Kagu
“Dude look at how stupid you look in this strawman I made of you!”
What your original comment suggested was not that you acknowledged the human capacity for violence, which nobody can deny and I am not debating.
The comment implied - and this is an assumption so ingrained in our western society that nobody could blame you for it - that the only thing separating humans from violent, animalistic, or selfish impulses is societal structure and policing.
our institutions are our attempt to crawl out of the jungle
That just isn’t demonstrable, as much as it may feel intuitive. It’s a Hobbian philosophy.
I’m not here to pretend I can convince you otherwise in one comment thread, took me a long time to change my mind on that and I’m not anthropological authority. That’s why I recommend the book, it’s quite eye-opening. At least it was for me.
I encourage you to read Humankind by Rutger Bregman. The notion that humans are inherently animalistic, greedy, and violent has not been supported by the bulk of anthropological study throughout modern history, and his book does a good job of breaking down why there’s such a divide between the perception of so-called “human nature” and the anthropological and sociological evidence.
TLDR: humans aren’t inherently greedy, we respond to our systems and environment more than anything.
“The answer is not to defund the police! It’s to fund them! Fund them!!” - Joe Biden
And then he proceeded to give them money to buy more tear gas canisters and armored vehicles and liberals are surprise Pikachu face-ing when statistics like this come out.
In 100 years (if the earth lasts that long) I hope people look back at police abolition the way we look back at the abolition of slavery: as an obvious step towards a more equitable society.
In fact, the Courts ruled they don’t actually have to protect you at all! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_v._District_of_Columbia
EDIT: District Court
Untrue. We both still disagree on whether threatening to withhold our votes from the democrats in order to get policy change is a strategy worth employing, no? Isn’t that the central point I’ve been making and you’ve been talking past this whole time? We’d still have an argument because you think my position is privileged and you think I “love all the genocide and want that to go faster in Gaza”, no?
You got me tho. I had assumed your comment was left in good faith and that we actually had some fundamental disagreement worth exploring. I started typing away thinking this was going to be productive. I’m a dumbass for that.
Every single administration - republican and democrat - this imperialist, neocolonial, warmongering country has had for my entire life has harmed me or people I love in some way shape or form, please do not assume what privileges I may or may not hold. It’s fine if you disagree with me, but don’t pretend to know me.
I’ve only ever voted dem, and seeing how this country is going I will probably be forced to continue to do so. But dear god stop letting the DNC move further and further right every 4 years and get away with it by just echoing ‘the other guy is worse’ calls. It doesn’t make you look like you actually have principles it makes it seem like you treat elections like team sports.
Policy is what matters, policy can be changed, and your vote is one cudgel you can use to get policy change made BEFORE the election. History has shown the Democrats have not gotten pushed towards better positions after being elected, no matter how much people in 2020 screamed to “push biden left” once he got in office. I mean FFS democrats are now cheering on asylum bans and a worsening of the treatment of immigrants at the border, and somehow immigrants like me are supposed to still vote for them with a smile on my face?
I really dislike how liberals handle criticism from the left. It’s too often some vague call for ‘pragmatism’ or ‘just shut up and vote blue or you want the other guy to win’. Or ‘damn you’re criticizing the dems? must be a russian bot or a secret trumpist’. Just… christ just at least admit the choices in front of us every election are ASS.