I was talking to a dear friend of mine in her 80s when the Biden news came in. She’s a Dem but had been wavering on voting at all, disgusted by the last few months
She instantly snapped “Well don’t expect me to vote now.”
I stared at her & nearly started crying. I begged: “You HAVE to. It’s so important. If not for you, for me, for us. For my sweet kid who doesn’t know people can be hated for who they are yet.”
She went pale. “Ok ok you’re right. I will. I promise.”
Talk to people. Everyone.
@Catvalente why would this change actually deter someone. I can't understand.
The decision that most people understand is consumer buying decisions. It's what they understand and practice daily.
So they tend to act like the candidates are two movies playing at the same multiplex. They think that if both movies look bad, and they refuse to go to either, then the movie studios will both panic and go oh no! We'll have to try harder to get people's interest, neither of these movies are good enough!
They think they can boycott the political process, basically. But this isn't a consumer buying decision.
The reality is closer to if you decide to skip both movies, then the movie you thought looked like the worst one gets your ticket money right from your account. One of the two flicks gets your money, like it or not, you only get to decide which one.
That inability to understand that this isn't a consumer buying decision makes them do weird things that don't make sense.
@jcschue @capnthommo @Catvalente
To offer a perspective from the non-voter, neither I nor anyone else I know in the principled non-voting community is unaware of the way the electoral process works.
But there's a concept talked about during the Cold War concerning how one of the particular indignities of authoritarianism was being forced to participate in your own degradation. Repeat the propaganda. Believe the Official Truth. Engage in the ritual mechanisms of the regime. Etc.
@jcschue @capnthommo @Catvalente
What you're looking at is a variation on that.
We _know_ we're gonna get fucked either way.
But we can at least spare ourselves the ritual humiliation of _asking_ for it.