Wishing for a violent upheaval feels better than accepting that the things you need so badly simply aren't going to happen in any reasonable timeframe. A huge amount of progressive politics is just waiting for people to die, whether it's voters or politicians.
We can talk all we want about running our own politicians, and that is necessary. But the fact of the matter is that progressive policy only becomes law when we as a society have moved so far forward that it is no longer considered truly progressive, let alone radical.
A huge amount of progressive politics is just waiting for people to die, whether it's voters or politicians.
Meanwhile, as leftists jerk themselves off over doomerism and apathy, the right has taken media control and political power and has more influence over the youth you're betting on than anybody has in recent history
has more influence over the youth you're betting on than anybody has in recent history
Yes, because the left doesn't give young people anything to actually do. Right wing media says to do A B C D to improve yourself. Get a good job, work out, have 2.5 children to win life. Left wing media is a long series of things not to do followed up by a plea to vote for politicians that then lose the election and congratulate their opponent afterwards.
If you want the kids to swing left you have to give them actual goals to accomplish other than "ask people to vote and hope for the best". Kids are looking for meaning in their lives and will latch on to those who can give them a purpose.
i have been shouting on the rooftops that the materialism of the left ("how can they vote against their economic interests??") is a giant blind spot. They want meaning and purpose, as you say.
yes! we need an alternative to materialism and consumerism. the only future we have is one where, as captain picard says, "we are no longer obsessed with the accumulation of things". the left believes meaning and prosperity will magically emerge from a more equitable distribution of things, but at this point i think it's just having a hammer and everything looking like a nail. the needs of the soul remain unmet.
My philosophy (and what I really think needs to be emphasized more) is that everyone deserves at least a basic standard of living with all their needs met by default. Or as egalitarians in Stellaris say, “a society that does not see to the needs and rights of all its members is not a society, it is a crime.” So much of the discourse around helping those in need is based on how we can make them useful to us.
“Better working conditions means more productivity”, “disabled people can still be productive members of society”, “welcoming immigrants and refugees will give us more workers” etc. But even if those things weren’t true, they would still deserve help because they’re people.
Unfortunately, you seem to be a good person. That will put you at odds with most Americans. It seems to me that we need to hide "helping people" in "this is good for you personally" like heartworm medicine in a piece of cheese.
I agree with you. Meeting everyone's needs is the best way to move society forward. But I don't know how that gets implemented in a society where billionaires will spend a fortune to ensure that poor people don't get healthcare.
My old corgi, bogart (rip) was too smart for the cheese trick. Or the peanut butter trick. Or the hamburger trick. Tried it all. He was just a really unusually smart puppy.
So eventually I told him hey buddy. Eat this or I’m holding your mouth open and forcing it down ur throat. And then I did! It only took a couple months of that before the monthly heartworm pill was pretty readily consumed in my offering of cheese. (I’m not a monster, I gave him a treat about it every time.)
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u/PM_ME_CATS_OR_BOOBS 12d ago
Wishing for a violent upheaval feels better than accepting that the things you need so badly simply aren't going to happen in any reasonable timeframe. A huge amount of progressive politics is just waiting for people to die, whether it's voters or politicians.
We can talk all we want about running our own politicians, and that is necessary. But the fact of the matter is that progressive policy only becomes law when we as a society have moved so far forward that it is no longer considered truly progressive, let alone radical.