this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2024
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Assuming there's nothing stopping you from legally voting

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[–] EABOD25@lemm.ee 11 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Who are you supposed to vote for when you feel it doesn't matter? Or when you feel that all candidates are insufficient?

Additionally, if we're speaking of the US, the electoral college can and will supercede the popular vote. We literally put these people in power just to say we're wrong and they will quickly say we're wrong and work against the popular votes because we gave them the authority

[–] breadsmasher@lemmy.world 24 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Ah yes the classic, “i cant decide between voting for fascism or against it. Really tough choice”

[–] Towwebbed@lemmy.world 31 points 1 month ago

OP wants to know why people don’t vote. If you believe in voting you’re probably not going to like any of the answers but they shouldn’t be downvoted for answering the question as asked.

[–] EABOD25@lemm.ee 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Hey. I'm trying to turn over a new leaf on social media. In situations like this, I will be absolutely serious, direct, and respectful. Regardless of if you disagree with my view, I politely ask the same thing. We need to talk to each other with respect regardless of our views. Agreed?

[–] breadsmasher@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Ok I will rephrase to be polite and respectful.

When you are presented with the option of voting for or against fascism, what makes that choice difficult?

[–] papalonian@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I'll continue to say this question still isn't being asked in good faith.

Of course the ballot isn't literally, "do u want fascism or nah"

It's between two politicians. You and I are agree that one side is almost inherently better than the other, but you have to remember that a. the other side also believes that they are inherently better than the other, and b. not everyone believes that either side is inherently better than the other.

Judging by your comments I'm assuming you're pro-choice; if someone asked you, "when presented with the choice of outlawing the murder babies, what makes that choice difficult for you?", you'd rightfully say they aren't posing the question in a fair way to you. It's the same thing here, if you're trying to communicate with someone who doesn't outright agree with you you can't just outright attack their position or frame it in a negative light or you just make them defensive and not receptive to an alternative view.

[–] OsaErisXero@kbin.run 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Of course the ballot isn't literally, "do u want fascism or nah"

This specific election is literally just this

[–] papalonian@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (3 children)

If you're speaking hyperbolically, sure. But when you're trying to have a genuine conversation with someone regarding a serious topic, using hyperbolic speech to belittle someone's position is pretty lame

[–] arality@programming.dev 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

If you're speaking hyperbolically, sure.

They are not. If trump wins many people will die. And he will be the new forever king of America.

[–] papalonian@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Ok, but LITERALLY, the ballot says Donald Trump or Joe Biden. HYPERBOLICALLY it says fascism or not. Words don't just mean whatever we want them to mean, and if someone isn't already on board with Trump = fascism (which, don't get me wrong, I'm 100% on that boat), phrasing things in pointed, biased ways isn't going to convince them that we're the side of reason.

[–] arality@programming.dev 3 points 1 month ago (2 children)

phrasing things in pointed, biased ways isn't going to convince them that we're the side of reason.

There is literally no way to reason these people out of the position they didn't reason themselves into. I'm of the firm belief that we need to be heckling, calling out, and generally being as rude and mean as possible to Nazis. Make the fuckers squirm back into their hole.

[–] papalonian@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Read the parent comment that we are under; do they sound like a Nazi to you? I'm not talking about the people that have already made up their mind that they want a Trump presidency, I'm talking about the uninformed, the unaware, the people starting to doubt their resolve, the people unsure their voice matters.

[–] idiomaddict@feddit.de 1 points 1 month ago

There is literally no way to reason these people out of the position they didn't reason themselves into.

Regarding this, I recently saw the counterpoint of Santa. Most people never reason themselves into believing in Santa, but they do reason themselves out of it. Obviously there’s cognitive development that happens in between in the Santa case, but a lot of people form their core political beliefs pretty young, so that may be true of politics as well.

[–] rezifon@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I’ve voted in every election since Bush senior in 1988 and I do not believe the other guy is speaking hyperbolically at all. It’s so different this time. It truly is.

