who was clearly NOT the establishment choice in 2016. Establishment politicians and media pushed Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, John Kasich, anyone but Trump. They all criticized or downplayed Trump non-stop (for good reason)ā€¦ and yet he won.

    Well, howā€™s the fight coming?

    Iā€™m living through one of the biggest shifts left in politics in a generation. The left/center-left coalition has been surprisingly dominant. Mid-terms, special elections, etc. We keep winning. Itā€™s not perfect, but itā€™s the right direction. But we need to keep winning elections for a long time for durable change.

    At what point do you consider the fight won?

    Never. Politics is a continual process, not a destination. If we get complacent, progress dies.

    Do you envision some point in the future where Republicans no longer hold office and the country is some utopia of pure Democratic leadership?

    No. Thatā€™s not even the point. Republicans used to be the progressive party (thatā€™s why they use the color red). Parties donā€™t matter as much as ideas. The point isnā€™t for ā€œmy teamā€ to win. If Republicans continue losing for a decade, then they will be forced to shift left, just as Dems shifted right after Reagan with Clinton.


  • Iā€™ve read your comment a few times but Iā€™m having a genuinely hard time parsing your point.

    The person Iā€™m responding to was saying that Nader could have won if progressives voted for him instead of Gore. I pointed out that presidential candidates need a broad coalition of voters to get enough votes, not just far left progressives.

    You seem to be making a totally different argument. You claim that if Nader was the only choice, then Democratic leaning moderates would have voted for him.

    I donā€™t mean to be rude, but what is the point of this thought experiment? Nader wasnā€™t the only choice. Moreover, US politics in 2000 was significantly less polarized: MANY Gore voters would have definitely voted for Bush, who campaigned under ā€œcompassionate conservatismā€ and was seen as a moderate, over the farthest left candidate, Nader.

    If Sanders had won the nomination, I think he would have kicked ass against Trump, but Sanders sadly lost. Iā€™m trying to understand your last line: are you asking if I would blame HRC supporters for refusing to vote for Sanders in the general and allowing a fascist corrupt dictator in? Uh, yes. Obviously I would blame them. That precisely aligns with everything Iā€™ve said.


  • What are you even talking about with your first paragraph? The result of elections arenā€™t predictable. In fact, theyā€™re less predictable than ever. And whatā€™s with ā€œchoiceā€ in quotes: are you an election truther? Thatā€™s more of a right wing conspiracy.

    Thatā€™s a pathetic cowardly take on the Overton window. What even is your point? ā€œLetā€™s give up because nothing mattersā€? Fuck that. Iā€™m fighting.

    Itā€™s also empirically untrue: I donā€™t know how you havenā€™t noticed that the US is going through the biggest labor movement in a generation. In the last 3 years, Dems have passed one of the most progressive agendas in a generation.



  • Yes, progressives who stay at home for the general election do not understand US democracy. The US has a 2 party FPTP system, not proportional representation. Unlike multi-party parliamentary systems, we usually have to vote for a compromise, not our top choice. If you donā€™t vote, you donā€™t ā€œsend a messageā€, you simply forfeit your political power. If Republicans win, and keep winning, then thatā€™s a signal for Democrats to shift right, to try to win back the median voter.

    I hate the argumentative strategy of criticizing candidates for being political ā€œlosersā€. Rightwingers do that all the time. By that logic, progressives also had ā€œloser candidatesā€, since many fail in the primaries. I personally donā€™t think Sanders, for example, was a ā€œloserā€, even if he lost in the primary.









  • This is also how I read it. I actually really appreciate attacking the idea of ā€œwhite as defaultā€. Itā€™s kind of like how some gamers think representing anything besides the ā€œdefaultā€ demographic is ā€œpoliticalā€.

    I think this is the more revealing excerpt:

    This is the defining irony of white film-making. The more oblivious your film is to matters of race, the whiter it plays. Because whiteness is often exactly that: the freedom not to see race, even when itā€™s right there in front of you.

    Basically, being aware of whiteness makes for less racist movies. Thereā€™s nothing wrong with white movies, but itā€™s wrong when white movies pretend theyā€™re not white, but universal and default. The article concludes:

    Instead, our twofold expectation should be this: 1) The industry affords more film-makers of colour the same creative freedoms and commercial opportunities that are now afforded white film-makers, and 2) That the film culture ā€“ including the film-makers themselves ā€“ develop the confidence, insight and language to discuss and dethrone white cinema.

    This does not sound like racist dog-whistling or white supremacy to me.