Something I see a lot in the Fediverse and left wing spheres is people rejecting, or making enemies of imperfect allies. The video I shared paints a great picture of what it’s like.
Here is some examples I’ve seen, and what reactions they’ve been met with.
“I ditched Gmail for Proton” is met with “That’s terrible the CEO is a Trump boot licker”
“Posts on r/BuyCanadian” is met with “Why are you still using Reddit, it’s American?”
“I’m pro trans but, there are some things I’m not 100% onboard with” is met with “Harsh criticism & Ban”
“I sold my diesel SUV for an electric KIA” is met with “You shouldn’t support China or drive a SUV, buy European instead”
“I switched to Brave instead of Chrome” is met with “Brave sucks its American and still part of chromium”
etc.
I so often see people harshly criticize and alienate people that are mostly on their side, and might in the near future be fully on their side.
Instead I’d like to see responses like
“Hey fantastic that you switched to Proton away from Gmail, consider moving to Migadu as they’re an even better solution”
“Awesome that you’re buying Canadian, while you’re at it consider checking out Lemmy or PieFed”
“Great job switching to Electric, next time consider buying a smaller European car there are many great reasons why they are better”
“Great that you’re pro-trance, what’s stopping your from being onboard with XYZ? Maybe I can change your mind?”
“Nice Brave is already a lot better than Chrome, even better would be LibreWolf, also make sure to try out Kagi or Qwant instead of google”
You don’t change someone’s mind by criticizing them, you need to have a discussion and bring them over, tone matters. How do we stop these criticisms and alienating imperfect allies?
As big Voltaire said: “perfect is the enemy of good”.
There’s dozens of reasons why the average person can’t commit to being the best; most altruistic person in the world. I think even making the minor changes and starting the ball rolling should be seen as a positive though rather than gatekeeping the route to fully embracing a concept - whether it’s greener travel; fairer social policies; or sustainable living.
I’ve had a bit of stick recently for saying I’m trying to reduce my meat intake - purely from an environmental point of view. It’s frustrating when you’re looked down upon for not taking the opportunity to go full vegan - it’s not a goal that I’m against but fuck me, one step at a time!
Same again with purchasing an EV - yes there’s issues with the procurement and disposal of rare metals and the increased use of rubbers and micro plastics due to the weight, but motherfucker I don’t care about that at present - I’m just happy that my emissions are coming down and I’m saving a bit of cash.
Politically, I’ve historically voted Lib Dem but get grief for being a yellow Tory. I’m like bitch I can’t stand the Tories - but there’s no Green candidate in my area, and I just want to start pushing the stats towards the left to make it more appealing for parties to field more social or left-leaning candidates.
The all or nothing approach does my tits in as well but hey ho, you can only do the best with what you’ve got.
FWIW not everyone can thrive on 100% plant-based diet due to genetic differences.
I’m lucky enough to have a better option in my part of the UK, but for so long as we have FPTP then I am completely with you that tactical voting for the least bad viable option is the best strategy on election day. I’ve said to friends that I would even vote Tory… if that was the only opposition to Reform in my constituency. Less bad is always still less bad, even if it remains terrible in its own right
Fucking hell that’s some real Alfred Hitchcock shit that. You should write horror novels!
Ultimately though I would agree, it’s whatever helps you to sleep at night with your decision, with the obvious alternative of drawing a comedy penis on the ballot paper for the pure satisfaction of knowing that a civil servant counting on the night gets to admire your artwork.