The_Sasswagon

joined 1 year ago
[–] The_Sasswagon 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Why blame the people who didn't vote? They didn't vote for a reason surely, just as you and I voted for a reason. Just because their reason isn't the same as yours doesn't mean it isn't just as valid. Maybe it's ignorance or perhaps it's misinformation, but at this moment there's no way to know that, so discounting 10 million peoples conscious choice only serves to widen divides and alienate more people.

Blame Harris and the DNC for running bad campaigns and candidates. It's on them to win the voters and an election, and it should have been clear that 'the same campaign as last time and the time before' wasn't working.

No matter who we point at, we're going to have to start reengaging with our communities and supporting each other, and having those 10 million (likely somewhere left of moderate right) people on side going forward is vital.

[–] The_Sasswagon 11 points 2 weeks ago

That's an awful lot easier but likely less accurate and what happens whenever establishment Dems lose. "Hillary lost because of Bernie Bros" is the first and loudest instance that springs to mind. But even if that statement were true, In hindsight we know that she and her campaign sorta rigged the primary, which looked more obvious than they probably intended. That disenfranchised some voters and they didn't vote.

That's not the voters fault, the candidate did something that made those voters not vote for them. Just like Kamala/the DNC did with running an ancient dude, not having a primary, running the ancient dudes VP, supporting the genocide of Palestinians, loving fracking, and onwards. I was really optimistic early on with her VP pick but that seemed to be the moderate leftmost edge of her campaign.

I'm of the opinion that until the DNC stops appealing to disenfranchised Republicans this steady slide right will keep happening. Running as R-lite hasn't really been paying off as well for them as it did in the 90s.

[–] The_Sasswagon 10 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Don't blame the left for the failings of the moderate right. Just like Biden before her, Harris spent the campaign appealing to theoretical disenfranchised Republicans and confidently ignoring the calls for action from the left. She even abandoned some of Bidens more left leaning campaign promises along the way (her climate policy was a clear back step). On top of that we had no primary, which however flawed, shapes the campaign in the image of the some voters and solidifies support for the candidate.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the two candidates were equivalent, but it is easy to see why people might be feeling disenfranchised and might just not vote, and elect instead to hide from it all.

Anecdotally, I stopped engaging with election news around the dem primary, when everyone was very excited, so I could vote for Harris without thinking about the baggage that would come later. It was all just overwhelming, and I'd call myself a pretty engaged and resilient voter normally.

All that to say, remember the humans who voted or didnt are the ones with ethics and empathy. I'm not sure you can say the same about the ones who voted for the fascist.

[–] The_Sasswagon 5 points 2 weeks ago

To be clear, the EU developing an operating system for EU use is not a dystopian vision without assuming many things about the theoretical future project. The petition is asking for this for transparency and independence from an actual dystopian vision coming to fruition in a 'forced' Windows standard. That doesn't really lead me to imagine a dystopian nightmare where the EU forces everyone to install their distro (A potentially comical vision on its own).

I rather like the idea that governments contribute to open source projects, sounds a lot better than the same contribution going to private institutions. The use of open source software may introduce some vulnerabilities, but those are replacing vulnerabilities that are already there. I would also imagine investment in some open source projects would encourage more development in adjacent areas, much like Valve, Proton, and gaming.

I would be interested to hear what alternative you have to solving the problems that the project in this petition is attempting to solve. It's easy to shoot down something for not being perfect but it's pretty challenging to come up with a theoretical proposal that pleases all.

[–] The_Sasswagon 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

So much of our modern political system is poised around vibes, because that's all the older voters (seem to) really care about. If I had a dollar for every time I heard some variation of having a beer with George W, I'd have more dollars than I do now.

I think in contrast younger voters care about a vast array of issues very deeply, making engaging in politics a much more complex task that they probably don't have time for. Given that so much of the coverage consists of no-meaning political lines with no coherent policy right now, engaging in traditional ways is pointless until they stop having vapid "debates" and "interviews" with no content, and start forcing real policy discussion.

