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I agree, but this is still a good opportunity to interrogate our assumptions about this, and particularly to listen to folks born out of wedlock to check if those assumptions are at all accurate to their experiences.
I agree, but this is still a good opportunity to interrogate our assumptions about this, and particularly to listen to folks born out of wedlock to check if those assumptions are at all accurate to their experiences.
Late response (sorry!) but wanted to let you know that I appreciated the comment and details. Personally, this doesn’t convince me he’s a tankie, but that’s largely because I’m not familiar enough with Hakeem to know he’s a tankie, nor do I know what video you were referring to. Which is not to say you’re outright wrong — just that I would want to see more specifics to change my opinion, is all. All the same, I appreciate the effort and am happy to better understand your position.
I do somewhat agree with your definition of a tankie, for what it’s worth. I don’t think saying the GOP and DNC are both bad is necessarily tankie behavior, but the rest makes sense. This said, I’ve personally seen extremely little defense of Russia from any far-left discourse, including communities close to Second Thought, and from what I hear from those communities China is still very divisive. You’ve clearly encountered worse though, and my experiences are limited, so take them for what you will.
Unfortunately, I don’t think voting is going to be what changes any of this, sadly. At least, not on a federal level.
That, and I don’t think I want to see the Libertarians win either, if I’m honest.
I genuinely think now you’re a paid lobbyist. There is so much evidence
Look, I get you strongly disagree with them, but please don’t fall into the trap of thinking people who disagree strongly with you aren’t real.
Anti-capitalists have many, many issues with the Biden admin and Democrats generally, for a whole host of reasons. It doesn’t mean we want Trump to win, think he’s equally as bad, or want you to not vote. And it most certainly doesn’t make us paid shills. It just means we want better, and we are often frustrated at how “better” is never an option.
I can’t speak for what Flash Mob’s beliefs are directly, but I can absolutely say I’ve been in a similar position. It is beyond aggravating to have no options that actually represent your beliefs, but to nonetheless have so many people around you insist that you should be happy about one of the awful options because the candidate in question – who is doing the things you hate – sometimes pays lip service to what you actually wanted. Or because it’s a woman doing it, now. Or, most frequently, because the Republicans managed to dig to an even deeper circle of Hell this time.
Our options are terrible, and we’re pissed about it. But it doesn’t make us not real. All that accusations like that do is prevent people from being understood.
Worth remembering that many responses in politics are made impulsively due to frustration, and angry, impulsive arguments tend not to be well-researched. We’re all tense, here — it’s hard not to be, these days.
I’m not who you were replying to, but:
It’s not so much that Trump and Kamala are the same. They aren’t, obviously – and for the record, the video agrees – it’s more that the Democrats here don’t really fix anything the Republicans break. Sure, Kamala is pro-abortion, et cetera, but how certain can I be that she’ll actually act on the principles she espouses? If the Biden admin is anything to go by, I can expect the occasional half-measure at best. Meanwhile, there are solid odds that she will continue to fund or otherwise enable the genocide in Gaza, at least tacitly.
I’m going to vote for her, but not because she’s going to help me or anyone I care about. I’m voting for her because it is harm reduction; Kamala may be a neoliberal pro-cop warmonger, but the alternative is neo-Hitler. As far as presidential tickets go, I don’t have much of a choice, here.
This is something I occasionally hear and keep not understanding, and it makes me wonder if the word “tankie” is being thrown around a bit fast and loose. Last time I heard this, the reasoning referenced a Vaush video, which is… less than convincing.
My working definition of “tankie” would be someone who unironically full-on likes China*, which is not a take I’ve ever known J.T. to have. Do you use a different definition than me, or do you have specific things you’re upset about?
* Bear in mind I mean "likes China" here, not "thinks China and the U.S. are equally bad."
With you here. The title made it sound like a lot more than it actually was.
Not to mention the obscene fees with using it. Crypto is rife with issues.
I think we’re looking at a future where Google ensures we don’t ever have to worry about making such a choice.
Hang on, why do we care what Trump says? We already know he’s full of shit, why give him even more exposure?
This really doesn’t make Brave look any better though, seeing as it has its own version of “privacy-focused” attention-monetization schemes (Basic Attention Tokens) and its own fair share of controversies. Not to mention being Chromium under the hood and being developed by a company headed by Brandon Eich of all people — a massive homophobe.
None of which make Firefox impeccable or ever did. But all of which made Brave decidedly worse to me, including after this all happened.
I… can’t tell if this is sarcasm?
The core problem is that there are so many things that can help prevent the problems from arising to begin with that need to be done before policing is even considered. Better healthcare, housing, education, etc. Police are, at best, a last resort solution to desperate cases, and they tend to be hammers looking for nails as a result. It might be possible to do it well, yes, but it’s very hard, and you should really be looking for a less antagonistic solution first.
To take your idea of “speeding at 100+” as an example: This could be solved by replacing cars with public transport, such that people don’t really have so many opportunities to go 100+ to begin with, or by using traffic calming techniques to make it feel too unsafe for anyone to want to try, or using alternative road layouts to make it significantly harder to pull off at all (e.g. roundabouts). There are many options, almost all of which are better – and less punitive – than the police.
Also, tangential, but…
crisis councilors aren’t going to be driving trying to perform a PIT maneuver.
Of course not; PIT maneuvers would kill people.
Honestly? Considering how little the police actually do to help anyone, versus the huge amount of harm they cause, I’m not entirely convinced that “Get rid of all police” wouldn’t be a good idea, even if they got replaced with basically nothing. And I’ve seen a lot of leftists who felt similarly. So “those on the other side” aren’t entirely wrong; they just don’t understand how incredibly bad police are.
This doesn’t mean we should replace the police with literally nothing — obviously things investing in social services and crisis intervention would be great. It’s just that I find it hard to do worse than what currently exists.
Just wanted to say that I really enjoyed this article, and in addition the comments you’ve been making here on top have also been of great quality besides. Thanks you for posting this!
I think you’re viewing the issue from a strategic lens, whereas this article is looking at it from a moral one. Obviously, we can’t expect a state to be even-handed with its application of violence for the very reasons you state here. But obviously… that doesn’t make it okay.
In short, I don’t think you’re actually disagreeing with the article at all.
This implies that how we react to this will have any bearing whatsoever on how the right will treat us. It won’t. They will be as mean to us as they can physically manage, regardless of how we act, because they hate us.
I find comments like these on places like Beehaw almost amusing in a way. It’s like watching a drunk person stumble from a bar all the way to a courthouse and getting upset the clerk won’t sell them more liquor.
Seriously though, I’m not sure what you hope to accomplish here. Just about everybody here disagrees and isn’t keen on a take like this, and I’d figure you’d have been able to tell as much before posting. So… are you just here to argue?
This was always my biggest concern about voting Democrat in the coming election. I’ve since been convinced I should regardless – a realization of how little impact focusing on the presidency actually has was what changed my mind – but I could’ve been swayed far sooner if someone had provided me with a more reliable way to keep the DNC accountable back then.
To me, the Democrat party is failure by any standard bar the low one of “better than Republicans,” and that’s pathetic. I can’t be excited for any candidate they field unless I can be given good reason to finally trust them. And considering their sordid history, that’s gonna take a lot.