ID: photo of Martin Luther King Jr. waving at the crowd during the March on Washington, on it is his quote: “He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.”

  • nickwitha_k (he/him)@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    2112·
    12 hours ago

    Absolutely. Non-voters and “protest” voters chose not to oppose a known fascist. Their refusal to strategically use their voice has led to increased suffering of minorities, LGBTQ+, and likely an end to any semblance of US democracy.

    • sigmaklimgrindsetEnglish
      174·
      11 hours ago

      Yeah, well, they’ve done it, 95 million Americans didn’t vote. Now what?

      Are we gonna point the finger at them, lay the blame at their feet, and feel superior because WE VOTED, while the oligarchs and fascists loot our treasury and put our minority and LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters you seem to care so much about in camps? Or are we gonna go and fight the good fight like the people out in LA yesterday?

      • nickwitha_k (he/him)@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
        21·
        3 hours ago

        Thank you for also making this point. There’s a lot of with to do. In-person protests, education and outreach, mutual aid and are some of the necessary avenues. Not everyone is able to march but there are many other ways to contribute to the fight.

      • Lupus@feddit.orgEnglish
        169·
        11 hours ago

        Are we gonna point the finger at them, lay the blame at their feet,

        Absolutely.

        If those 95 million would’ve voted together for Mike the local crackhead, Mike would’ve won the popular vote with about 20 million votes to spare… I don’t know, seems stupid to me to just go on the Internet to complain and then not use one of the only tools you have in a democracy?

        I understand that going out voting is “accepting the system” but that is the only legal way to bring about change. If you don’t want to support the system that’s fine, work to dismantle it, take the fight to them. But just staying at home, doing nothing and then saying “I told you so” is just dumb.

        • nickwitha_k (he/him)@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
          21·
          3 hours ago

          Not only this but, if those non-voters organized and taken action in the last half-century, they would have been able to move the Overton to the Left, instead of the unending Right-ward crawl that we’ve been seeing. That could have prevented the likes of Clinton and Thatcher and erosion of workers’ rights.

        • sigmaklimgrindsetEnglish
          9·
          8 hours ago

          I understand your point, but as you said:

          But just staying at home, doing nothing and then saying “I told you so” is just dumb.

          There are people WHO VOTED who are doing this, because it’s “not their responsibility” anymore.

          • Lupus@feddit.orgEnglish
            72·
            7 hours ago

            There are people WHO VOTED who are doing this, because it’s “not their responsibility” anymore.

            There are a lot of people like this, they did the bare minimum and feel like that’s enough, I mean at least it’s something? Still far from enough, I agree with that.

            In these times I often think about the Berthold Brecht poem “Wer Zuhause bleibt”-“Whoever stays at home”.

            Wer zu Hause bleibt, wenn der Kampf beginnt Und lässt andere kämpfen für seine Sache Der muss sich vorsehen: denn Wer den Kampf nicht geteilt hat Der wird teilen die Niederlage. Nicht einmal den Kampf vermeidet Wer den Kampf vermeiden will: denn Es wird kämpfen für die Sache des Feinds Wer für seine eigene Sache nicht gekämpft hat.

            Translation :

            Whoever stays at home when the fight begins and lets others fight for his cause must beware: For whoever has not shared the fight will share the defeat. Not even avoiding the fight helps anymore, because he who has not fought (for his own cause) has fought for the cause of the enemy.

            Italics added by me