#need a say too

[shootwithintenttokill]

Why don't young people vote: A hypothesis

In the 2019 UK General Election just 47% of 18-24 yos voted, compared to 67.3% across the country, and over 80% of over-65's (House of Commons Library). The 2020 US Presidential election did slightly better, but still only 55% of 18-29 yos voted in comparison to 66% turnout. With just a few days until the General Election, where low expected turn outs mean every vote will count, and the Presidential and French Elections looming, I came up with a hypothesis why.

Long post so under the cut, the tldr is that young people are taught in schools to believe that right and wrong answers are the only answers that exist, and being wrong has a larger penalty than doing nothing, and that young people don't feel the direct affects of policies in the same way older people with families or mortgages or taxes do, partly because policies never target them because they don't vote.

IF YOU ARE READING THIS, YOU HAVE LOOKED PASSED THE HEADLINE SO ARE PROBABLY MORE INFORMED THAN THE AVERAGE VOTER. VOTE FOR YOUR FAVOURITE POLICY. VOTE TACTICALLY. VOTE AGAINST A PARTY YOU DONT LIKE. VOTE FOR THE PERSON WITH THE LEAST STUPID HAIRSTYLR. VOTE.

(Also, if you are UK and voting on the 4th, remember to bring ID.)

Note: I do NOT study politics as anything more than an interest in current affairs. I am NOT aligned with any political party, and this is a hypothesis based on a very small sample size that has NOT been reviewed or tested in any way. This is simply me, speaking as a young person in the UK whose talked to other young people, both those interested in politics and not.

A lot of people theorise it's to do with dissatisfaction among younger voters, who feel their voices don't get heard, or they don't like any of the candidates so don't want to vote for any of them. But talking to my friends, of those I spoke to who said they didn't think they would vote, most said it was because they didn't know how politics works to an extent that made them feel informed enough to vote, rather than any kind of dissatisfaction with the system itself.

However, with young people in general having more access to social media, the Internet, and the wealth of resources both provide, it doesn't ring true that they would be generally less informed of politics to such a greater extent than the average informed voter (defined in British Parliamentary Debate as a person who reads the headlines) to skew the statistics this much.

So here are my two theories that together influence a young person to feel uninformed enough to not want to vote:

School and the education system teaches you not to vote. Work and adult life teaches you to.

When you are at school, you are taught there is a single right answer. It is correct in every aspect, and schools reward you for using the right methods, and finding it, while penalising you for not. You therefore begin to see the world in the same black and white way: every decision you make has a correct method, leading to a correct answer. A mistake can be penalised worse than not answering at all - either by losing marks in tests, or embarrassment in front of you peers for making a mistake out loud. The average person's first job, mostly part time with low experience requirement and lower pay, is the same, often having a list of rules or instructions with little free reign to get you used to a working environment while ensuring you don't make any blunders.

When you reach adulthood, and the world of work, this all but gets thrown out the window. For most people, their job isn't "i can't ever make a mistake". In a job you do get worse penalties for doing nothing than making mistakes, and decisions are no longer so black and white, often less 'what's the right way' as much as 'what's they way that will get me the answer my boss/customer/I will be happy with'.

Politics is the same way. It is making an, often fairly uninformed, desicion based on unkeepable promises and outright lies, where the decision isn't "who is right" or even "who do i agree with the most" so much as "who do I disagree with the least". It's doing exactly what you were always trained to never do in school: feeling uninformed or unsure or unhappy with an answer, but making it anyway, because this time, not making it will be worse.

The older generation sees short term effects more clearly, making them feel more 'informed'

Everyone is affected by politics and the policies the government make. I am not even trying to deny that. But individual policies, the shorter term changes the government makes in the interest of a longer term plan, are more keenly felt the older you are.

Mortgage and tax hikes, cuts to benefits, and other monetary effects are felt generally by over-35's, who are more likely to be homeowners, pay more tax, or are trying to raise a family on benefits, compared to younger people whose monetary problems tend to be less affected by government whims, (excluding cost of living crisises, of course). Meanwhile, longer term things, like investing in green infrastructure, or keeping hospitals running (sorry America), generally don't get noticed or felt on an individual basis unless you actively work in the public sector, so people in general feel less informed on, even of they have the interest in them.

This is also a failure on the part of candidates. Because young people don't feel like policies affect them so much, they are less likely to vote. Because they are less likely to vote, campaigners don't bother targeting them so don't make any policies that will really affect them, one way or another. So young people feel less 'informed' because politics doesn't seem to affect them, so they are less likely to vote....

What can you do as a young person?

Vote. Bring up the statistics and remind parties young people care, so they should care about young people too. Remember that there is no right answer. This isn't school. No one will ever know for certain who you voted for, nor why. Don't worry about reading all the 100-and-something page manifestos or watching all the debates or reading every news story if you don't want to. Your vote still matters. Pick a policy you care about and decide who says they'll solve it the best. Vote tactically if you are in the UK or another First Past the Post system and just don't like the current government (search tactical voting for more information). Decide who you like the least, and vote for the party most likely to beat them. If you really really can't bare to vote for any of them, spoil your ballot to make sure the statistic is recorded, so maybe next time, someone will have a policy you care about.

