Because I am not going to disrespect a deep and meaningful selfless act like his. I'm not so disrespectful

We've failed him, we've failed the Palestinians, we've failed our immigrants and refugees, we've failed our LGBTQ+ people and people of color, we've failed our poor. The story of America is a story of one failure after another.

And I say "America" even though this is world news, because he was American.

It was a protest against our nation's complicity in genocide. This was objectively one of the most selfless acts and meaningful sacrifices imaginable. I have nothing but the utmost respect.

Bullshit. You are insulting everyone who's had a legitimate reason to commit suicide and their loved ones by proxy. Get this puritanical nonsense out of here. I've known multiple people who've committed suicide, and while it hurts to lose them, they've all had valid reasons, and it's really tasteless for me to dismiss that or guilt trip people who want to check out.

And in this case, it's objectively one of the most selfless acts imaginable.

Pretty tacky to explain to a person who made such a huge impact what he should have done

Also uncivil to call me a d*mbass for respecting this man. Reported.

Aaron Bushnell is a fucking role model

I wish I had half the courage it took

It takes courage and convictions to do this kind of protest. There's no need to reduce it to just a suicide. It was a courageous and highly honorable act. I've got nothing but respect.

k

I fully agree. I have mad respect for him, which is why I expressed my admiration and support.

I'd like to know why anyone would downvote this. Do you support genocide?

Aaron Bushnell, hero and role model

What is your pragmatic alternative? What strategy is 1. Actionable and 2. Effective 3. Incompatible with the process I outlined above? Widespread change will be a function of multi-modal effort, there's no reason not to commit to higher turnout while simultaneously pushing for change in other ways. Defeatist outlooks are what the opposition wants, don't reward them

So in other words, doing exactly what I've been suggesting this entire time? Or what do you think that I've been saying? I vote in every election, and I'm still not allowed to complain when my president commits genocide? Is that what you're saying, or what exactly is your point?? What is it you're trying to convince me of that I'm not already doing?

If we can't fix this by 100% voter turnout, then our ideals aren't popular, and democracy has spoken.

And there are supposed to be failsafes to prevent tyranny of the majority. Did you forget that? Was slavery ok in the antebellum south because the majority supported it? No. You can't just trample on human lives simply because a majority support it.

Anarchism has failsafes for this since hierarchical structures are by definition not welcome. Our system does not? Then let's burn it to the ground.

I know the answer btw. I'm speaking rhetorically. It's obvious that our system results in genocide. I mean, we have an active genocide against indigenous people.

Do you support trampling on human rights and committing atrocities like genocide simply because the majority support it? Please answer this, because if you think this is fine, then I'm done trying to get through to you.

Edit: And before you say "of course that's not what I'm saying," I've had a centrist liberal tell me recently that yes, these atrocities are fine as long as the majority support them, and that was told to me by PugJesus, right-winger and mod on lemmy.world

People have straight up gloated to me that something like 70% of voters support our fascist border policy and arming a genocidal state. What makes you so sure we can fix this by voting?

Also, I don't buy the idea that right-wing liberals would listen to leftists if we vote. I vote in every election, but they still treat me like absolute trash. They love that people are suffering and that they can gloat that there's no effective way to save them.

FFS look at the maniacal comments in this thread. And this is actually better than the norm.

Certainly try to push for reform within the relative left party between elections and during primaries

Democrats aren't open to having these discussions. The moment people started criticizing Biden for opening more concentration camps, Democrats dug in their heels and became defensive, lashing out at anyone with valid criticism and calling us "Russian bots," accusing us of secretly supporting Trump, and this behavior has continued since then, and it seems to emit from the majority of all centrist and conservative Democrats.

The idea that we can push for change is a nice thought, but it doesn't work when they're not open to valid criticism of a sitting president.

Even this pretty moderate post has been reported by liberals and other bad-faith actors who are not open to discussing anything to the left of Reagan.

I think this Bloostained Mire is my favorite art so far. The old art always looked kinda generic to me.

