A friend of mine…didn’t vote. But she’s disproportionately impacted by these policies. Whenever she brings it up now I find I can’t respond. I don’t want to lose my friend, it’s important to me that we work through this and make better choices later. But it is so hard.
People won’t do the absolute bare minimum to inform themselves, it’s so aggravating. I see this in everything, not just politics. Please tell me there are more people slowly losing their mind and going mad over this.
Apparently there are plenty of people who do not exist in a permanent state of wonder about the world around them. For me, that was harder to accept than it ought to be…ongoing battle as you can see with my friend here. But yeah, most people have a baseline that doesn’t include the need to be fully informed, I reckon. At least in my experience. Aggravating at times, disappointing, confusing…then again not having to experience those must be blissful.
Ive explained to her why she is about to lose her health insurance potentially. She’s low info, it’s crazy how apathetic many people are. But also…a shithole red state is all she has ever known. So it’s almost like she doesn’t believe things can be better even one state over.
How close was the vote in the state that her vote might’ve swung the electoral college?
That’s the sort of thing that depresses the electorate: feeling like their vote doean’t matter or gets tossed outright. Makes people feel powerless in choosing the occupant of the White House.
Over 1/3 of our voting population sits out every election (probably double that in non-presidential years). If even half of them showed up to vote, they’d see how much their vote matters, and why republicans go out of their way to suppress voter turnout.
If even half of them showed up for the dems, and the dems had +10 in the senate, they’d do nothing to help the people who elected them, give the Republicans half the discretionary budget in the name of bipartisanship, give the banks billions of dollars, and bomb a dozen middle eastern countries to prove they’re just as strong on foreign policy as Republicans. We know this because that is what happened. We need to focus on purging the party if we want our votes to matter in the general.
If the topic comes up again, ask her, “if you were really stupid, would you want somebody to tell you?” And no matter what she says, pokerface and change the subject or leave.
I find in general that asking questions rather than making statements is a much less confrontational method of engaging with people. It’s letting them figure things out for themselves. “What makes you say that?” or “Where’d you hear that?” are good ones to start with when they make some outrageous claim.
Being silent and letting them keep digging is good, too.
A friend of mine…didn’t vote. But she’s disproportionately impacted by these policies. Whenever she brings it up now I find I can’t respond. I don’t want to lose my friend, it’s important to me that we work through this and make better choices later. But it is so hard.
Electoralism≠politics
Maybe the way to connect woth your friend is by doing something more substantial?
People won’t do the absolute bare minimum to inform themselves, it’s so aggravating. I see this in everything, not just politics. Please tell me there are more people slowly losing their mind and going mad over this.
Apparently there are plenty of people who do not exist in a permanent state of wonder about the world around them. For me, that was harder to accept than it ought to be…ongoing battle as you can see with my friend here. But yeah, most people have a baseline that doesn’t include the need to be fully informed, I reckon. At least in my experience. Aggravating at times, disappointing, confusing…then again not having to experience those must be blissful.
Talk about the next vote and the protests in between. Going over mistakes might be satisfying in the moment but it’s not productive.
That said, I wouldn’t hold myself back 🤷♂️
Ive explained to her why she is about to lose her health insurance potentially. She’s low info, it’s crazy how apathetic many people are. But also…a shithole red state is all she has ever known. So it’s almost like she doesn’t believe things can be better even one state over.
How close was the vote in the state that her vote might’ve swung the electoral college?
That’s the sort of thing that depresses the electorate: feeling like their vote doean’t matter or gets tossed outright. Makes people feel powerless in choosing the occupant of the White House.
Over 1/3 of our voting population sits out every election (probably double that in non-presidential years). If even half of them showed up to vote, they’d see how much their vote matters, and why republicans go out of their way to suppress voter turnout.
If even half of them showed up for the dems, and the dems had +10 in the senate, they’d do nothing to help the people who elected them, give the Republicans half the discretionary budget in the name of bipartisanship, give the banks billions of dollars, and bomb a dozen middle eastern countries to prove they’re just as strong on foreign policy as Republicans. We know this because that is what happened. We need to focus on purging the party if we want our votes to matter in the general.
If there’s one thing the past six months have taught me it’s that republicans and democrats are exactly the same.
Oh. Wait.
They’re not the same, but it’s easy to see how people become too jaded and cynical to vote.
She’s from Missouri, so that’s definitely a part of it.
If the topic comes up again, ask her, “if you were really stupid, would you want somebody to tell you?” And no matter what she says, pokerface and change the subject or leave.
Ask her “What lesson have you learnt from all this?”
Yep, and precede it with something like “I enjoy our friendship but I have to ask…”
Put the emphasis on the friendship and how both can learn from it.
I find in general that asking questions rather than making statements is a much less confrontational method of engaging with people. It’s letting them figure things out for themselves. “What makes you say that?” or “Where’d you hear that?” are good ones to start with when they make some outrageous claim.
Being silent and letting them keep digging is good, too.