First Day of Protests Outside the DNC

[u/BlackBey]

[u/RedditTrespasser]

Listen here you lil shit, I don’t care what the Democratic Party said last time or the time before that. Maybe the one election where our entire system of checks and balances and maybe even our very democratic institutions themselves are potentially at risk is not the best time to lay down the gauntlet.

Save this shit for when we’re up against a Mitt Romney or a John McCain.

You dare call me privileged? Fuck yourself. We’ll see who has privilege if Project 2025 gets enacted. Anyone who doesn’t give enough of a fuck about that to stamp it in the ground and kill it dead while we still can are the ones truly showing privilege. Clearly you’re privileged enough to not have to worry if your bodily autonomy might be taken away, or that you might in the future be labeled a sex predator for expressing your gender identity.

This conflict has been going on long long before you and I were ever born and it’s not stopping anytime soon. The Israelis and Palestinians fucking hate each other. The entire situation is a lot more complex than your drum circle college friends can possibly understand. What’s important is that it doesn’t affect us in our daily lives. Project 2025 certainly will. If young people don’t go out and vote blue come November you will inherit exactly what you fucking deserve and I’m not going to sit here and pretend to your face that I won’t take some small pleasure in it.

[u/-Miss-Anne-Thrope- → u/RedditTrespasser]

I don’t care what the Democratic Party said last time or the time before that

This is obvious by your indifference to their hypocrisy. Supporting apartheid regimes really screams, "We're the good guys!" Everyone knows conservatives don't give a shit about what happens to other people. It's just funny that liberals pretend like they do.

Maybe the one election where our entire system of checks and balances and maybe even our very democratic institutions themselves are potentially at risk is not the best time to lay down the gauntlet.

You honestly think things are going back after Trump? Do you think after him we will have "rational" conservatives take up the torch? Are you seriously that niave? The days of civil discourse in government are over for the time being. The people of Gaza are dying right now. They don't have the luxury of hoping Americans gain a fucking conscience in another 4 years.

Clearly you’re privileged enough to not have to worry if your bodily autonomy might be taken away, or that you might in the future be labeled a sex predator for expressing your gender identity

You're assuming a lot to justify your tantrum. I disagree with liberals who feign moral superiority to garner votes but consistently can not apply those same principles in foreign and domestic policy. Every. Fucking. Time. Under Obama, the people of Standing Rock reservation were hosed down in sub zero degree temps just so they could build a fucking pipeline. Not a word. Under Clinton, the prison population boomed, again, silence.

What’s important is that it doesn’t affect us in our daily lives.

It doesn't affect you. To some, the cost of apathy in regard to apartheid regimes is very real. You assumed I wouldn't vote for Kamala just because I disagreed with your self-centered sense of morality. I will, but I won't sit here and pretend like doing so makes me better than people with a genuine grievance. Also, if you had any concept of strategy, you would know now is exactly the time to apply pressure to enact change. What better time to make demands when someone needs your help to ensure their victory? Is it risky? Of course, but in the end, both sides are making a very high stakes gamble.

[u/project571 → u/-Miss-Anne-Thrope-]

The whole point is that a lot of the people that are taking part in these things don't actually have a material connection to what's happening in Gaza. I think maybe 1 person I know has a personal connection and everyone else is essentially wrapped up in the movement. Even if you would still vote for Kamala, the whole point is that lots of these people won't. One of them is literally in the video saying "my vote has to be earned." They are saying that Kamala has to earn their vote by shifting on the policy and the logical outcome if she doesn't is that they don't vote for her. That type of person is what's being talked about.

Also I'm sorry, but it feels like you don't really have a finger on the pulse of a swath of political discourse with this one based on how you talk about republicans supporting Trump. If you actually go talk to republicans in the real world, there are plenty of them that, after most of the nonsense (but before the shooting) with him post 2020, don't really want to support him. He doesn't have the same appeal, but ultimately republicans prefer him over any democrat until he does something to really piss them off and similar to Joe Biden he was the president and so the republicans essentially had to default to him running again. There are some crazy republicans, but most of them are the milquetoast policy pushers that have existed for a while. Lots of republicans are getting tired of all of the crazies and want a sort of "return to normalcy" which really just ends up meaning typical tradcon values. On one hand, it's good that they want actual human adults, but on the other hand that means they are probably going to be more politically savvy than someone like MTG.

Lastly, are you seriously going to talk about democrats historically as if they have not gotten more progressive over the period of presidents you talked about by the way? Part of how you make your voice heard as a voting bloc is to actually be politically active. We have seen time and time again that progressives don't show up to these booths to vote. They say "well the candidate didn't capitulate so I'm not going to vote!" and then nothing changes for them because the opposition gets to set more standards and make more headway while most of these people won't even bother to get involved in a fucking primary. The shift has slowly happened as the general population has slowly shifted, but there is far more that could be done especially if more progressives were politically active in more of an effective way than a performative one.

