Frankie99 wrote: Tue Mar 03, 2026 10:27 am The leftist notion of lesser evilism being a reason to abstain from voting toward harm reduction in the system you're forced to operate in is toddleresque in its simplicity. Sure, it makes sense when you frame it "just so" but any broadening of the picture reveals the fallacies.

Now, if you're participating daily in direct action, then I withhold my criticism. But it's my experience that's not usually the case. Those who do the least talk the most.

Again with the left. The tens of millions of people who didn’t vote, or who voted for the republicans aren’t the left. The DNC is there to ensure that the left doesn’t have any sway in politics in the first place, but they are not a satisfying target for gen-x, which I could almost sympathize with if I had blinders on since I started voting 20 years ago.

It is fully insane to think that power grabs within the biggest, most murderous empire in history can be reduced to a flippant choice that a continent full of media hypnotized morons get to make every four years. Like Trump was chosen in the same way between coke and pepsi at the designated time and place. That is ridiculous and pure propaganda but isn’t a surprise that some here will refuse to apply even a little rigorous thinking to anything outside of music. Grow up

Apparently the sloppy propaganda works. The kids (16-18 year old kids) in my wife's school are under the impression the regime has changed in Iran and women are now freed from burkhas or something.

hyljetronic wrote: Tue Mar 03, 2026 12:16 pm Apparently the sloppy propaganda works. The kids (16-18 year old kids) in my wife's school are under the impression the regime has changed in Iran and women are now freed from burkhas or something.

Israel claimed that women were flying the planes that dropped the bombs. Anyway, why aren't they dropping bombs on hasidic jews, too?

Inject this right into my veins:

hyljetronic wrote: Tue Mar 03, 2026 12:16 pm Apparently the sloppy propaganda works. The kids (16-18 year old kids) in my wife's school are under the impression the regime has changed in Iran and women are now freed from burkhas or something.

I think the kids might need to get offline now, while there is still a slim chance they won't elect Mr. Beast president of the world. But as far as I'm aware you can still rock a burkha in Finland.

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Tue Mar 03, 2026 12:11 pm

Frankie99 wrote: Tue Mar 03, 2026 10:27 am The leftist notion of lesser evilism being a reason to abstain from voting toward harm reduction in the system you're forced to operate in is toddleresque in its simplicity. Sure, it makes sense when you frame it "just so" but any broadening of the picture reveals the fallacies.

Now, if you're participating daily in direct action, then I withhold my criticism. But it's my experience that's not usually the case. Those who do the least talk the most.

Again with the left. The tens of millions of people who didn’t vote, or who voted for the republicans aren’t the left. The DNC is there to ensure that the left doesn’t have any sway in politics in the first place, but they are not a satisfying target for gen-x, which I could almost sympathize with if I had blinders on since I started voting 20 years ago.

It is fully insane to think that power grabs within the biggest, most murderous empire in history can be reduced to a flippant choice that a continent full of media hypnotized morons get to make every four years. Like Trump was chosen in the same way between coke and pepsi at the designated time and place. That is ridiculous and pure propaganda but isn’t a surprise that some here will refuse to apply even a little rigorous thinking to anything outside of music. Grow up

Sure, but I say this with honest, and somewhat rhetorical sincerity: Who did you vote for?

hyljetronic wrote: Tue Mar 03, 2026 12:16 pm Apparently the sloppy propaganda works. The kids (16-18 year old kids) in my wife's school are under the impression the regime has changed in Iran and women are now freed from burkhas or something.

Yeah, diaspora politics are wild and it’s really difficult getting a handle on this stuff w/o consulting a ton of verifiable sources that aren’t AI or media grifters. I would just defer to the ones most at risk of being sold off as sex slaves in the kind of post-regime collapse we have seen in the last couple decades.

losthighway wrote: Tue Mar 03, 2026 1:51 pm

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Tue Mar 03, 2026 12:11 pm

Frankie99 wrote: Tue Mar 03, 2026 10:27 am The leftist notion of lesser evilism being a reason to abstain from voting toward harm reduction in the system you're forced to operate in is toddleresque in its simplicity. Sure, it makes sense when you frame it "just so" but any broadening of the picture reveals the fallacies.

Now, if you're participating daily in direct action, then I withhold my criticism. But it's my experience that's not usually the case. Those who do the least talk the most.

Again with the left. The tens of millions of people who didn’t vote, or who voted for the republicans aren’t the left. The DNC is there to ensure that the left doesn’t have any sway in politics in the first place, but they are not a satisfying target for gen-x, which I could almost sympathize with if I had blinders on since I started voting 20 years ago.

It is fully insane to think that power grabs within the biggest, most murderous empire in history can be reduced to a flippant choice that a continent full of media hypnotized morons get to make every four years. Like Trump was chosen in the same way between coke and pepsi at the designated time and place. That is ridiculous and pure propaganda but isn’t a surprise that some here will refuse to apply even a little rigorous thinking to anything outside of music. Grow up

Sure, but I say this with honest, and somewhat rhetorical sincerity: Who did you vote for?

Probably the exact asshole you voted for but I resent even being asked such a stupid question

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Tue Mar 03, 2026 1:59 pm

losthighway wrote: Tue Mar 03, 2026 1:51 pm

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Tue Mar 03, 2026 12:11 pm

Again with the left. The tens of millions of people who didn’t vote, or who voted for the republicans aren’t the left. The DNC is there to ensure that the left doesn’t have any sway in politics in the first place, but they are not a satisfying target for gen-x, which I could almost sympathize with if I had blinders on since I started voting 20 years ago.

It is fully insane to think that power grabs within the biggest, most murderous empire in history can be reduced to a flippant choice that a continent full of media hypnotized morons get to make every four years. Like Trump was chosen in the same way between coke and pepsi at the designated time and place. That is ridiculous and pure propaganda but isn’t a surprise that some here will refuse to apply even a little rigorous thinking to anything outside of music. Grow up

Sure, but I say this with honest, and somewhat rhetorical sincerity: Who did you vote for?

Probably the exact asshole you voted for but I resent even being asked such a stupid question

I don't think it's stupid at all. It shows that you know two things are happening at once. The problem is a shocking number of people think either:

A. If we vote for the right one everything will be fine.
*or*
B. We're so cosmically fucked that there's no reason to vote.

I feel like your argument addresses column A well. The problem with people who understand you there, is they often make the mistake of B. I apologize for dragging you specifically into this because you're clearly aware of it. The problem is in the argument that is political platforms many of our most decent citizens seem to have their thinking set into one of these two modes and both can have damaging effects.

So yeah, I'll be pedantic enough to point it out every time if you'll forgive me. The reason why is I'd rather be sitting here under a Harris administration explaining how much better things need to be than what she had managed to accomplish, as opposed to now where we're seeing the increasing chances that the democrats could win with just about anyone who can speak without audibly pooping their pants.

You really think the outcome of the election was because of the protest vote? I don't think there is any evidence to show that. The voter turnout has been hovering between 50-60% for like a century. Thus I think you can pin the outcome on those "politically engaged" enough to show up at the polls and decided this was a good idea...these are the people you need to convince otherwise. But yeah, I find your central premise of voting for the lesser evil and then taking them to task for the next four years to be...exhausting and unconvincing.