[–] papalonian@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

I feel like everyone that is arguing with what I've said thinks that I don't agree that a Trump presidency will result in a huge increase in fascist ideology. It will be absolutely terrible if the man gets elected again and it absolutely will have drastic consequences to the US government.

This does not change the fact that LITERALLY, the ballot is between Biden and Trump, not between Fascism and Not-Fascism.

If someone is on the fence about something and you talk to them like there's only one logical option (even if there is only one logical option), the immediate reaction will almost be a defensive one, and rarely will they be persuaded to your way of thinking. Like the abortion example I gave above; if you were on the fence about abortion, and someone asked you if you thought murder was wrong, that would be a fair sign that they aren't presenting a good-faith discussion, and just want to brow-beat you in to their opinion. If you ask someone who (somehow) hasn't paid attention to politics in the last decade if they want to let [presidential candidate] turn the country into [bad thing], you're not opening a fair discussion, even if it's most likely true that the outcome you describe is the one we will see.

[–] Fades@lemmy.world -3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

You are as pathetic as your weak defense of abandoning your most important civic duty. Your weakness hurts us all. Shame on you.

[–] papalonian@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

I... What? I think you've got me mistaken for someone else bud, I've voted in every election I could since I was 18, what civic duty have I abandoned? And where did I defend anything?

[–] EABOD25@lemm.ee 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It's not a difficult choice at all because, you said it yourself; voting for or against when I already stated that I would vote for no one because we as a nation have put people in power that have the authority to supercede our vote. It's not a left or a right thing. It's not a democracy or fascism thing. It's a fact that every single American has to contend with because WE as American citizens allowed it to happen. Isn't that democracy?

[–] breadsmasher@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Ok so you are deciding to not use your right, and thus will have no right to comment on the results of the election.

“I dont care either way”

[–] EABOD25@lemm.ee 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] retrospectology@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Is the one trying to overthrow democracy the fascist or the one funding the ethnic cleansing?

[–] Jikiya@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The one that wants to overthrow democracy and would like to fund the ethnic cleansing at an even higher rate/amount is the fascist. The one that has encouraged Israel to go faster / do more in Gaza is the fascist. I do not like Biden's weakness confronting Israel, but one is a cheerleader, and one is weakly pushing for caution.

[–] retrospectology@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Giving Israel the means to continue ethnic cleansing is more than cheerleading. Not that it would be acceptable if he were just cheering it on.

There's no evidence that Trump can do anything that Biden already isn't already, barring sending American soldiers to participate in the genocide which I doubt would be politically feasible for him. Israel doesn't need our soldiers, they do need our bombs though, which Biden has provided without any effective conditioning.

[–] ShepherdPie@midwest.social 1 points 1 month ago

Not just funding but delivering planes, bombs, and weapons.

[–] ShepherdPie@midwest.social -2 points 1 month ago

Kinda telling of how poor of a choice the Democratic candidates have been that they can't or can barely sway enough votes in their favor when this is on the line.

[–] bamboo@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 1 month ago

The electoral college only applies to Presidential elections, but there are many more elections happening for primaries, local, and state elections, where the electoral college doesn't apply. Your vote in these elections is arguably more important than the presidential election and there have been many cases of elections coming down to under a hundred votes.

As for candidates who are insufficient, your vote is not an endorsement of the policies of the candidate, and is an objection to other candidates. This is the flaw of our two party system, and the only optimal strategy is to vote against who you don't want to be president. Voting for representatives who advocate for ranked voting is how this can be fixed, but requires voting in non-presidential elections to create the change, along with a whole set of other challenges.

[–] Fades@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

when you feel it doesn’t matter

Nobody should give a fuck about how it fEeLs. Elections are verifiable and essential. You cry about the electoral college and yet don't vote which gives said EC even more of an advantage.

[–] EABOD25@lemm.ee 3 points 1 month ago

Having a rough day? Need someone to blame for it? That's cool. Have at it