Source is Jerky Turkey by Tex Avery
I really despise this kind of both sidesism. Because the sides are demonstrably different.
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Terrible take. Just because the system sucks doesn’t mean there’s no nuance between the two.
This attitude has spurred apathy and allowed Republicans to stifle progress.
Just a reminder that one side wants to end school lunches for children starving. One side tried to end DACA. One side overturned R.v.Wade. but please, keep telling us how they are “both the same”
How do you ever expect to get out of having a lesser or more evil option if people keep supporting the right wing Democratic party. At some point things have to change, and voting blue no matter who won’t achieve that.
Sure. First get us a majority in both houses, then we can talk about meaningful policy change. Until then it’s just virtue signaling. People keep expecting miracles to happen when they won’t even do the bare minimum to show up to polls and local elections. It’s so stupid.
People don’t vote when they don’t feel represented. Kind of weird to vote first and hope for policy after.
I wonder if people don’t feel represented because incremental change is not sexy or exciting. Policy takes time, the Revolution is more interesting to talk about. I don’t know. It seems people have weird conceptions about how politics works.
Democrats consistently support ranked choice voting, Republicans consistently ban & overturn RCV. If you want rights, vote for Dems. It really is that simple
What a spectacularly stupid take.
Both sides being bad isn’t both sides being the same, and I’ve got to wonder what your media diet is if you think this - you a big Tim Pool fan?
If Dems don’t carry a majority in both houses no meaningful change will happen. As long as no one shows up to the polls and local elections it’s pointless to sit here and jerk each other off about how bad the Dems are. Unless of course you want to be an accelerationist, then keep dreaming about the big revolution while kids go to school without lunch vouchers and DACA citizens losw their residency status.
I think there is a bit of a misunderstanding here. From an European perspective you do basically only have one party. It ranges from quite a bit to the right to the right extreme. You don’t get to choose through elections - the two wings of the party decide whom you get to choose from. That’s not to dissimilar to the system in obvious dictatorships like Iran, where the candiates are pre-selected by the powers that be.
Obviously voting for the quite a bit to the right neoliberals is less bad than voting for the extreme right fascists. That goes without saying. But don’t pretend like there is a real choice here.
From a perspective ignorant to the competing factions within our parties and their influence, I understand. However, I’m not going to pretend it’s an accurate or useful perspective.
I had a similar discussion with a Chinese person criticising their ruling party.
From a perspective ignorant to the competing factions within our parties and their influence, I understand.
This is almost exactly the same thing they said.
I’m not trying to put down the USA. I’m trying to make people aware that improvement is needed and that their democracy isn’t as democratic as it should be, or as they might think it to be.
That’s the beautiful part. I don’t blame CCP members doing their best to make things better in a shitty system. We must all do what we can to improve things for everyone with the hand we’re dealt. That’s all we can ever do and all we can ask of each other.
There are things worse about the American system than China’s, but the ability to criticize our government means there’s more we can do to organize ourselves and undermine the popularity of plutocrats. Our system sucks, but I can’t stand people who take that as a reason to sit at home doing nothing.
That simply isn’t true. In France the RN and REM are quite different and they correspond roughly in views to the republicans and democrats respectively. Same for the CDU and AFD in Germany. It would be true to say that Americans only have right wing parties, but one is centre right and the other is extremist right. European parties also elect their own leaders, that’s nothing special. But we see these positions as distinct identities here too, and they obviously are.
Before I went further and further left, I’d agree that both sides are different, since I could easily see where they were different.
The further left I got, the more similar they looked, since the left wing and right wing of the tiny american overton window is not far apart at all, to the point you could possibly call them different wings of the same party.
Sure, that comparison has fallen apart with American fascism entering the mainstream, and for people wedged by the anti-lgbt republicans the differences are very obvious and simple. Even for a radical leftist like myself, there is an obvious better party, but I feel like my hand is forced. I’m voting for a party that doesn’t support my views (other than some social issues) solely because the alternative is fascism, and that’s a shitty feeling.
Unfortunately, people who have no representation within the US politics, notably leftists, see that both parties have the same views on most issues they truly care about. For example, someone who wants the repeal of the patriot act will notice that both parties support it (even though there are some democrats dissenting). Someone who wants real climate protections will be disappointed to notice that the changes supported by the democrats is not going to do much, if anything at all. Granted, they don’t support the rolling back of protections. God forbid you are a socialist and see the most socialist person in congress is Sanders. Even worse if you are an anarchist and see that everyone (or at least everyone I know of) is pro big-government (especially the so called libertarians). I could go on with police reform/abolition, indigenous rights, prison reform/abolition, healthcare, military policy, Palestine, and others.