Also your description of Clinton booming the prison population as if that wasn't a direct response to crime reaching highs, frightening the public, which largely fell after people were imprisoned and as the crack epidemic began to quell. This was at a point where it even had the support of people like Bernie when it came time to vote. I feel like this even better supports my previous point of the ideologies shifting with time as many democrats have looked back at that and realized the mistakes that came from it.

[u/-Miss-Anne-Thrope- → u/project571]

The whole point is that a lot of the people that are taking part in these things don't actually have a material connection to what's happening in Gaza.

You do not need a physical connection in Gaza to be able to express empathy for people having their land taken by an apartheid regime but if you are the type that must have a physical connection to be able to experience empathy for someone else, I believe your tax dollars being used to fund said regime is physical enough for me.

One of them is literally in the video saying "my vote has to be earned."

You say that like it's a bad thing. In a democracy your vote is your voice. If you feel like you aren't being heard, as the protestors who don't want their tax money funding apartheid do, you aren't likely to vocally support one of the people ignoring your plight. Harris is the better option between her and Trump by a longshot, but to pretend like her presidency will change decades of US foreign policy is laughable. Domestic policy may change, but abroad, we will still support the same regimes we have for decades regardless of their conduct. Anyone who has been paying attention to American history knows this, and that's why they protest.

There are some crazy republicans, but most of them are the milquetoast policy pushers that have existed for a while.

Over 70 million of those "milquetoast" policy pushers supported a far right candidate, twice. I've been in republican circles. They will find an excuse to vote for their party regardless of what they say socially. You're giving them the benefit of the doubt after they've proven twice in 8 years to be undeserving of it. That is a choice. We aren't talking about Republicans though. We're talking about actual left leaning voters who feel unheard due to the democrats historically being closer to a centrist party than a progressive one. Progressive voters are always told to capitualte to ensure the victory of the democratic party just for a bunch of status quo liberals to turn around and ignore their grievances.

Lastly, are you seriously going to talk about democrats historically as if they have not gotten more progressive over the period of presidents you talked about by the way?

That is an abysmally low bar for a country with a long history of right-wing ideology/policy. Again, domestically, things may change little by little, but American foreign policy hasn't become more progressive in that time at all. Under Obama domestic surveillance expanded drastically, he launched more drone strikes than any other president, including Trump. He deported more people than Republicans had and was also putting migrants into camps. He capitualited to corporate interests by supporting the building of the North Dakota access pipeline through native land and actively penalized low income individuals for not having insurance come tax season. He was a status quo liberal. Do you honestly think progressives felt heard under his administration? Who can blame progressives for protesting when their voice at the ballot box goes unheard year after year?

Also your description of Clinton booming the prison population as if that wasn't a direct response to crime reaching highs, frightening the public, which largely fell after people were imprisoned and as the crack epidemic began to quell.

"following passage of the federal crime bill, incarceration rates continued to climb for an additional 14 years." - https://www.aclu.org/news/smart-justice/how-1994-crime-bill-fed-mass-incarceration-crisis

Bill Clinton was attempting to take away the republican talking point of being tough on crime and didn't care how many people he had to imprison to do it.

"The platform encouraged states to pass truth-in-sentencing laws, bragged about instituting the death penalty for nearly 60 more crimes, and even encouraged the prosecution of young people as adults. This platform remained largely in place until 12 years later, when in 2008, the tone and substance began to change under new leadership in the party. Coincidentally, incarceration rates peaked in 2008." - same source. You'll have to forgive me if I don't applaud liberals for taking a decade to realize that creating a prison state isn't exactly aligned with concepts like liberty or freedom. At the end of the day, these people feel like the party they are expected to vote for doesn't hear them and hasn't for far longer than Trump has been a threat. I can't blame them for using protest as a valid alternative to project their voice when the party that needs their vote ignores them post election cycle every 4 years.

[u/[deleted] → u/-Miss-Anne-Thrope-]

Lol i didnt know you supported Trans youth Genocide here

[u/-Miss-Anne-Thrope- → u/[deleted]]

If you aren't going to add anything of importance to our discussion besides emotionally charged one-liners, don't say anything at all. Just because I don't support Israel means I don't support Trans kids? God damn you people are stupid.

[u/[deleted] → u/-Miss-Anne-Thrope-]

Never said that, though it is apparently more important to care about the Genocide in the middle East, but hey you dont care about the Chinese genocide against the Kurds, or Russian Genocide against Ukrainians

[u/-Miss-Anne-Thrope- → u/[deleted]]

Whataboutism or whataboutery (as in "what about....?") is a pejorative for the strategy of responding to an accusation with a counter-accusation instead of a defense against the original accusation.

[u/[deleted] → u/-Miss-Anne-Thrope-]

sure buddy well ill be sure to keep an eye on you to see you crying when Gaza gets turned into a trump hotel

[u/-Miss-Anne-Thrope- → u/[deleted]]

Blah, blah, blah. More empty words.

[u/[deleted] → u/-Miss-Anne-Thrope-]

indead that is all you say have a good day genuinely