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this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2024
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No, they're downvoting because it's obvious Russian propaganda.
I would agree if they either came from Lemmygrad, or were saying to vote independent/not vote. Maybe I'm being more charitable towards them than most, but their comment reads to me as someone disillusioned who thinks both parties have their own priorities that aren't the people.
That IS Russian propaganda. "Both sides".
I'm not trying to be obtuse here, but let me get this straight:
It's Russian propaganda for someone to say that both of the only two viable parties in the United States election suck?
The way I've been categorizing it has been whether the person is trying to encourage others to abstain from voting or voting for a third party. In my opinion, expressing an unpopular opinion is different than trying to get people to waste their important anti-Trump vote.
Sounds like you're only categorizing it as propaganda if they explicitly call for someone to not vote. "Both sides suck" is essentially the same thing, just without the explicit call to inaction. Not to mention the secondary benefit of painting over the GOPs crimes by making it sound like the dems are just as bad.
I see where you're coming from, but I'm going to have to respectfully disagree that the default view of these claims should be that they are propaganda.
If someone claims "both sides suck equally" or "the Democrats are just as bad," I agree with your assessment. It's disingenuous to frame the Democrats as being "as bad" as the Republicans when the latter are actively destroying our rights and championing a traitorous, fascist cheeto. The Republicans are undeniably worse, and anyone suggesting otherwise is either on their side or severely lacking in critical thinking skills.
That being said, I still don't think it's fair to treat "both sides suck" with the same level of distain as "both sides are equally bad." Indiscriminately dismissing opinions which point out the Democrats are also bad in their own (or similar) ways only serves to silence disapproval towards them. The Democratic Party isn't perfect, and they've made their share of mistakes in the past. While this election isn't the right time to rag on them, it's also not the right time to exonerate them and let them be above criticisms.
That kind of approach to grouping "both sides suck" with "both sides suck equally" and dismissing it as propaganda is also disproportionately silencing people with radically progressive views. A moderate liberal isn't going to have anything to complain about, but a "communist" (socialist) is more likely to take issues with the Democrats not taking a harder stance on pushing for things like universal basic income, more government oversight, higher taxes for the 1%, etc.
That's a fair and reasonable discussion to have when it's clear that all parties are acting in good faith and agree that voting Dem is the best thing for our country, currently. I do have those discussions in some safely blue spaces.
Lemmy is not that space. If someone on Lemmy says "both sides suck" without very clear and specific caveats that the Republicans suck exponentially more, I think it's fair to assume they're spreading propaganda. Even with those caveats, it's not a discussion worth having because it will become a lodestone for propagandists.