Most of all, remember that an election everyone thinks will be a landslide, is an election no one actually bothers to vote in. Your vote becomes all the more important.

[clownboybebop]

if you’re ever in the position to choose between giving up and accepting defeat, and actually trying to fight the ancient unkillable god that is about to peel apart reality like a string cheese, remember this: scientifically speaking, you might as well give it a shot!

1.there were trees at the beginning of the world! there were trees so long ago that they predate bacteria that causes wood to decay. when a tree fell, it would lie there in stasis and there wasn’t any way of breaking down wood xylem on a molecular level in that way.

2. it seems obvious to say, but wood eating bacteria are literally incapable of comprehending what they’re breaking down. It’s just not information conciously available to a microorganism. they don’t know what they’re deconstructing, where it came from, bacteria have no way to even fathom the existence of a tree as a concept.

3. Regardless of the facts above, the world we live in today is a world where wood inevitably decomposes

it is worth fighting the unkillable god no matter how pointless it seems. it is worth taking the risk even though youre trying to accomplish something impossible. the reality in which you live was also once reality in which trees didn’t rot. You live in a reality that allows for existence before the possibility of destruction. you live in a reality where uncomprehending microbes break down matter that is so far beyond the scope of their comprehension that it feels comical to specify something so obvious. you live in a reality that occasionally allows unshakeable physical truths to be altered with no warning.

It is worth fighting the unkillable god because trees are so old they predate the source of their destruction, and it still did not spare them. It is worth fighting the unkillable god because bacteria rots unthinkingly, because there is room in our cosmos for destruction without comprehension on the part of the destroyer. It is worth fighting the unkillable god because now and then reality retracts the promise of immortality without fanfare, and when that happens there is no mercy for the ancient. the unmaking is not softer for the desecrators ignorance. for all things, existence is endless until the exact point where it ends.

so you might as well try to kill the unkillable god. it doesn’t seem likely, but at the beginning of the world, trees didn’t rot. so you never know! you never know

[cozylittleartblog]

cant tell you how bad it feels to constantly tell other artists to come to tumblr, because its the last good website that isn't fucked up by spoonfeeding algorithms and AI bullshit and isn't based around meaningless likes

just to watch that all fall apart in the last year or so and especially the last two weeks

there's nowhere good to go anymore for artists.

edit - a lot of people are saying the tags are important so actually, you'll look at my tags.

#please dont delete your accounts because of the AI crap. your art deserves more than being lost like that #if you have a good PC please glaze or nightshade it. if you dont or it doesnt work with your style (like mine) please start watermarking #use a plain-ish font. make it your username. if people can't google what your watermark says and find ur account its not a good watermark #it needs to be central in the image - NOT on the canvas edges - and put it in multiple places if you are compelled #please dont stop posting your art because of this shit. we just have to hope regulations will come slamming down on these shitheads#in the next year or two and you want to have accounts to come back to. the world Needs real art #if we all leave that just makes more room for these scam artists to fill in with their soulless recycled garbage #improvise adapt overcome. it sucks but it is what it is for the moment. safeguard yourself as best you can without making #years of art from thousands of artists lost media. the digital world and art is too temporary to hastily click a Delete button out of spite

[skeleton-squid-boy]

you have GOT to remember when watching the new doctor who that the question is not is this good. doctor who is only ever actually 'good' once a season at most. THE ONLY QUESTION IS is it fun, camp, and has aliens. also remember the worst doctor who showrunner is always the current doctor who showrunner. now go watch the new episodes as god intended like you're ten years old and still remember how to experience joy and whimsy.

[kensatou]

"we know how to move our bodies, but i didn't know how to manage my heart, so you need help for this"

hi we need to talk more about judo gold medallist christa deguchi.

[embraceyourdestiny]

to any americans who feel "paralyzed" and "dont know what to do" to help with gaza:

reading a fucking book. i beg of you.

in a time of knowledge suppression is it your duty to arm yourself with knowledge.

read about americas occupations in the middle east.

read about 9/11 from outside of america and see how they inflicted senseless harm and violence to countless amounts of people and have been suppressing your rights for the past 2 fucking decades.

read about any of the countless wars from the past 30 years. especially from a civilian's. and the victims and survivors' perspective. listen to the horror stories and do not plug your fucking ears as to what your country is doing.

and read about fucking gaza and palestine and keep up with what is happening no matter how "sad" or "uncountable" you might get.

dont look away from this.

you dont have the right to be comfortable during countless active genocides.

if you're knowledgeable, you're powerful, and our current state doesnt fucking want that.

you have the power to change things if you open your eyes and scream to the world.

wake the fuck up.

Edit: please check the reblogs there are readings and ways to help

[noirandchocolate]

Several weeks ago one of my coworkers called me over into her cubicle and gave me a very unexpected gift. Her mother passed away recently, and she'd been packing stuff up at her condo to give to relatives and sell, so the home could be sold. The mother was an avid knitter and crocheter, and when my coworker came upon her stash of equipment, she told me, she "immediately thought of me as someone who might get some use out of it."

