#firebombing a walmart

[lizbethborden]

Something I'm wondering about: I follow blogs that I disagree with politically because I think it's valuable and important to see what I want to argue against. These blogs often espouse anti-voting views and will reblog lots of stuff about how evil it is to vote in the U.S. election for Harris over Trump because she's just as bad as him and won't stop the genocide in Gaza and so forth. I am seeing said blogs now talking about how it's irresponsible, even evil, for people to treat Trump's racist lies during the debate as absurd or to turn them into jokes, because they are having real-world effects on actual, for example, Haitian immigrants, because his use of his platform to spread those lies has encouraged and enflamed racist sentiment and action. I agree that although sensible people might guffaw at what he's said, there's no ignoring the fact that his words have real-world effects. What I am curious about is: if you believe--and I agree on this point--that Trump, even with no governmental powers, purposely and deliberately spreads vile, racist, anti-immigrant and anti-LGBT conspiracy theories, and that his action in doing so encourages violence against minority communities, what exactly is the correct choice for a concerned citizen to take in the coming election? If there is an action that said concerned citizen can take to prevent Trump from regaining governmental power, and with it the authority and privilege to not only spread but act upon violent hatred of minorities, and that action is voting for Harris, is that not the responsible thing to do? How is inaction--the withholding of the vote--going to prevent a dangerous actor from his actions?

[mkoookm]

[reptilia2003]

i really think some of you are just lazy…like omg what do you mean I have to do the dishes again I just did them yesterday?!?

[annabelle--cane]

jeremy heere is an "I don't really like thinking about politics but I try to be nice to people" teen and christine canigula and michael mell are two opinionated baby leftists who are going to Happen to him

[andthentheywilleatthestars]

"There's not going to be a perfect Presidential candidate that will lead us to socdem paradise you stupid slut" not as in "there's no hope" but as in we wouldn't have had the Emancipation Proclamation without people like Frederick Douglass and John Brown, we wouldn't have gotten union protection without events like the Battle of Blair Mountain, we wouldn't have had the civil rights wins of the mid-20th century without countless grassroots organizations leading boycotts and marches and mass civil disobedience and breakfast programs and showing up with guns to intimidate cops, and yes, voting is in no way mutually exclusive with any of that, but the constant demonization I've been seeing from nominal leftists of any action other than shutting up and voting blue is nothing but a hope-destroying denial of history

[fairuzfan]

[Condescending voice] "you're not going to vote? What's next, you're not going to firebomb a walmart?"

[theywontletmebeprincipal]

yeah ok fuck it, if you know what post this is about you know what post this is about. I think doxxing senators is a very good and useful tactic but you should never ever never show pictures of their very young children n imply that firebombing them to death for the random circumstance of their birth would be a good thing. what is fucking wrong with you

[faewaren]

“Don’t vote revolt” says someone who is in fact also not revolting

[anistarrose]

Anyways. Voting isn't some Faustian pact that The Establishment wants to trick you into making so it can bind your soul to the candidates you supported. Nor will it henceforth magically bar you from protesting, boycotting, and otherwise engaging in more radical avenues for change. Voting is just a kinda basic, not too specialized, but still useful tool in an activist's toolbox.

And when your entire house is falling apart, well, you can't come at it with only a screwdriver and have any hope of fixing it — but it would still be pretty ridiculous to throw your only screwdriver out the window, and try to fix your house without it, right?

(In other words: for US folks especially, look up your primary candidates now. There's probably more leftist and otherwise pro-ceasefire candidates running for offices of all levels than you realize, to say nothing of the importance of defending pro-ceasefire incumbents.)

[lizardthirty]

I can’t even begin to understand tumblr’s unique brand of anti-voting doomers. Like I’m sorry but do you actually enjoy being stressed out and miserable all the time? Do you like it that the people you care about have to live in a place that’s worse now? It’s just so baffling to me

[juney-blues]

i'm an anarcho marxist, i'm impatient. the state's supposed to wither away but if it doesn't hurry the fuck up i'll choke it with my own two hands by firebombing The People's Wal Mart

[wolrith]

cringe "i wont vote because it doesn't change anything and both sides bad and and" vs awesome "cant vote because of my walmart firebombing conviction"

[plathski]

we are getting fucked by god

[globins]

seems to be an unpopular opinion on here but I kind of think it doesn’t matter if you hold egalitarian and socially progressive values if your main political action is “convince people online that it’s pointless to try to make the world a better place and they should give up”. like doesn’t that move us away from equity and justice what

[jackawful]

Can you imagine if knitting was illegal and assholes on tumblr were like "you have to vote for 99% hitler because I know y'all aint knitting baby blankets" and encouraging people to talk about their clandestine knitting circles where the cops can see. I will point you toward patterns and publically state that knitting is good and should be decriminalized and more people should learn to knit. but you, internet user, do not get to know whether I or anyone else owns knitting needles while knitting is still illegal.

[laguzmage]

There's way way way more well written and eloquent posts about The Guy That Volunteers Twice A Week vs. The Guy That Tweets All Day but every time I see someone spending like 14 hours a day posting in defense of or to attack Joe Biden of all people I'm like surely there's gotta be a better use of this time