#but yeah sure let's act like it's all a giant right wing psyop

[talysalankil]

i'm sorry but like…harm reduction for WHOM? the victims of multiple US-sponsored genocides? the people who lost access to abortion because biden and the dems did nothing to enshrine it even though they knew roe would be overturned? (but they sure had fundraisers ready to go when it was!) the people who have received no help with rent, with the increased cost of living, who didn't receive any financial aid during pandemic lockdowns? the people who live on all of earth and have to deal with the US being the biggest obstacle to the fight against climate change? it sounds like "harm reduction" means "harm reduction for me, please stop making me think about or face the bad things, let them happen Over There instead, where Over There can take care of itself."

like. the planet. is in the state it's in because we've been stuck in this endless cycle for decades. can't criticize Dems when they just got into office. can't criticize because the midterms are coming—and also vote in the midterms! can't criticize because the presidential is coming—and also vote in the presidential! and when they're not in office, can't criticize them or demand they change anything anything about their strategy that has just been proven to be a losing one—no, actually, they simply must shift further right to Appeal To Undecided Voters.

all this over people threatening to not vote? Over people threatening not to vote for a specific candidate, before the primaries have even started? when the fuck else can you say you don't want someone to represent you? why are you acting like political parties are set in stone? there are people still alive who were of voting age when the civil rights movement and the southern strategy basically swapped where your two parties stood on race. do you think democrats supported civil rights because activists said "yes don't worry, we'll vote for you even if you don't!"? do you realize how bleak you sound when you say there's literally no alternative than this?

if you had even 1% as much ire to direct at the people actually causing harm than the (mostly disenfranchised) people who draw the line at genocide you'd already do way more ~harm reduction~.

if you're only voting because you're afraid of the consequences of not voting, i don't think you're having free and fair elections my guys. you're doing the same pageantry as in a one-party dictatorship where the act of voting is pure pageantry to give the Party's Chosen Leader the veneer of legitimacy. the threat of violence if you don't comply just comes with more elaborate steps.

People are talking about not voting for Biden.

Again.

I'm just so tired of this argument.

I just can't do Trump again.

I can't.

His incompetence killed so many people. A panel estimated 40% of COVID deaths could have been averted.

One of those deaths was my mother.

She was killed because people didn't trust the vaccines and they didn't think masks were worth the inconvenience. That man could have gone on TV and said "This is the Trump vaccine and it is great." He could have sold fucking MAGA masks on his website. He had 100% influence over his dipshit followers and could have used that for the greater good. But he was too vain to wear a mask in public and bungled the vaccine rollout.

And now I worry some of my trans loved ones may not make it through another far right administration. They have this giant target on their back right now and conservatives seem determined to eradicate as many trans lives as possible.

I wrote a whole ass post about how I didn't care for Biden. I still don't. But when I try to imagine what a right wing administration would be doing right now... that seems like it would be a nightmare orders of magnitude worse than the current nightmare.

As someone with an untreatable chronic illness, I know the feeling of being presented with choices where all of them suck. And I have had to survive by choosing the least sucky option over and over.

It feels bad every single time.

I hate it.

And I still fucking choose.

It should be different. There should be better choices. I shouldn't have to choose the least bad thing among all bad things.

But there are people and things in this world I feel are worth sticking around for, so I continue to choose the least sucky thing.