Essentially, there have been two reactions over on grad today:
- I didn’t vote, neither of the candidates were going to stop the war in the Gaza Strip, therefore, there could be no good outcome for the US, therefore I can’t be held accountable
- I voted for a third party, which Republicans will have to acknowledge and respect
We agree entirely there.
But, people are currently dying and will likely still be in larger numbers due to “allies” who care more about there own egos and performative leftism than other people. We’ve got a fascist party that has achieved, as of January, full control of the federal government and has stated that they’re going to do some genocide. The reasonable thing is to believe them.
That’s true. And yet, somehow, committing politically motivated murder remains pretty high on my list of things to not do.
I think that, perhaps, you’re not understanding. I didn’t read that as drag calling for politically-motivated murder. It was drag acknowledging that, if the fascists do a fraction of what they’ve promised, trans rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, among many others are over in this country for the lifetimes of everyone currently living and probably several generations more.
This wasn’t just another “4 years until the next election”. Democracy and human rights are not going to be restored in this country through political means. That shit’s over because of non-voters and everyone else that refused to take it seriously.
Tell me how else I am supposed to interpret this, please.
I’d recommend reading Dr. King’s letter from Birmingham Jail. Drag is coming to terms with the fact that Dr. King was right but his statement also applies to the plight of all marginalized people.
In addition, once they’re in power, fascists do not voluntarily leave while they are still alive. I’m not personally calling for violence but, non-voters have helped to remove the ballot box as a tool for any meaningful change for anyone currently living or coming generations. The courts are gone along with any hope of free and fair elections. That’s something that you need to understand. A lot of people are in complete denial of that and will remain so as the pressure ramps up.
People who remain moderates and centrists are going to be those who inform on their trans and immigrant neighbors in order to try to keep out of the line of fire and keep pretending that everything is “normal”.
I’m reading/skimming the letter now, and while I’m definitely not reading the whole thing (good grief that sucker is long), what I am reading, I agree with quite enthusiastically. Especially the parts about how injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, and how nonviolent protests that break a law to demonstrate that the law is unjust can be effective.
Yet still, somehow, politically motivated murder remains what Drag was pretty explicitly calling for when they said “we need to be prepared to kill them”, and what Dr. King was pretty explicitly not talking about when he said “We began a series of workshops on nonviolence, and we repeatedly asked ourselves: “Are you able to accept blows without retaliating?” “Are you able to endure the ordeal of jail?””, and something I’m pretty expicitly still not on board with.