Sewer men are just built different

———————————No apps?———————————⠀⣞⢽⢪⢣⢣⢣⢫⡺⡵⣝⡮⣗⢷⢽⢽⢽⣮⡷⡽⣜⣜⢮⢺⣜⢷⢽⢝⡽⣝⠸⡸⠜⠕⠕⠁⢁⢇⢏⢽⢺⣪⡳⡝⣎⣏⢯⢞⡿⣟⣷⣳⢯⡷⣽⢽⢯⣳⣫⠇⠀⠀⢀⢀⢄⢬⢪⡪⡎⣆⡈⠚⠜⠕⠇⠗⠝⢕⢯⢫⣞⣯⣿⣻⡽⣏⢗⣗⠏⠀⠀⠪⡪⡪⣪⢪⢺⢸⢢⢓⢆⢤⢀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⢊⢞⡾⣿⡯⣏⢮⠷⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠊⠆⡃⠕⢕⢇⢇⢇⢇⢇⢏⢎⢎⢆⢄⠀⢑⣽⣿⢝⠲⠉⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡿⠂⠠⠀⡇⢇⠕⢈⣀⠀⠁⠡⠣⡣⡫⣂⣿⠯⢪⠰⠂⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡦⡙⡂⢀⢤⢣⠣⡈⣾⡃⠠⠄⠀⡄⢱⣌⣶⢏⢊⠂⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢝⡲⣜⡮⡏⢎⢌⢂⠙⠢⠐⢀⢘⢵⣽⣿⡿⠁⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠨⣺⡺⡕⡕⡱⡑⡆⡕⡅⡕⡜⡼⢽⡻⠏⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣼⣳⣫⣾⣵⣗⡵⡱⡡⢣⢑⢕⢜⢕⡝⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣴⣿⣾⣿⣿⣿⡿⡽⡑⢌⠪⡢⡣⣣⡟⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡟⡾⣿⢿⢿⢵⣽⣾⣼⣘⢸⢸⣞⡟⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠁⠇⠡⠩⡫⢿⣝⡻⡮⣒⢽⠋⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀—————————————————————————————

I’m all for protesting and fighting for active change. My fear is it turning into a bunch of progressive voters protesting with their vote and the destruction that could create in the advancement of progressive views say ten to twenty years from now. If somehow trump is reelected the results will be disastrous.

Oh my gods, a comment actually worth engaging with! Thank you! I want to hug you so much right now lol

I understand this fear, but conversely I have the fear that in the process of trying to avoid this scenario, centrist Democrats are pushing progressive and leftist voters away from the polls by doubling down and dismissing our concerns every time that their raised, and by accusing us of hurting the campaign when we criticize the sitting president for putting the weight of his administration behind things like ICE, the border policy, mass surveillance of citizens, arming genocidal states, failing to introduce adequate healthcare and housing to our citizens, etc., etc. In 2020, all we heard was a chorus of liberals proudly proclaiming that they're not as cultlike as Republicans, but as soon as Biden took office ... this all changed. It was like a switch flipped, and as soon as he started opening more concentration camps and we were like "WTF," we got the defensive response ... like, "Oh he's only doing this to satisfy conservative voters" -- well guess what? Using human lives like that for political gain is not acceptable. Anyone with the slightest bit of empathy and perspective can tell you that.

And it's only gotten worse since then, with us being summarily dismissed as "Russian bots" on every forum, and "Trump supporters" like wtf bro.

The only fix available in the current day climate is to show a stronger and growing progressive voter base.

Okay, but as I've said, every time we try to show this and express this, we're silenced, so can that shit like ... cease? That would sure be nice! But even for this pretty moderate, vanilla post my instance admin/mod received multiple reports from users trying to get it removed. Why? Because they are status quo warriors who don't want to engage with progressives and leftists openly and in good faith. Simple as that. (Or they're simply brainwashed and don't really think things through, or some of them are actually closet conservatives -- I've encountered a lot of Democrats like that in my community).

A shift has to happen, no party is going to put up a candidate that hasn’t shown their is a reliable pool of voters for.

And after decades of observing and experiencing, including volunteering and passionately campaigning for Obama in 08, thinking finally we had a progressive candidate, only for the bait-and-switch to happen yet again -- I've concluded that the system will never provide this. It cannot be fixed from within. I still vote in every election, including local elections, but I have zero faith in the efficacy of my vote, and maybe the day will come to actually boycott the vote, though I don't think that time is now.

Meanwhile, I try to practice my anarchist principles as much as I can in South Dafuckingkota and do my best to help my friends, relatives, and neighbors. We've managed to help people evade deportation, given people a roof when they've been evicted, helped my LGBTQ+ community when they've been kicked out by their parents, and try to have conversations with my local reps to hopefully push things to a better place.

But again, I have zero faith in our system. If you take a look at our nation historically, we've always been a colonial, imperialist, and genocidal state, and none of this has ever changed, and never will by voting, in my opinion.

So now, do you understand my perspective? Let me know if you have any questions, because I'd be happy to answer them.

I'm saying the entire system is rotten, and it can't be fixed by voting for the lesser of two evils, when the lesser of two evils is still a genocidal maniac