Dr. King was a firm believer in non-violence, true. His non-violence was counter-balanced by MalcomX and the Black Panthers. The powers in charge had to choose.

Drag was not stating that people should go out and murder their neighbors. Drag was saying that, in resistance to fascists that want to murder LGBTQ+ people, moderates and centrists have proven again that they are not allies to the oppressed (like Dr. King stated just over 60 years ago) and will likely be among those collaborating with the oppressors in order to maintain a new status quo.

While I don’t agree with violence in most cases, I’m not trans and what we’re seeing is not most cases - it’s not even The South under Jim Crow. It is much, much worse. I don’t see the country isn’t coming back from this, even if they implement only a fraction of what they have stated that they want - the courts are not correctable through any political action in the lifetime of anyone currently living. The highest court in the country that can override all others has signaled that they would like to revisit decisions allowing same-sex and inter-racial marriage as well as transforming the presidential office into a kingship.

LGBTQ+ people who want to live are going to have no choice but to use violence to defend themselves. Because, as drag pointed out, they have been betrayed by both moderates/centrists AND far-left anti-electoralists/accelerationists who were overjoyed to sacrifice them for their political ends. Neither can be counted on as allies.

LGBTQ+ people are already dying because of this election: https://www.thetrevorproject.org/blog/the-trevor-project-shares-post-election-day-crisis-contact-volume-data/

For a final time, this is still repeating the fallacy of Denying the Correlative. The only options available were Dems or GQP facists. There were no other options. Choosing to not vote or vote third party was a choice to not oppose facism. Full stop.

“Genocide” or “no genocide” were not options of any statistical possibility. The only possible outcomes were Dems, who at least made half-hearted statements of opposing, OR GQP fascists who want genocide to occur at a much larger and faster scale in more places and prevent anyone from removing them from power while openly stating their intent to oppress all LGBTQ+ people domestically and abroad (foreign aid will be contingent on oppression), women, non-christians, and political opponents.

Outcomes are factual, measurable things. Moral purity dick-measuring contests have no impact on reality or human suffering. Your moral purity means absolutely fuck all to those of us who have already lost people or have friends and family on suicide watch because of people too high on their own egos to care about how their choices impact others. I’m sure that it was extremely moral to hand over the entire government of a nuclear power to fascists on a silver platter, without even pretending to offer resistance. Hey, at least you can sure off your gargantuan morality-peen, right?

Why don’t you or anyone using the “morality” excuse for not opposing fascism call up The Trevor Project and explain to them how it’s really for the greater good that you chose to allow the election of those with intentions to murder and oppress those that they are trying to save? I’m sure they’ll be overjoyed and applaud the size of your morality-peen.

Tell me how else I am supposed to interpret this, please.

I’d recommend reading Dr. King’s letter from Birmingham Jail. Drag is coming to terms with the fact that Dr. King was right but his statement also applies to the plight of all marginalized people.

In addition, once they’re in power, fascists do not voluntarily leave while they are still alive. I’m not personally calling for violence but, non-voters have helped to remove the ballot box as a tool for any meaningful change for anyone currently living or coming generations. The courts are gone along with any hope of free and fair elections. That’s something that you need to understand. A lot of people are in complete denial of that and will remain so as the pressure ramps up.

People who remain moderates and centrists are going to be those who inform on their trans and immigrant neighbors in order to try to keep out of the line of fire and keep pretending that everything is “normal”.

You cannot morally justify voting for Harris unless you can justify her ongoing role in the genocide. No one else running for president came close to playing such a role and, of course, there’s nothing immoral about abstaining.

Your reasoning is utterly bunk and, again, Denying the Correlative. The choices were D or R. Status quo and attempts to softly change 70 years of foreign policy was the Dems. Full-blown genocide of the Palestinian and Ukrainian peoples, ending democracy, LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights, minority rights, labor rights, and any action to combat climate change was the Reps. There were no other choices possible in the FPTP system. None.

We’ve seen that non-voters allowed rightward shifts in the Overton Window for half a century, rejecting every bit of statistical data that showed this to be the case. That’s done now. Selfish desire to feel morally pure has permanently altered humanity’s course for the worse, accelerating atrocities and climate collapse.

The choice was “try to reform the status quo” OR “drastically increase global human suffering and oppression of marginalized groups”. The “genocide or not” was nothing but propaganda to help the far-right win so that they can play out their doomsday cult’s fantasies.

They never learn though.

And we’re out of chances for them to do so.

I think that, perhaps, you’re not understanding. I didn’t read that as drag calling for politically-motivated murder. It was drag acknowledging that, if the fascists do a fraction of what they’ve promised, trans rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, among many others are over in this country for the lifetimes of everyone currently living and probably several generations more.

This wasn’t just another “4 years until the next election”. Democracy and human rights are not going to be restored in this country through political means. That shit’s over because of non-voters and everyone else that refused to take it seriously.

Oh. That’s alright then. The people who have already lost loved ones and the impending victims of fascism, like the Palestinian and Ukrainian peoples who are now destined to be wiped from the globe, will understand that you refused to do anything meaningful to prevent it because you value your own sense of moral purity more than other human beings. /s

No. Choosing to enable the greatest possible harm was not a moral choice.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

That’s you. Great work.

That’s the fallacy of Denying the Correlative. In the FPTP system, there were two choices and only two.

We agree entirely there.

But, people are currently dying and will likely still be in larger numbers due to “allies” who care more about there own egos and performative leftism than other people. We’ve got a fascist party that has achieved, as of January, full control of the federal government and has stated that they’re going to do some genocide. The reasonable thing is to believe them.

But drag, how can we pretend to be superior to other leftists, if we aren’t enabling greater amounts of genocide? /s

Update: I never wanna hear anybody talk about how cool drag is ever again

I mean…drag is correct. The American fascist party has captured all three branches in entirety and announced that they will be ending democracy and committing genocide. So, I don’t see where you’re having a problem with drag’s statement, unless you’re trying to avoid self-reflection and taking responsibility for your own actions.

It’s also available on nearly every unix-like machine since the 70s. So, super useful to know how to use. I personally also like (neo)vim as an IDE and its optional regex functionality because that allows once to efficiently edit massive files with minimal effort.

As a long-time vim enjoyer, I like your gusto. Imagine if you could apply regexes to that carpenter’s axe.

(Also, what sort? Do you have one of those awesome Gransfors Bruks ones?)

I’d say that despair is also common for those of us who have been painfully aware of the causes.

And I can’t respect those that are willing to selfishly sacrifice others for their own sense of moral purity, rather than pragmatically save as many as possible. Actions and choices speak louder than any philosophical statement and allowing fascism, all-out genocide of the Palestinian and Ukrainian peoples, and oppression of women and LGBTQ+ to win speaks loudly of one’s character.

Just want to say: Thanks for your perennial civility as well as continuing to offer learning resources for people interested in any “sect” of leftist ideology.

Python’s packaging is not great. Pip and venvs help but, it’s lightyears behind anything you’re used to. My go-to is using a venv for everything.

Thanks for the optimistic words. Definitely needed.

Having trouble seeing those who (non-)voted for ending democracy, women’s rights, and oppression of LGBTQ+ and non-christians as allies. Not enthusiastic about the candidate? I don’t care. If they’re going to do less harm, they’re the only ethical choice. The basic numbers showed that one of two candidates would win. Ignoring that and the suffering that would be caused to vulnerable groups by one candidate for ideological purity is a hard thing to forgive.

Thanks to the duped non-voters, it’s likely that they won’t have to worry about that.