In real terms, we still have a lot left to lose before things get so bad it’s time to take up arms. The left is losing because it has spent all of its time responding to what the right has been doing and not enough time working towards the things their constituents want.

It is time to organize and get directly involved if you care about keeping things from getting worse. I can’t say this with any authority but there are three problems we have to solve:

1. How can we reestablish a common reality with our neighbors? (Mis- and disinformation)
2. How can we pull our neighbors back from the influence of fascists?
3. How can we ensure that our children inherit better than what we have now and are about to go through?

The fight will come later, and it will come. Right now we have to prioritize supporting each other. We’re on our own for at least the next two years, we need to get creative and find ways to thrive in spite of the bullshit.

We’re in kind of a mess right now. The best way we can get out of it is if all of us little people stick together. I’m not a conservative but by Lemmy standards my politics and world view are alien. We all need to figure out a way to coexist and work together if we are ever going to have a chance to deprogram our MAGA neighbors and find a way forward together.

It seems productive to try to share my weird ass views and try to find common ground.

Any innocent death is unacceptable. If under Trump every single Palestinian in Gaza would be killed and under Kamala a single old man would die, I still would make the same choice.

That old man has just as much right to live as anyone else, just because he is the only casualty that doesn’t make his life any less valuable or gives someone any more right to kill him.

I am truly sorry this is the outcome we have gotten and that my actions have played a small part in how things have unfolded. But I do not regret my choice not to vote.

I accept my responsibility in how things have turned out. I would feel absolutely horrible and would be wrought with guilt for my entire life if it had come down to a single vote, but I would not have voted for either Kamala or Trump even if I had gone to the polls.

I understand that makes me responsible in a very small way for Trump winning and I don’t like it, but I accept that. It was a risk I was willing to take in February when I decided not to vote.

Gaza wasn’t why I decided not to vote at all, the disconnect between voter and politician and the way queer issues were completely abandoned this election were why I didn’t vote. If Kamala had said she would end our alliance with Israel if they didn’t stop killing civilians she still wouldn’t have gotten my vote because I wasn’t casting one to begin with.

Eh, if we’re screwed either way, what’s the harm in a comforting lie?

To be fair he hadn’t outed himself as a racist asshat in 2016. He was just a narcissist I thought was funnier than Trump.

As to your point about my inaction contributing to more dead in Gaza, I am indifferent. Any blood on our hands in Gaza is unacceptable. Had Kamala been chosen in a primary I might have considered voting for her as a compromise candidate, but having her foisted on us after the other compromise candidate was too stubborn to step down before he got in the way is bullshit.

Gaza was what OP asked about, but it’s definitely not the only thing I care about at the polls. The main reason I decided not to vote at all is because the will of the people is not reflected by any politicians. There are a dozen issues most Americans agree on (legal weed, minimum wage) that our current politicians won’t address because they are at odds with donors. I decided it wasn’t worth participating in the political system again until our elected officials do what we want instead of their donors.

If the oligarchy wants to take over officially I can’t stop them, but I don’t have to participate either.

To the dead Palestinian children they are.

Do you feel like your inaction is fine because either way, the genocide doesn’t end?

Pretty much. Less genocide is not a compelling argument. The children who died with Kamala in the White House would be just as dead with Trump.

I can’t speak for others, but I can tell you why I didn’t vote for Harris.

I am a lifelong independent voter. In 2016 I wrote in Kanye West, in 2020 I wrote in Nobody, this year I didn’t even vote. (I also voted Bush in '04, Ron Paul in '08, and Obama in '12) I go to the polls even if I am planning to writing in a presidential pick because there are usually ballot issues or other races I care about.

I decided not to vote when the DNC opted to not hold a primary even though absolutely no one wanted a Biden second term and the deal was elect Biden in 2020 and they’d find someone good for '24. After Biden’s disastrous debate and he dropped out, I was angry because everyone said no to Kamala already in 2020, but they still ran her.

On the issues, Kamala is too centrist for me and Gaza is a deal breaker. Most Palestinian casualties have been civilians and waaaaay too many children. Using my tax dollars to kill foreign children is not acceptable. I don’t care that Israel is our ally or they they provide us an important strategic resource in the region. I honestly don’t care if Israel wants to do a genocide or if Palestine wants to do a bunch or terrorism, that’s on them. But we don’t have to support it and I won’t vote for anyone who will.

New Zealand I’ve never been and know little about the day to day life of a new zealander, but it looks so beautiful and quiet there.

It already is friend.

I don’t disagree with you. Realistically if you’re serious about security and a state level actor is in your threat model, you probably shouldn’t be using social media at all, but especially not platforms that focus on followers and public posts rather than one-on-one or small group connections. At least not for day to day usage.

The decentralized nature of federated social media is the only advantage it has. But it’s kind of a wash. The big social media platforms have resources and weight they can throw at resisting state level surveillance. The operator of the Mastodon instance you sign up for probably doesn’t have a lawyer on retainer let alone the army of legal experts Facebook or X could throw at the problem. That said you can always change instances or use multiple ones to begin with.

I’m not in denial, I’m scared shitless and heartbroken. You’re probably right. That’s probably it for American democracy and any hope trans people have of finding safety and acceptance in American Society in our lifetimes. But it hasn’t happened yet.

We’ve already survived a Trump presidency once, we’ll do it again, life’s just going to suck more than it already has. I can’t tell you how to live your apocalypse, I intend to get back in shape, see what parts of my life can be further downsized, and focus on growing my social support network to include as many other women, people of color, and queer folks as I can befriend.

Maybe. It’s hard to say how much of Trump’s rhetoric and “agenda” is to rile up his supporters and how much are promises he intends to (and is able to) carry out.

There is another election in 2026 which is an opportunity to break up the Republican super majority and some state government control.

We can try to get more involved in the political process, but beyond that there is very little left to do. We are just going to have to wait and see if it’s as bad as we’ve all feared.

It’s more important now than ever that we take care of ourselves and each other. Together we stand, divided we fall.

And he chose that picture of himself?

I don’t know about how “normal” that might be but you’re feelings are valid. You also can’t stop progress. People are hardwired to make crazy new stuff and we’re really good at it.

But just because it exists doesn’t mean you have to use it. You can live a rich, full life even living like the Amish or other in low tech environments. The Mininites (like the amish but with phones and cars and computers) only adopt technology that benefits them and thier community. They live more primitively than most of the global north mostly for religious reasons, but there is wisdom in focusing on gizmos, gadgets, and software that improve your life in some way and ignoring what doesn’t.

I set my mom (62) up an old laptop running Ubuntu last year when her laptop was stolen out of my sister’s car. She’s adjusted fairly well to it. She needed a lot of hands on support at first and any time she uses her printer, but she has figured out how to do a lot of things on it on her own.

She makes papercraft activities in inkscape for a weekly storytime she hosts at a bookstore and has gotten very proficient, but still needs some hand holding when printing errors crop up.

I think a better title for this question might be “What issue do you feel strongly about but have weak arguments for and can only tolerate agreement with your position about?”