• UsernameHere@lemy.lol
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    17 days ago

    They are either trying to trick people into not voting against the GOP or they have been tricked themselves.

    “Both sides are the same” has been a bad faith argument I’ve heard from conservatives for decades.

    • PugJesus@lemmy.worldOP
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      17 days ago

      or they have been tricked themselves.

      Worse. They think martyrdom and purity politics are preferable to making any sort of actual difference. They have to keep their souls pure, you see.

      It’s religion for the irreligious.

      • floo@retrolemmy.com
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        17 days ago

        I think that’s a little simpler than that: one of those options requires a great deal of risk, while the other does not. It takes a lot of courage to stand up to the current system and fight for change.

        Not everyone can be brave.

        I’m not trying to make an excuse for these people and their cowardice, I’m just trying to offer a better explanation.

        • grue@lemmy.world
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          17 days ago

          I’m not trying to make an excuse for these people and their cowardice

          Good thing, too, because that explanation would only increase my contempt for them, LOL!

          • floo@retrolemmy.com
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            17 days ago

            It’s funny you mentioned this because I was thinking about this before you commented: if these people are simply stupid and weak, is it really right to feel contempt for them? It’s not that they made a conscious choice to be this way. I understand being resentful, which I am too, but is it really ethical to feel contempt for someone when it’s an involuntary character flaw that may not be able to be remedied?

            It feels like judging someone for having a mental or psychological disability. I have pity for them. And I feel that those who can should do for those who can’t. Because that’s the only useful thing I can take from the situation, the only solution I can see. Because this sort of thing can’t be avoided, it’s just one of those things we, as a society, have to get through. But there are better ways of getting through it then pointing fingers and blaming the weak and stupid for being weak and stupid when it’s not their fault.

            Smart people who do stupid things, and those who are willfully, ignorant, obviously that’s a choice for which I have contempt. But for those who were too weak and too stupid?

            I don’t know… It’s just something I was thinking about.