He’s had yet another horrible week. The old tricks aren’t working. Kamala Harris does not fear him. And it’s showing in the numbers.
He’s had yet another horrible week. The old tricks aren’t working. Kamala Harris does not fear him. And it’s showing in the numbers.
My objective standard is, what is going to help the Palestinians? And what is masquerading as that but (in large part) not going to help them but just going to risk a catastrophe for them that is continuation and widening of what’s already their hell on earth?
That’s not my personal feelings. I’m sure we disagree on what the outcome of different courses of action are, and that’s fine, but that’s why I am saying this and what my goals are in saying this. If what you’re doing is the first thing then all good and I have no complaints about it.
Fair enough. You started talking to me, man. I was just talking about the convention. I’m gonna be giving criticism to people I think are making a mistake, just like you would give criticism to the Democrats or to me, if you think there’s a mistake happening. All good from my side.
I mean, they’re already “supporting” a ceasefire. They’ve been doing that. That’s the issue, is Netanyahu is laughing their faces and telling them fuck your ceasefire, and they’re not then escalating with him. But I don’t think the issue blocking progress is just that they need to want a ceasefire very badly, and then that will solve the issue.
At the risk of repeating myself: there’s no objective measure for this. Creating pressure for action always involves risking some damage, that’s what activism is. Your standard doesn’t mean anything for determining what level of pressure is acceptable because all of it risks damaging electiral odds to some degree. If anything, your standard would seem to suggest that the only form of protest is that which doesn’t risk anything, at which point it becomes purely aesthetic.
You mean like sharing reporting on the matter? How does this exclude people like r2o and linkerbann?
So back when I was saying “I’m not real concerned about their actions ‘hurting’ the Democrats…”. What do you think I meant with that whole explanation / that whole paragraph?
I think you’re personally confused, because that statement is in direct contradiction to this other statement of yours:
You say that you’re fine with hurting the reputation of democrats, but your material concern over some forms of protest/activism is that it’s going to “damage the reputation of people in the best position to do something positive”.
The war in Gaza must end. Israeli occupation must end. Israel must face consequences for their war crimes. Until those conditions are met, I think all forms of protest are fair game. Comparing the defense of those protests as “abuser logic” is a crazy weird way of assigning blame to people holding the US and Israel to account for the war crimes they are currently and continually complicit in, especially when you notionally agree with the subject of those protests.
edit: just to illustrate the absurdity of that comparison -
The US and the pro-zionist democrats are materially supporting the actual abuse and genocide of Palestinians, and you’re suggesting the people pushing for an end to the abuse are the ones abusing the abuser.
Incorrect. My prime material concern is that these forms of protest/activism are much more likely to hurt Palestinians than to help them. I can’t believe that I need to explain this this many times.
If you persist in telling me that my own argument is something different than what it is, I am going to report you for strawmanning. Either start dealing with my argument as it actually is, or stop talking to me.
Hurt them through what mechanism, exactly?
Edit: this is why i constantly have to spell out the implications of your arguments to you, because you bury them in verbose explanations that you hide behind and cry foul when I bring them out into objective language. You’re saying that by hurting democrats’ electoral chances, it risks bringing more harm to Palestinians because republicans would be worse. But hurting democratic chances is the thing we’re actually discussing: any protest against continual Israeli defense aid will hurt democratic chances if and until they commit to stopping the aid. Those protests can only hurt democrats if they continue to avoid addressing the subject of that protest in a satisfactory way.
Kamala has done nothing more than signal support for a ceasefire, but has largely avoided any language that would indicate what she would do if she ran up against the (predictable) resistance of Israel to commit to one. I (and the other protestors) are not satisfied by that ambiguity, so we continue to pressure her campaign to make a firm commitment. A part of that pressure is going to drag down enthusiasm by raising the issue repeatedly, but that is am unavoidable part of protest. That you are satisfied by her soft language around the issue and we are not doesn’t suddenly make that form of protest invalid, and claiming something as an objective standard doesn’t make that subjectivity disappear.
By getting Trump elected
I already explained it all… I mean it’s fine if you disagree with my calculus and think that what ozma is doing is the best way for good outcomes for Palestinians. I can disagree with that, and it is fine; it’s just talking. But it seems like because what I’m saying isn’t what you want to hear, you keep pretending that I am saying something different (saying that any criticism of Democrats is not allowed or etc), or like it’s too vague to make any sense, or etc etc.
People can have different points of view and still be both aiming for good things. It is possible. They can even talk to each other and understand the points of view without ever really coming to 100% agreement on details. It is actually more common than not; usually the only places where everyone sees it exactly the same way and anyone who disagrees is some wild enemy who’s trying to defeat all the progress, is in weird MAGA-like political monocultures.
… by hurting their reputation through protest.
See my edit above. I haven’t misstated your argument at all, I am presenting you with its underlying inconsistency. Referring to your opinion as ‘calculus’ doesn’t suddenly make it objective in any meaningful way. I don’t hold my opinion as objective standard, but I also don’t accuse those who disagree with me of abuse.
I see the subtle accusation in this statement, and I would probably point out that the ‘weird MAGA-like political monoculture’ is likely one where protestors are blamed as having ‘abuser logic’.
Yes! You have grasped it.
I don’t give a shit inherently about the Democrats’ reputation. I’m fine with actions that may hurt them in the election, as long as they’re aligned with better prospects for the Palestinians. Actions that have a lot of risks on the “getting Trump elected” side and not a lot of benefits on the “getting better behavior from the Democrats” side, I’m not in favor of.
How can that possibly be confusing? I feel like I’ve restated it enough now. If you’re really determined not to pick it up, I will not keep repeating and trying to force you to, though.
It’s not all that subtle. It sounds to me like you’re part of a political monoculture as I described. Most people even in political discussions are not this obstinate about pretending that something they don’t personally agree with must therefore be some crazy thing that doesn’t make any sense, and spending most of your time talking with people who see it exactly like you do is one explanation for maybe how you got to be that way.