We're considered privileged is one problem. Also, when N Korea talks shit nobody cares. If the US is your neighbor and seriously discusses invading you, that is a very serious problem. People are sick of US bullying and the US dollar being held above their head, along with access to marine trade routes. If Europe makes the Euro the reserve currency or BRIC moves to make one and everyone divests in US bonds, we are super fucked. I hope for the rest of the world that it actually happens, so some of the evil will stop.
Outnumbered by 88 million, really. More than a third sat at home, fine with the current state of affairs.
If "did not vote" was a candidate, it would win almost every election... :(
That's not how it works though. Not voting effectively means supporting the candidate who won. It is NOT neutral. It is not saying "I don't want either candidate" (that's not possible, or maybe only by moving out of the country or taking another citizenship) but in contrary saying "I am totally fine with either candidate and support the one the majority of everyone else supports". If you're saying "both are equally good/bad" you have to vote randomly (but that's unrealistic, there is always a small favor to one or another candidate).
Just imagine the non voter would have voted randomly. If it would have been the winning candidate it wouldn't have changed anything. If it would have been the losing candidate it would make a difference. So by not voting instead of voting randomly one effectively supported the winner.
Or it's saying "My vote was surpressed". They couldn't get time off, they're too tired from work, there aren't enough polling places, polling stations aren't open at the correct hours, they have more immediate problems to solve, the waiting times are too long, etc...
The last election in my country was 4 years ago, before that it was 9years ago. Both time the second turn was the "center" right versus the far right.
First time I voted center without thinking about it. Second time I really didn't want to. I looked at the polls, especially the late polls from foreign countries, and decided to vote blank. The "center" right won, but it was close. They didn't learn the lesson at all.
I hate them, but it still is way better than with the far right.
I don't know what comes next.
You did everything you could. Just keep doing that.
Always vote for the party you least disagree with. Even more important: always vote. Not many USA Americans actually do vote, and some of the blame lies with them.
I think it depends. Some didn’t vote/couldn’t vote because their civil rights are being violated, because gop controlled states make it onerous for them to do so, usually in, ahem, “urban” areas
But yeah, others didn’t vote because they’re apolitical, or both sides are the same, or other bullshit, yeah fuckem
If you think voting will beat these fascists, you need to think harder about how you got here. You do not have an effective opposition, the Democrats are bought and paid for by corporations.
The midterm vote will not be free and fair. And if you wait until that is clear before fighting back, it will be much harder to do so.
I know you can't do much against the power of the state alone. But you have to resist, or flee. Fleeing is fine, btw, there's going to be a lot of refugees.
I everybody flees, things will get a lot worse quickly.
I know this is Off My Chest, so I'm glad you could get it out there :) But here are some thoughts, if you wanna have a look.
I don't blame the average Russian for having Putin in power, I don't blame the over-worked people who get sucked into brainwashing. If you expect people with worse resources to perform as well as you with better resources, then shouldn't you expect even more of yourself? I don't really care for blame generally. Everything is ultimately very interconnected. I just want change, and try to focus on that and am happy for any positive actions people take.
I also think it's a bit silly to just look at voting, when that's such a small part of upholding/creating justice and democracy. What about the people who work on transparency, social and ecological justice, regardless of who's in power? Just a few of the things that contribute to direction an entire nation state takes.
Here's a related excerpt from MLK's Riverside Speech
Really, I think the entire speech is just as powerful and relevant today.
Now, I've chosen to preach about the war in Vietnam because I agree with Dante, that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis maintain their neutrality. There comes a time when silence becomes betrayal.
The truth of these words is beyond doubt, but the mission to which they call us is a most difficult one. Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government's policy, especially in time of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought within one's own bosom and in the surrounding world. Moreover, when the issues at hand seem as perplexing, as they often do in the case of this dreadful conflict, we're always on the verge of being mesmerized by uncertainty. But we must move on. Some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony. But we must speak. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak. And we must rejoice as well, for in all our history there has never been such a monumental dissent during a war, by the American people.
Americans haven't been sitting around letting it happen. Not all, anyways. If you do not blame Russians for Putin, then it is pure hypocrisy to blame US citizens. Period.
I don't think the people taking your stance actually understand how poor and uneducated most US citizens are. The majority of people have been one paycheck away from homelessness for years. Even before Trump. The US likes to talk a big game, but it is nothing like the GDP would suggest for most Americans...
Again, if you don't blame Russians, yet do blame the US, you're simply being an ignorant hypocrite.
You completely misunderstood me.
Everything I said is to say precisely that I don't blame the average American. I mean, I even talked about people generally, not Russians after the first sentence, and specifically said that I don't care for blame generally...
I don’t blame the average Russian for having Putin in power, I don’t blame the over-worked people who get sucked into brainwashing. If you expect people with worse resources to perform as well as you with better resources, then shouldn’t you expect even more of yourself? I don’t really care for blame generally.
Read the comment again
it's divisive propaganda. it's meant to divide people.
ignore it.
anyone who spreads it is either a bot or a fool.
Dang it. You're right. But what to do with this nazi regime?!
But what to do with this nazi regime?!
Nobody will listen to you when real Nazi regime happens
Many USA Americans vacationing here in Europe… when in fact they should be spending their vacation demonstrating against Trump in their hometown.
