Demonstrate, but don’t mistake demonstrating for political action. You may find it gratifying to stand on a corner in Berkeley with a sign asking drivers to “honk if you hate fascism” and elicit lots of honks, but that’s as politically effectual as taking a warm shower. Organize people who don’t normally vote to vote for Biden. Mobilize get-out-the-vote efforts in your community. Get young people involved.

While I’d agree there’s a limit to the effectiveness of protest alone, it takes a certain kind of brain to think voteing is the more politically effective move.

  • ReadFanon [any, any]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    I’m no vooter but for a long time there I’d be goading those libs who would be cheering on the Trump babby balloon in marches or the body-shaming statue of grotesque Trump (Oh so progressive, guys! I’ll spare you my rant about size-shaming and how it’s inherently transphobic though…) by asking them what they achieved besides making themselves feel good and saying that, if they really cared about stopping Trump, instead they would have gone out to a disadvantaged neighbourhood in their area to doorknock and to offer 3 or 4 people a ride to and from the local polling booth on election day.

    Even without doing any sort of political agitation when doorknocking, the demographics of the people who they’d be connecting with would most likely have voted for the Dems over the GOP and it would have had a far more significant impact in aggregate if just 1/10th of the people who attended the protests against Trump went and did doorknocking by themselves, let alone organising a campaign to do it nationally in a more strategic way. (Although that sort of mass mobilisation scares the shit out of the DNC so of course they’d throw their weight into funneling their voterbase into insipid, do-nothing rallies instead.)

    The reactionaries are wrong about a lot of things but one thing they’re not wrong about at all is the fact that progressives love to virtue signal and that they are incredibly smug and self-satisfied about it. They thought that if enough people ridiculed Trump that he’d lose the election smh.

    Peak liberal brainrot.

    • mathemachristian[he]@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      They thought that if enough people ridiculed Trump that he’d lose the election smh

      I don’t even think they did. It just doesn’t track:

      1. make bodyshaming statue of trump

      2. le small penis funny

      3. ???

      4. trump loses

      Its just a virtue signaling circlejerk. Its a networking opportunity to find other like minded people to circlejerk and network with.

      “Oh I saw your piece on blahblah what ‘nonprofit’ do you work for?”

      “What a bold display, would you like to do an exhibition in New York? My friends cousin has an avantgarde art gallery/fashion walkway and this would just be perfect for their next display about ‘The fall of men’.”

      Trump losing was already a done deal, this was just a really easy slamdunk to showcase just how progressive one is to other progressives.

  • PKMKII [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    Standing at a corner with a sign at Berkeley isn’t going to be useful, but neither will organizing get-out-the-vote efforts to reach non-voters in the Berkeley area. Voting extra hard in a deep blue state isn’t going to do shit to sway the election.

  • stevatoo [they/them, she/her]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    Don’t snivel over or criticize Biden and the Democrats for failing to communicate more effectively.

    bait This is just priming me to get mad at the first liberal who says this to my face.