Knowledge is power, make sure you're an informed voter

On the flip side, some really stupid people are really into politics and we're all worse off for it

Fun fact: many of them only pretend to be stupid, and are actually completely malevolent, evil beings!
- I did not ask you to describe Congress
For this fantomatic group of stupid people, you are probably the stupid one. It's no use to call each other names.
- I'll just point to GOP voters that aren't multi-millionaires - no reason.

"Non-voters" vote too. They vote for what everyone else chooses for them, then they complain when they don't get what they wanted.

They complain because, thanks to you and I, they can't afford to miss a day of work in order to vote, and that isn't changing no matter who we elect.
- Here in Australia we have a public holiday for voting, mandatory voting, preferential voting, and every school, and hundreds of other community locations become polling locations. I can walk to 3 from my house in less than 10 minutes.
  Why did Americans vote for the system they have? Americans voted for first past the post, gerrymandering, the right to throw away their only voice. That's not a great electoral system to vote for.
- In the Netherlands the voting stations are open between 7:30 and 21:00 to somewhat mitigate the work issue.

I hate that I have to pay attention. Sometimes I feel like if I took a ball peen hammer to my prefrontal cortex I’d be so much happier.

A just world wouldn't require us to exert so much mental energy on securing our basic needs. It's exhausting. Just remember to step away now and then to avoid burnout
- If I do that then I’m being bad and letting fascism win.
  I just want one election where the fate of the world doesn’t hang in the balance.
Remember: It's okay to check out for a little bit and take a break. Just don't do it for so long that you come back not being able to catch up.
- Exactly. People that get fed up with politics are usually the empathetic, moral people we literally need running, voting, volunteering, and donating! So take care of yourself, but please come back when you can...
Then they'd have you exactly where they want you to be. The people who are working against your interests are using the divisiveness precisely to make people look away. Once you look away they're free to pull their nefarious shit.

To be fair, I think what they're really saying is "I don't want to talk to you about it so i'm shutting this discussion down as politely as possible"

So I feel like if you actually responded to someone saying that with this, they would just walk away. Cause most of the time I don't think it's actually the politics, it's the person they're talking to about it with.

I'm sure this is the case for some people, but I personally know many people that actively avoid all politics. It's difficult to get them engaged with it, but I'm slowly seeing success
Who is "they"?
My "they" simply adore complaining but last thought in their mind is to try to practically change something.
- Who is "they"?
  The people saying
  "I don't want to talk to you about it so i'm shutting this discussion down as politely as possible"
  I'm not sure what you're confused about - this seems pretty straightforward.

You don't get to choose to not be involved in politics.

Electoralism only serves to prevent the worst-case from playing out. Actual, meaningful change happens at the grassroots level. Read, educate, unionize, organize, participate in charity, and build your community.

You're in no way obligated to follow your union's recommendation. That's what free and fair elections are all about.

Moral outrage against corrupt leaders is not an isolated historical phenomenon but a common precursor of change. It happens again and again whenever one era gives way to another. . . . This widespread revulsion comes into evidence well before people develop a new coherent ideology of change. As we write, there is as yet little evidence of an articulate rejection of politics. That will come later. It has not yet occurred to most of your contemporaries that a life without politics is possible.

Image Transcription: Text and Image

A grayscale image of Martha Gellhorn is shown with a quote under it.

People often say with pride, "I'm not interested in politics." They might as well say, "I'm not interested in my standard of living, my health, my job, my rights, my freedoms, my future or any future." ... If we mean to keep any control over our world and lives, we must be interested in politics.

Martha Gellhorn

novelist, journalist, war coorespondent

(1908 - 1998)

I sometimes use this when I dont want to to talk to someone. I have a co worker who still brings up covid and how we're going into a lockdown again any day now. I just say in not interested in politics and she will usually drop it. She one day pushed it and I just said your style of politics is unappealing to me and she pushed more I said your coming off as a looney. She took it personally and I said well you should listen when people don't want to talk about politics.

France is Bacon

Here you are, was gonna post this if I didn't find you.

Fuck yes.

Control is an illusion. Not being interested in politics means accepting the things you can't change to preserve your sanity.

That's the thing though, we can change these issues by organizing to make the change. Voting is the least effective means of change, if you believe in those principles then you need to fight for it. No one is coming to save us, we need to save ourselves.

RIP Joyce Summers

To be honest, if it were just me, I might not be so interested in politics. I honestly want everyone else's life to improve so maybe we can all enjoy each other just a bit more.

I'd like to know if she had the same opinion today. Post citizens united and our orangutan ex-prez

I'm not interested in trying to punch the sea.

I understand where you're coming from, trying to affect change by yourself is almost impossible. But you're not alone. Millions of people feel just like you. We need to work together to see the change. Start with volunteering with a mutual aid or other advocacy groups. My preference is organizing unions. When we fight, we win!

The problem is, that the the ones interested in it, use their votes as if it was a reality show. It's not a popularity vote. The right thing to do is not always popular, it's not always the best for you and it is not even always easy.

Unfortunately it becomes easy to start viewing politics as a game. Don't let it become entertainment.

See here at 11:00

(Not a timestamp link because I'm on mobile)