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Those of us casting begrudging votes need to be able to have intelligent, public discussions about our problems w this ticket & the battles we anticipate on the other side of this thing. It's disrespectful & strategically foolish to try to deny us the space for those discussions.
You can ask for someone's vote. Demanding it is self-absorbed foolishness. If you vote shame, you either don't care enough about winning, or you just know nothing about persuasion.
If you don't think it's your job to persuade anyone, you could at least stfu and leave what could be productive dialogue to others. When you refuse to do that, you are putting your feelings ahead of everything you say should tip the scales for others. That's beyond shitty.
Vote shamers enjoy the satisfaction of feeling superior & venting their feelings at ppl they have been assured are politically beneath them. It's a ritual they feel entitled to every couple of yrs. It's about affirming superiority. They all know it does not work.
I repeat: They KNOW it only pisses people off. They also know that there are effective organizing tactics employed by people who know what they are doing. They don't want any of that. At all. They don't want to expend effort. They just want the ritual that lets them shit on ppl.
I know it's kind of pointless to explain all of this. I've learned over the yrs that most will not listen for the same reason they've never cared that they're only hurting their cause: They have been taught that politics are about self expression. Their feelings are paramount.
They have been taught this for a reason. Bc people who are convinced that their electoral choices are political identities, and that their only duties are to vote and argue about their vote, are ideal citizens in the eyes of this society.
If I sound harsh & folks find that somewhat alienating, they might want to reflect on how they themselves communicate. Does my tone upset you? Do you not enjoy being talked down to? If you are a shamer, that's how others experience you, which is why you're having this experience.
I happen to believe Trump must be removed. But Biden fans keep hassling me bc I am vocal about the fact that it is a begrudging vote. If you are lecturing people who are already gonna vote to remove Trump, you are so fucking destructive that you need to go warm the bench.
Your candidate needs every begrudging vote he can get. If you don't think that's true, then stop hassling people as tho our votes matters. If leftist votes matter, you are a fascist-friendly fool for alienating us. If we don't, you need to fuck all the way off & leave us alone.
This is how a lot of us feel. If I can suck it up and cast a vote, you can suck it up and deal with me saying I don't want to. No one is making you listen to what any leftist has to say. Take responsibility for your own feelings and try to win already. https://www.teenvogue.com/story/2020-election-voting-joe-biden-fascism-donald-trump
I keep hearing "I just get frustrated when..." I get it. You want people to vote. Some people keep refusing and/or saying things that frustrate you. Leftists are frustrated too. And I really don't care about your feelings any more than you care about mine. We have to remove Trump
When you jump in to lecture people about what they need to do and say, you do not care about their feelings. You insist what you care about is winning. But your feelings are worth creating more acrimony when votes are what's needed? You are doing the thing you are bitching about.
How can you tell other people not to put their feelings ahead of winning when you literally cannot stop yourself from putting your own feelings first? It's disrespectful, hypocritical nonsense.
"Some ppl are just so unreasonable." Hypothetical: You're at a party & trying to convince ppl to vote. You know some ppl there are on the fence/hesitant. Others are adamantly opposed. What do you gain by spending all your time arguing w the adamant folks? What are you losing?
For one thing, you are modeling the idea that electoral discussions are ugly and unproductive and that no one actually changes their mind about anything. So you are making a discussion you should want to have w persuadable ppl look impossible. And also wasting time & opportunity.
Patience is a practice, not a feeling. Some of you need a lot more practice. If you want some advice about how to productively discuss politics on the internet, you can find some here. https://truthout.org/audio/adventures-in-digital-organizing-with-mariame-kaba/