I think Bernie was popular with younger voters because he brought so few vibes and so much policy. I went to a Hillary rally and a Bernie rally during the primary in 2015 and the difference was night and day. Hillary talked about the positive feeling of continuing the Democratic legacy, while Bernie talked about sustainable agriculture and straw polled the attendees about wind power.

To be clear I bet this held true 50 years ago when our old voters were young too, no hate on the olds here, priorities change, though I hope mine don't. Also I wonder if this is all still true for the new young voters, most of my interactions are with millennials and gen z. My few interactions with the folks graduating now have been tainted by my old and out of touch self and by their (in my opinion) under-practiced interpersonal skills from covid years at home. Again, no hate intended.

[–] The_Sasswagon 3 points 3 months ago

I use MXLinux, picked it somewhat at random when I was frustrated with windows 10 privacy settings and haven't looked back since. I tried mint, mint cinnamon, Ubuntu, and Fedora before MX, and Fedora is the only other one I have stuck with, to use on a Surface Pro (I needed Wayland for the touchscreen).

MX has been really stable, light on resources, and has worked really well through two complete hardware upgrades. I play games on steam, some brand new some old, and I haven't found one that I can't play yet. That is due to steam/proton/proton GE more than the OS I expect but I'm happy nonetheless. I also run my home entertainment box on MX on an old PC (I know there are better choices for os for this, I was just comfortable with it).

I like it because I haven't felt any reason to try anything else, perhaps someday I will and I'll just find a new OS then, but until then it's my favorite I think.

[–] The_Sasswagon 1 points 3 months ago

Probably? I don't eat meat at home save for very specific occasions and I would but, you know, there are a lot of different people out there.

[–] The_Sasswagon 10 points 4 months ago

I never played BioShock 2 or Infinite, but I watched full playthroughs of each, and I thought infinite was great! Different to be sure in most ways, but it was a neat expansion of the world and themes hinted at in the first two games.

I seem to remember a lot of sideline criticism when it came out that boiled down to "NPC sidekick not love interest but hot so I don't like game". I thought, and think that is ridiculous, and fortunately I think that criticism has faded with time because Elizabeth is such a positive part of the game, from my view.

I should play through the BioShock games...

[–] The_Sasswagon 6 points 4 months ago

Unfortunately people don't take care of themselves because it's expensive too. Most people who don't have a lot of money also don't have a lot of time to prepare food from whole food sources, so they go for inexpensive pre prepared foods, which are awful for you.

Exercise is possible but again requires a lot of time (and energy) that you likely don't have if you're working two 35 hour a week food service jobs (or one, honestly). On top of that the built environment is so hostile to being outside of a car, that the easy free exercise choice of walking places is entirely or effectively impossible in most places.

All that is to say I don't think the blame is on individuals (not that you really said that) for not choosing the healthy options, it's on our society for focusing on work, convenience, and efficiency at the expense of health. Just like everything else here, it's going to be a real challenge to fix because it's to tied into everything else, but I hope we can tackle it.

[–] The_Sasswagon 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I don't follow this, how has this person voting 3rd party in 2016 led to facism starting in the 80s? For that matter, how has 3rd party voting led to facism at all? I'm very much struggling to make sense of this.

[–] The_Sasswagon 3 points 4 months ago

By definition, an agenda is "a program of things to be done or considered" which does not equate to wanting to do something. It more closely resembles a daily planner or task list.

So in as much as you and I have an "agenda" when we get out of bed, you are right, the person submitting the PR did likely have an agenda of waking up and going about their day. There isn't a 'woke agenda' at play here, however, as the person I replied to seemed to imply.

[–] The_Sasswagon 14 points 4 months ago

Along with potential reasons mentioned in this post, right wing folks also have fewer obvious places to go troll now that twitter is just filled with them and Hershey's or whatever. Perhaps they are coming here looking for trouble specifically.

It's also possible they've always been here and have just found more reasons to engage recently. Either way, the amount of bad faith discussion and derisive language is frustrating and upsetting.

I have just been blocking individuals if I find myself getting frustrated, but I also took a long break from social media because I felt like the discussions about Gaza were bordering toxic, so I'm not sure my approach is sustainable.

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