The privileged perspective of those that don’t have their rights controlled by politics.
Yeah, Missouri republicans tried to make it illegal to get trans related healthcare even as an adult if you had autism. But sure both sides are the same. I guess from their ivory bunker.
Yeah, shit like this is a big part of why I haven’t sought diagnosis or help for my autism or gender shit even though they’re ruining my fucking life. Hahahahahahahelpme
On the other hand, China.
This is so far removed from the current political context that it’s like comparing apples and oranges to apples and stones.
Or more acutely, a brain and a steaming smooth pile of shit that the republicans choose to use instead.
Okay but which side is chanting “kill f*ggots, kill all transgenders” at the rally?
Bothe sydes badde
This but unironically, as a european I can’t imagine having only two choices on such an enormously important choice for a democracy
I hope when the fascists rise in your country you recognize that liberals are indescribably better than the least evil fascist. If Trump wins, I’m dead, voting is dead, and leftists will be the first against the wall. If Biden wins, the presidency remains only a small part of the equation.
Elections for representatives are often more consequential than having a more progressive president. State races are more obviously important thanks to issues like abortion, but they’ve always mattered. Some states even have a certain degree of direct democracy. Whether one should vote against a fascist dictator shouldn’t even be a conversation. We really should discuss the rest of the ballot and how we can get active in our community, but noooo. We have to talk about what should be the easiest fucking choice in our lives.
I hope when the fascists rise in your country you […]
Sanest US policy wonk.
I don’t know even know of a well informed, good faith position, left or right, where one would deny that Republicans are fascists. Some foolish leftists might say that all capitalists are fascists, but they still recognize Republicans as basically Nazis. Some fascists might argue they aren’t fascists, but if you actually fall for that, you’re dumber than dirt. A brain smoother than a mirror and smaller than a pea.
[Comment on electoral diversity]
[Fascism rant]
[Comment on insanity of fascism rant]
[Fascism rant]
Sanest US policy wonk.
If I’m reading between the lines right, I think their issue is that they’re objecting to the notion of there being two parties to choose from. In their eyes there’s only one choice, as the other is undesirable. Which if anything supports your point (possibly unintentionally).
That said responding to a comment on electoral diversity with talk about getting shot next to a wall is unhinged.
Their issue is that US politics gives you brainworms. “I voted for Kodos” was already a joke in 1996, and as the argument gets less and less convincing the advocacy will get more and more unhinged.
I’m vaguely reminded about a comment I read about the poorest Americans voting for tax cuts and against welfare: The argument is that they were so immiserated that they’re grasping for any straw offered; And if you try and get them to stop and think about what they’re doing, they start ranting at you, because they don’t have time for debate and game theory, they’re barely threading water as is, they need help now.
The US parties are weird.
Because there’s no PR, anyone who wants to be effective has to join one of the parties. Because of that, diversity in each party is way higher than you see in places that use party list PR.
For example, the Democrats have both Alrxandria Ocasio Cortez, who describes herself as a democratic socialist, and Joe Manchin, a fairly conservative former coal exec from West Virginia.
The real interesting bit of American elections tends to be the primaries, where all the voters registered with a party vote on who their candidate should be. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez got elected because she defeated the incumbent Democrat in the primary.
In 2020, everyone from Bernie Sanders to billionaire Michael Bloomberg ran in the Democratic primary. There was some real choice there until Biden won and it became just Trump vs Biden.
The democrat side is objectively worse. You have to walk to the opposite side of the well to reach the handle. What did the artist mean by this?
Nah, it’s good planning. While you stand there turning the handle, you have an excellent view of the town and all that’s going on. On the Republican side, you have to work with your back to all that’s going on, with little to look at but the fence
These other guys are insane! Just look at their well!
Not to mention their audacity for choosing that kind of bell for their chapel!
Also they enslave brown people over there.
Just look at those weirdos, living on the red side if the fence (I’m assuming they’re red on both sides)
Maybe americans are poorly divided into two groups.
A poor Democrat and a poor Republican have more in common than a poor Democrat/Republican and a rich Democrat/Republican.
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This frame is around 1:04
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