this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2023
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.
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I'm still new here and still trying to figure out what the community is like.
I consider myself left of center on most (but not all) topics. I have a deep hatred for the GOP and everything they stand for, but I also am willing to nitpick the endless things that the Democrats do wrong. Ultimately I consider myself a pragmatist - in other words, you will never get your left-of-center policies enacted if the country as a whole is still leaning to the far right. Try to shift the country to your side first and THEN go for more progressive stuff. It absolutely doesn't work any other way. Trying to push for change too fast and too much will only get you a ton of blowback which will ultimately hurt your cause.
So having very briefly explained my overall stance even I was surprised by some of the comments I've seen - like far left stuff. But it's weird here because there are just simply not that many people, so even one or two comments in a lightly trafficked thread might make you think a site is heavily biased one way or another.
Also, please note that we have already entered US campaign season. Like the FBI has been warning us for literally years now (but few take seriously), there are indeed "bad actors" out there on various social media platforms (Reddit was notorious for this) trying to sway the US election toward Trump. They will do and say anything for it to happen, and that has been proven time and again. Like they fooled some gay groups a few years back and convinced them that Trump would support them, or back on Reddit reading Bernie-focused subs trying to convince progressives that, once again, Trump was the candidate who Sanders would prefer to win. Wild, and crazy stuff, but all it takes is a few percentage of people to buy into this mess to swing an election. Lemmy is not immune to these propaganda campaigns either.
This has never worked and never will work, that's actually exactly how you move the Overton window further and futher right.
Except that it has worked and continues to work for conservatives. They know incremental change is how you get your way. They've successfully been shifting this country to the right for a few decades now. Certain coast areas are very left, but they have established a core group of people who continually try to push left.
Little by little. A court victory here, a new law there. Trying to overthrow Row v Wade would never have gotten anywhere 10, 20 or even 30 years ago, but with an endless stream of lawsuits and attacks on the right to an abortion, they've essentially won. Similar deal with gun control. It's worse now than it was after that piece of shit Reagan got shot.
The left is so utterly disorganized and always jumping to the next big thing that will trigger them they can never accomplish anything. If the Left has the semblance of being able to focus on a goal, we would have universal healthcare by now. Or nationwide parental leave. Or a host of other things that are a common thing in Europe and elsewhere.
But we don't because liberals act like a new born puppy with ADHD that can't focus on a few key initiatives and continue to focus and hit on those topics for years - no, actually, decades - at a time to get them passed. Every few months it's the latest and greatest thing to get triggered over. Celebrities join in on the outrage. It makes its way through the media cycle and then we've moved onto some other great big travesty that liberals will solve. It's infuriating and exhausting because nothing gets done.
While on the other side of the aisle, conservatives all fall in-line and know they have to unite to slowly chip away at our freedoms, chip away at our voting rights, chip away at our way of life.