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every comment in this thread along the lines of
“wElL yOu sHoUldVE vOtEd tHeN!!!1!”
fucking confounds me bc ig you guys either have a weird victim blaming kink or you have massively more faith in our electoral system’s veracity than i do.
Be a lot easier to discuss how well things worked if everyone participated.
i honestly am skeptical of western media’s narrative that everyone is complacent and doesn’t give a fuck. i’ve met a lot of people. every single one of them gives some sort of a shit about politics. it feels like homegrown astroturfing to keep anything from ever actually coming to a head. keep people feeling alone and isolated, hopeless. if 60-80% of americans are complacent, don’t participate civically, and are actively disengaged from the political process… then where are these people? i should be seeing them in droves right? but i’m not, and neither is anyone i know. my network isn’t really geographically limited either. anecdotal evidence regardless, sure, but still suss imo.
i’ve seen the statistics and polls, the election results and non-participant ratio, you don’t need to share those sources with me.
idk, maybe i’m fucking crazy and a conspiracy theorist. a wise man once said that there are lies, damn lies, and statistics.
Perhaps those that care about politics are the ones with which politics gets discussed? Unless you're sitting down and going "so that trump, huh?" With every person you meet.
i do admit the bias of my sampling, but also at the same time:
Unless you're sitting down and going "so that trump, huh?" With every person you meet.
yeah… i mean i do end up doing this much of the time? my time and labor is valuable… i’d rather not waste it on working with fascists, but i recognize i have the privilege of making that choice due to the kind of work i do.
if you lived during the reich would you not be like “so how ‘bout that hitler?” to every person you met??? i would?????????
That doesn't speak to my point at all. I'm saying you can't tell how well a system works when it barely has half the participation it's supposed to have, and is constantly fucked with. This is the direct result of Republican interference in Texas, no conspiracy theories required.
i appreciate your input and discourse, but i think i disagree on a few key points. you can tell how well a system works in this scenario.
if a system of governance collapse under the stress of the majority of the population becoming disinterested in civics, it isn’t a good system of governance. it is predictable that the status quo would have came about, our institutions are just not build for an inevitability; and that is a patent weakness. western thought has a weird fetish for democracy as some sort of penultimate form of governance but if democracy has historically always decayed into authoritarianism it’d be naive to insist on rabidly defending it bc not only can we do better, we have a responsibility to do better. we collectively have blood on our hands as a consequence of our inability to affect change.
i don’t know what the answers are. but i know what we’re doing is misguided and leads to inevitable human suffering. there is no way to absolve ourselves of that sin, we can only move forwards.
i am strongly of the belief that zero-knowledge and trustless systems will form the bedrock of future governance. trust cannot be a factor as it is a fickle maiden. you don’t question the character sheets or narrator in d&d implicitly, not because you trust everyone around you but because, with a good DM who enforces the rules, the system will work out in a way that is amicable to all parties. this isn’t the best example bc i’m kind of tipsy rn tbh, there’s still trust involved in that system, but it is the most colloquial example i can think of without using abstract shit straight out of my textbooks on math and logic.
again, sorry if my reply is subpar. kind of drunk tonight lmao. appreciate the discourse and civility tho. i love that about lemmy. it’s why i stick around here. and just to clarify - my position is not advocating authoritarianism or anything crazy like that. i’m just kind of recognizing that western liberal democracy has flaws that are so egregious as to be responsible for tragedy. we are culpable for that and i feel strongly about our collective responsibility to do better. we have a way, but do we have a will?
edit: you’re my 200th comment on lemmy, btw! congrats!!
40% of voters in Texas didn't vote in November.
Gen X in Texas at least doesn't seem to vote much if at all.
Be a lot easier to participate if anybody's vote actually mattered. Literally worthless vote where I live.
I "wasted" my vote on Cornell West in the presidential category. Doesn't matter at all.
Well, when you don't vote you're guaranteeing your opinion doesn't matter. The math always works in favor of everyone voting.
Libs want to feel like they're "right" even while they don't do shit but support fascism.
bc ig