I appreciate this, I really do, but you do have to be careful not to end up like certain leftist Reddit subs where I got banned for the heinous crime of suggesting that voting for Harris might produce better outcomes than voting for Trump. Some level of discussion that goes beyond what the majority (or, lbr, the mods) think has to be allowed or you just have an echo chamber.

Granted, that isn't what is happening in the comic. The apologist here is genuinely advocating tolerance of Nazis. This situation is appropriate.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago (1 children)

In my experience, most self-identified centrists, at least in the US, are to the right of what anyone reasonable would actually consider center. And I don't mean that in an "um ackshually the Dems are center right" way either, I mean they're often just Conservatives who don't hate gays (but do hate trans people) or something.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

Or conservatives who are queer and white

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I think I got banned for replying "?" to someone saying NATO was bad because I'd literally never heard anyone say that. The context was about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. I'm glad I'm off Reddit and modlogs are public here.

[–] BluesF 3 points 2 months ago

I truly hate seeing people get banned for questioning a viewpoint. How weak are your opinions if you literally won't answer questions about them? Of course there are bad-faith rhetorical techniques that involve asking questions, but people wanting to learn should never be turned away.

[–] snek 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Is that what is going on on Reddit? Meanwhile at least on this instance of Lemmy, you get banned/shouted down for suggesting that voters should maybe hold their Democrat candidates responsible for literally funding a genocide.

[–] TotallynotJessica 2 points 2 months ago

That's punitive justice, and punitive justice is no justice at all. We can only act to improve the future. Past injustice cannot be undone, only healed with considerable energy at best.

I agree that we should be tougher on candidates and never let them set important issues aside. At the same time, we still have to exist in this shit democracy, no matter how undemocratic it may be. We need to think bigger about replacing the system with something better while hedging our bets for if things fall apart.

The best justice that's physically possible is electing Harris and using the Israeli lobby's strategies against them. Stoking unrelated hatred to tank prominent Dems who opposed them is why they hold so much power in the party. If we can do the same with grassroots organizing, it will weaken them and strengthen us. The independently popular Dem needs to be attacked on the issues that will hurt them most, not what we care about. Think about what will make conservative Dems leave them.