The fact of the matter is it doesnt matter what we deserve. It matters what actually happens. Right now, it appears America is having a one-sided civil war.
You're guilty as long as you're sitting on your ass doing nothing about it. Btw posting on the internet counts as doing nothing.
If doesn't matter if you like it or not, when Trump does unhinged shit real people suffer out in the world.
They blame our country, they don't blame just the president. And they shouldn't - because all of us here going through our lives, going to work, paying taxes, obeying laws, keeping the economy going, etc. are instrumental to the power he is wielding as a club against everyone else.
If you don't want to be blamed, then resist.
Americans are getting treated like americans treat everyone else. All this whining about it is not endearing. I'm sorry the shoe is on the other foot for a change, but you are not the first or only people to get kicked, so stop acting like it.
This wave of fascism has been building for decades. If in all those decades not enough americans were able or willing to stop this then America, as a system, as a country, is broken.
I am Danish, and I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I refuse to let borders decide loyalty. I know the vast majority of americans on this platform, stand fully behind our values.
I appreciate every single apology, and I welcome it, and I fully understand and realize that you had nothing to do with any of this lunacy. But I also urge you to be careful. Because the extent to which you disagree with your countrymen is extreme.
I am speaking as someone who saw this far away. I sold my investments in the US when he was elected in 2016. I know you are not stupid either. But I see you calling him a fascist, a rapist, a child molester... All of which may be true. But what will you do when he is standing at your door?
They are carrying weapons. They are deploying armed forces in the street. They are dismantling all the institutions you stand for before your eyes. They hate the weak, the colored, and those they consider less than them. They will soon begin to take away your ability to vote. Do you not see it? Have you woken up? Whatever rules and regulations you think keeps him in check are crumbling before your eyes.
You need to start considering your options under the second amendment. You need to fill your pantry. You need to build lasting relationships with people close to you that you can trust. Right now your bully is mostly targeting those he considers weak outside his borders. Where will he look next? Where will the Trump who replaces him look?
I reserve my disdain for my coworkers who didn't see any point in voting.
"The cynicism behind faulting Germans in 1939 who didn't even vote for Hitler is concerning"
Did all the German jews deserve to go into camps because they didn't do enough to stop Hitler?
I'm getting quite strained from the sentiment I'm gathering from people who possess a level of cynicism to where, they believe all Americans deserve what's happening and been happening. I don't agree with that.
Listen bro, at least you had a chance to vote. We had our drug lord ex-president pardoned by Trump just because he's right wing, and probably with the help of a bribe. Trump straight up said who should win in our elections like 2 days before our elections, and threatened the country if the wrong party won. Guess what happened. GUESS.
Forgive me for not really giving a fuck about the poor good guys that didn't vote Trump, when he never should've made it back into the ballot in the first place. The american system just failed the whole world. AGAIN. Few people will have a positive sentiment of the US right now with all the shit that's hitting the fan, all because you fuckers couldn't prosecute or get rid of the most transparently criminal US president in history.
For what it's worth, y'all share my hatred with the ABSOLUTE FUCKING RETARDS around here who were all "kamala is worse because Gaza, vote trump" even though they claimed to be left wing. If a leftist seriously typed that shit back then all over Lemmy, y'all need a fucking lobotomy, you damn retards.
The whole world is suffering because you all have been too dumb to vote.. how many decades in a row? Maybe that's just who you are.
Between so many of the "wow, Americans aren't doing anything" and "wow, is all Americans can think to do is shoot people" posts, and making light of mentions of protest or demonstration, all it's doing is just shifting the blame to the individual and shrinking the goalposts to nothing. Yes, America created this, yes, Trump won the popular vote in the second term (ignoring any possible voter manipulation), and yes, voter turnout was the biggest it's ever been. It's clear people wanted Trump. But for the people that will listen, that will take action, all this kind of stuff is doing is crushing their spirit and driving them further into inaction.
I can’t agree with your statement that other countries are as bad. Noone else with possible exception of Russia and Israel is as bad as america right now. All three have nuclear weapons so they are effectively untouchable via kinetic warfare. All three have made or are making vastly aggressive actions against neighboring states and/ or allies. All three state that ‘might makes right’ and they should be able to take assets from other peoples because they can.
So you might be right that there are americans who might not like the leadership but you are judged by the leaders you elected and that might be unfair. But tell that to the people being subjected to starvation, terror, gunfire coming from direct and indirect american aggression and greed .
Guilt by association is something fools and evil manipulators do. Why do you want to adopt such a backwards, judgemental stance?
Not even association, just accident of birth.
so the fact that these three evil empires ( us, russia, israel ) back each other to the detriment of others and their own citizens is me being judgmental?
the 40% who voted for him and the 40% who walked past and did nothing, and now the 40% cheering on annexation of Venezuela, Canada, Greenland can get fucked. if you aren't out there protesting then you must be one of the complicit who walked by, just like germans did in 1936.
Off My Chest
RULES:
I am looking for mods!
1. The "good" part of our community means we are pro-empathy and anti-harassment. However, we don't intend to make this a "safe space" where everyone has to be a saint. Sh*t happens, and life is messy. That's why we get things off our chests.
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