So, I have inherited a varied collection of knitting needles and crochet hooks, cable needles, sewing needles, and, best of all, now-out-of-print pattern books, mostly for blankets, because that was what this lady loved to make most. Plus, I also have a bunch of gauge swatches she made, pinned to little bits of card covered in perfect schoolteacher handwriting setting out the patterns they were made to test.

And also...

My coworker brought another bag, full of yarn and...knitted blanket squares. Her mother's last started project, before she got too sick to continue. And she asked if there was anything I could do with it.

It turned out, there are twelve completed squares, and I quickly located the pattern book they are from amid those given to me. It's a book of 60 patterns, meant to be put together however the maker wishes into blankets of 20 squares. I figured out which of the numbered patterns were already made, and selected eight more that I thought might go well with them.

So now! I am working on completing! My coworker's mother's last knitting project!

And I really am feeling very good about doing it.

[stars-obsession-pit]

“Mom, why do you think ghosts are intrinsically evil?”

“It’s what the science says, of course!”

“No, I mean like, what were the studies? What did they actually observe”

“Ohh, I get what you mean, Danny! Well across all reputable reports of encounters with the ghosts strong enough to matter, they’ve always attacked first and never responded to attempts at communication! There’s no reason for them to do that if they’re not evil!”

“Huh…”

…

Danny, learning about Ghost Speak and how humans can’t understand it: hmm.

Danny, learning that ghosts greet each other and bond by fighting: hmmm.

[raepliica]

i think they should take turns cuddling for healing purposes

[chloesimaginationthings]

Michael learns of Jeff’s pizza from FNAF Into the pit

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Soup solves everything.

[loosethreadsofyoursoul]

[thebreakfastgenie]

It is extremely disturbing how many posts I see claiming that Roe v. Wade was overturned on Biden's watch and blaming him and the Democratic Party for it. It's disturbing on a number of levels.

First, it was Trump and Bush-appointed justices who handed down the Dobbs decision. This is a flagrant example of blaming Democrats for things Republicans did, and not coincidentally is one of the the most widely felt differences between the two parties. As a result, it's usually the first example Democrats and their allies point to; this misappropriation suggests a deliberate attempt to undercut that fact.

Secondly, and related to the first point, it obfuscates who the real enemy is, and I am comfortable using word "enemy" to describe the Republican Party because of the policies they advocate and enact. The truth is that states controlled by the Republican Party were where the effects of Dobbs are most severely felt, while states controlled by the Democratic Party are passing laws to protect abortion. It is important to know which party opposes abortion and which party supports it. If the Republicans gain control of the House, Senate, and White House, they will pass a national abortion ban, as they have done at the state level in several places.

Thirdly, blaming Biden for Dobbs demonstrates a very concerning lack of understanding of how the government functions. The judiciary is its own branch of government; judges are appointed by the president and confirmed by the senate. It doesn't matter who is president when a decision is handed down, it matters who was president when the justices were appointed. People sometimes react to this by moving the goalposts and claiming the real issue was a failure by Democrats to "codify" Roe v. Wade. I am not sure what "codify" means in this context, and I'm not sure they are either. One thing it does not mean is that congress can pass a law saying "abortion is legal forever." Republicans could easily repeal such a law and it the federal government cannot necessarily prevent states from restricting abortion at the state level. Roe v. Wade was a ruling stating that the constitution guaranteed a right to privacy, which included the right to have an abortion. This prevented abortion restrictions in a way federal law cannot. That doesn't mean passing federal law protecting abortion is a bad idea, but it isn't a foolproof protection. It's fair to argue that the Democratic Party and the left of center generally were complacent about abortion. The form of this complacency was not taking the courts seriously, while the right spent fifty years openly filling the courts with anti-abortion judges.

The last thing that worries me is that this is popping up phrased almost the exact same way all over the place. I am afraid that it is not merely incompetence, but intentional misinformation, that is then repeated by the incompetent who believe it.

I know some will probably dismiss this post as being from a "vote harder" liberal Biden supporter, but whatever your feelings about Biden, the Democratic Party, or the democratic process in the U.S., you should care about the truth. The truth is that Roe v. Wade was overturned by Republican-appointed judges and abortion bans are being enacted by Republican elected officials, and Joe Biden opposes these things. You can do with that information whatever you wish, but you denying it is dishonest.

[quadrantadvisor]

Thinking about DP x DC Jason Todd being a revenant again. Here's my scenario. Jason gets called that by some ghost. He's like "what the fuck is that supposed to mean?" He's heard the term before but he doesn't know any actual lore. He googles it. He scrolls past the Leonardo DiCaprio bear movie. He opens the wiki. Sees the words "animated corpse" and gets a chill diwn his spine. He starts reading the first section.

He closes Wikipedia.

That night he has a nightmare that his family buried him, again, this time with precautions. He wakes up in his own grave, full of stones, too heavy to move, to scream.

[crumb-crumblet-s-crumbington]

getting used to domestic life

[totalincandescense]

Im tired of them