because you’re fucking moron that forgets things easily!"

It’s more that the worst thing you’re willing to accept becomes the new normal.

And then something that was previously unthinkable becomes thinkable. And then if you accept that because it’s the lesser evil, it becomes the new “new normal”. Continue in a downward spiral.

Look at the state we’re in now, with Trump and Biden. That’s the result of decades of picking “the lesser evil”.

At some point you have to say “no more”.

There were self-immolations in Vietnam that were protests against the US-backed puppet government in Vietnam.

It wasn’t the only thing that shaped public opinion about the war, but it did have a big impact.

You can read a bit about it here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thích_Quảng_Đức

Right. So, part of the problem with “Voting third-party means supporting Trump” is that it presumes I would have otherwise voted for Biden.

And I wouldn’t have. Because he’s committing genocide.

Also, third-party candidates can pull votes away from Trump as well as Biden.

Also, even small amounts of support for third-party candidates can lead to a third-party winning seats in congress if that support is concentrated in particular districts, like college towns. And in an evenly divided congress, a few seats can control the balance of power.

I’m not in the same situation as that guy. I am not claiming to be brave. I’m a little worried (like we all are), but my life is not in imminent danger.

But I am trying to do the right thing, and I hope that if I ever am in a situation like that man that I will be brave and continue to do the right thing. That’s the lesson I’m taking from him.

You’re gonna need a better example, because people lighting themselves on fire played a tremendous role in ending popular support for America’s occupation of Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

It’s the last thing I would describe as “symbolic”.

It’s not righteous indignation. It’s making difficult moral decisions according to one’s conscience.

I’m aware there could be consequences if Trump wins. But I will not let fear for my own safety steer me towards supporting a genocide.

Like that guy. Who, according to reports, was punished for his failure to salute by being put into penal military service, where he was killed.

Be that guy means be that guy.

Trump won in 2016 in part due to the righteous indignation of people that refused to vote for Clinton.

And would those people have suddenly switched to Clinton if no third-party candidate was available?

No policies will change. No causes will be advanced.

Or, maybe politicians will see that they’re losing votes to anti-genocide third-party candidates, and their policies will change.

And if not, then we don’t have a democracy anyway. If it’s not possible for the USA to cease its support for genocide, then this is not a liberal democracy, and this is certainly not the leader of the free world.

What happened to “never again”? Never again is now and all I’m hearing is “eh, what can you do?”.

In our case, Biden and Trump are both Hitler because they’re both supporting a genocide. The crowd in that photo are a mix of Democrats and Republicans, and that guy is the people saying “I won’t support either of you”.

If there were a “no genocide” candidate that could win, making that a single issue would matter.

But voting is valuable even if your candidate doesn’t win. It’s about having your desires counted on the public record.

If politicians see that they’re losing votes to anti-genocide third-party candidates, they’ll take notice.

And the answer is that “Where did the other dollar go?” is a nonsensical question when you understand the situation correctly. But a lot of people who first hear it don’t understand the situation correctly.

Likewise, “You’re helping Trump by voting third-party” is a nonsensical when you understand the situation correctly, but many people don’t at first understand the situation correctly.

Genocides happening either way. you sitting home and sulking about it wont make it better.

Be this guy: https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/11rrvt/be_this_guy/

Here’s a puzzle for you. A group of three men go to a hotel, and they each pay $10 for a room, for a total of $30. Afterwards, the manager remembers that there’s a deal where you can get 3 rooms for $25, so he gives $5 to the bellboy and tells the bellboy to return it to the men. But the bellboy returns just $1 to each of the men, and pockets the remaining $2.

So the men each paid $9, for a total of $27. The bellboy pocketed $2. Where did the other dollar go?

Is that supposed to persuade me to vote for Biden? “But Trump will do genocide too.”

Yeah, and that’s why I’m not supporting Trump either.

I am a single issue voter, and that issue is genocide. And frankly, I’m disappointed that more people aren’t single issue voters when it comes to genocide.

You’re making a choice that is purely symbolic just so you feel better

If voting third-party were purely symbolic, there wouldn’t be this many people on Lemmy trying to persuade us to not do it.

I think Biden does want our vote. And we’re telling him that if he wants our vote, he has to stop the genocide. That’s how we can use our vote to influence the government. That’s how democracy is supposed to work.

but real and vulnerable people across the country have to deal with the fallout

There are real and vulnerable people dying in Gaza right now because of what Biden is doing.

42% of Democrats in a post-debate Ipsos poll said that Biden is mentally fit.

Did those 42% see the same debate that I did? I don’t understand it.

The major parties are just cults at this point.

deleted by creator

Setting aside November for a moment, shouldn’t we be having a discussion about whether Biden is fit to be president right now? It can’t be good for all of the nation’s enemies to know the US of A has an addled president, can it?

He should be stepping aside and letting Kamala take over.

Let Democrats see how President Harris fares for a couple months before the Democrat convention has to decide in August whether to run a different candidate or stick with Harris.

That way, if they do decide to run with Harris, she’ll be entering the election as an incumbent.

I’m noticing you didn’t explicitly say what happened, only what didn’t

I didn’t say either of those things.

Just remember that you can’t trust every anonymously sourced photo on the internet. Don’t forget to try to evaluate the genuineness of what you’re seeing.

For example, ask yourself if you can actual see identifiable features of Tiananmen Square in the background of these photos. (You would expect to be able to, right?)

Especially with an emotive topic like this. These photos inspire strong visceral reactions, and sometimes they’re counting on that. They want you to be so overwhelmed with disgust that you don’t stop to realize that some of the photos are obviously fake or mislabelled.

Like the ones that show piles of meat claiming to be the bodies of students run over by tanks. A moment’s thought will make it obvious that they are fake, because people’s clothes do not disappear when they are run over by tanks. But they want you to be so overwhelmed by disgust and anger that you don’t think about it.

Sometimes they rely on sheer quantity, but don’t mistake quantity for quality.

Anyway, I’m not going to push a side in this post. I trust that you can think for yourself.