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When Your Rulers Ignore Voters But Are Terrified Of Protesters, That Tells You Something
(caitlinjohnstone.com.au)
this post was submitted on 12 May 2024
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"Biden’s genocide in Gaza"
Bullshit article is bullshit. Biden is not the one killing people in Gaza. Put the blame on Bibi where it belongs.
Did Staples build the Staples Center? No, they just paid for it.
That argument doesn't work when the US is Israel's prime armament supplier.
Yeah, I am aware that Biden stopped a single shipment last week. Kudos.
The weapons and money every single US President has provided them for the last 76 years.
Approximately $300 billion worth.
https://www.cfr.org/article/us-aid-israel-four-charts
It's not an argument to keep the policy, it's an argument that calling this "Biden's genocide" is bullshit.
things escalated a lot and have been allowed to continue, it is even being actively financed by him. he has the power to deescalate, he doesn't.
Biden's perspective is that he's continuing to support Israel.
The problem is that Bibi and his team are utterly misapropriating that support.
Yes, we sell weapons to probably half the world. And we should absolutely hard stop providing more to Israel while they are doing genocide, but selling a thing and using the thing for evil are not at all the same. Biden isn't committing genocide any more than Ford is for vehicle deaths or Colt for making AR-15s used in mass shootings.
For the record I think we should condemn Israel and stop all trade until they stop. I also think the US needs to stop being world police and cut our own military spending way back.
But I'm so tired of the BS "Biden's genocide because he sold them weapons" stuff.
LMFAO and YET we have mass shootings almost weekly in this country and that example seems to be exactly what is happening. How do we explain the angry people that are purchasing AR-15s and shit from gun shows and stores and no one seems to give a flying fuck? Just, here ya go, want some extra ammo clips?
We need to have better common sense gun laws over here and we need to stop blaming other people that aren't responsible for things. How about we blame Israel and Netanyahu? Maybe? Is that too much to ask for?
And to be clear, I do not really like Biden, but he's a hell of a lot better than Trump. And unfortunately he is the only option we have until we reform our voting system.
And yes, at this point I do think it is fair to call Biden a genocide enabler. Because he KNOWS genocide is happening and continues to send supplies and weapons and is NOT outright condemning it.
I just dislike saying Biden is doing it, it shifts the blame off Netanyahu.
The level of deflection yanks go to is astronomical. I'm not sure if it's lack of education, logic, common sense, or just swallowing propaganda wholesale daily.
It's not US fault when it supplies weapons for ethnic cleansing or genocide, or does one itself (multiple times), but as soon as some country's name comes up in the inventory of weapons to Russia, they're exactly like Russia, guilty of crimes against humanity and ready to be sanctioned off.
Also cars are not sold primarily to kill, you dc.
We all know any progress is Biden's doing but every failure is "that's not how it works" bullshit.
If you're tired of not electing war criminals or those that directly support one, maybe do something about it than cry about it on the internet as truth smacks you in the face.
We don't HAVE options here. It's Biden or Trump... Again.
And don't even start with the BS lines of 3rd party blah blah. That will never happen under FPTP voting here. We are stuck with voting against one of the two leading candidates and that's it.
If we had Ranked Choice Voting then YEAH for sure. I'd vote for someone other than Biden in a heartbeat, but we don't, so I am forced to vote to keep Trump out, and Biden is the only option for that. And if Biden doesn't win, Trump will.
So what would you have me do? Vote for Trump and make war crimes increase? Not vote? Vote 3rd party and risk Trump winning? I'm listening.
And I AM doing what I can to elect better people, but my one vote isn't doing much if others aren't helping. So, maybe talking about this on the Internet is EXACTLY what needs to be happening.
Positive change does not come from electoralism. Vote for whoever you want, but organize and help gain traction for leftist movements.
I do everything I can locally and in primaries and before the main presidential elections. I vote for who I actually want in all those. But for the main election I'm going to keep Trump out of office the best way possible and voting 3rd party isn't it.
Until we have ranked choice voting across the board we ARE stuck with a 2 party system. Arguing against that is ignoring decades of proof on some weird hope that "maybe this time our 3rd party guy might win" and they never do.
I don't see how any of what you just said relates to what I just said. Positive change towards Socialism cannot happen electorally, so if you want to vote for Biden, go for it. It won't move us any closer to Socialism.
Oh, maybe I misunderstood. Sorry. Yes I agree. It's why I want to see Ranked Choice Voting being pushed. That would get more socialist leaning candidates that could implement some social policies to benefit all of us.
Ranked choice would be nice, but I don't share your optimism that it could be implemented broadly in the US, nor would it allow Socialist leaning candidates to take office.
The US is built on Imperialism and maintaining its status in the global order, any candidates that go against that would be ruthlessly slandered by the media and near forcibly removed.
Exactly. Biden isn't doing the genocide.
Supplying weapons? Sure.
Enabling it? Maybe, yeah.
Condemning it? No he is not, and should.
But he isn't DOING IT.
I agree with you but the way things are right now, if you want to keep your right to criticize your government, you have to still vote for Biden at the election.
If you stay home or vote for Orange Man, hating what your government is doing overseas will be the last thing you'll be complaining about.
So what's your definition of criticizing the government? Because everytime I see someone do it they are met with rubber bullets and tear gas by the state.
Yeah, exactly. I hate it. I hate that NOT voting for Biden is one vote closer that Trump could win again and end our democracy like he is promising to do. That's scary. And if that does happen we will never again have ANY votes for anything, let alone protesting a foreign genocide.
We need to all be pushing and campaigning to get Ranked Choice Voting in as many states as we can.
Until then the reality is we get to choose between A or B. There are no other viable options. You can choose to not vote, you can vote 3rd party, but that does absolutely nothing at all but toss the vote away. And you will never convince me otherwise until a 3rd party candidate gets anywhere close to the other 2. And 2-5% of the country is not that.
It's good to see that the current choice is helping spread awareness about RCV
Mr. Beast’s latest video did more to raise awareness of ranked choice voting than this election.
Edit: Okay, it was 3 weeks ago. RCV is at the end.
My issue is people are so heavily throwing shit at Biden, almost NONE of them are talking about anyone else, and most of those same people go really quiet when asked to have the same energy for people here in the U.S. I understand how important this is, there is a very terrible situation happening. But like fuck, how are we supposed to help anyone when we're seemingly one good coop away from full on facism.
Almost, like maybe, the Democratic party should have had a primary.
This is the outcome they get from the actions they've taken.
They care more about implementing a genocide then keeping Trump out of the white house.
The people hiding behind Gaza are effectively causing the same issue. So many of them fluff their arguments with "and Gaza!" and feel strongly that anyone who debates them are for the genocide, even if the person supports the protests and condemns the evil that is occuring. Meanwhile, these same people are also indirectly saying that Trump should become President by placing often all blame on Biden. I'm sorry. It sucks. This is the situation.
We are effectively dividing ourselves. Nearly none of us who lean Progressive and/or Left believes the situation in Gaza is good. We understand the severity. We just want those who use Gaza as a do-all for any of their arguments to, bluntly, shut up and consider the alternatives. Because let's face it: They'll still be screaming genocide right up to Trump stepping into a second term. If that happens I hope those same people don't disappear because we'll need them when we are no longer in a position as a nation to help others. We'll be too busy probably literally fighting for ourselves and our neighbors.
Don't downplay the situation in Gaza. We SHOULD highlight it. It isn't the only extremely important event we need to focus on though.