this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2025
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Pragmatic Leftist Theory
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The neolibs are too far right. The tankies are doing whatever that is. Where's the space for the people who want fully-automated-luxury-gay-space-communism, but realize that it's gonna take a while and there are lots of steps between now and then? Here. This is that space.
Here, people should endeavor to discuss and devise practical, actionable leftist action. Vote lesser evil while you build grassroots coalitions. Unionize your workplace. Participate in SRAs. Build cohesion your local community. Educate the proletariat.
This is a place for practical people to develop practical plans to implement stable, incremental improvement.
If you're dead-set on drumming up all 18,453 True Leftists® into spontaneous Revolution, go somewhere else. The grown ups are talking.
Rules:
-1. Don't be a dick. Racism, sexism, other assorted bigotries, you know the drill. At least try to default to mutually respectful discussion. We're all on the same side here, unless you aren't, in which case kindly leave.
-2. Don't be a tankie. Yes I'm sure you have an extensive knowledge of century-old theory. There's been a century of history since then. Things didn't shake out as expected, maybe consider the possibility that a different angle of attack might be more effective in light of new data.
-3. Be practical. No one on the left benefits from counterproductive actions. This is a space informed by, not enslaved to, ideology. Promoting actions that are fundamentally untenable in the system in question, because they fulfill a sense of ideological purity, is a bad look. Don't do that.
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Right on cue. And yes it's a political issue, it pretty snugly fits the common definition.
Trying to pretend it's something sacrosanct and beyond politics is what makes a single issue voter.
That's you.
If you actually cared about the lives of people in the middle east you should be just as outraged over Trump unilaterally bombing a sovereign state, direct military action that wouldn't have happened with the Democratic candidates.
Or, as I pointed out, the deliberate climate destruction that will literally boil more people alive with wet bulb events.
Damn why so mad, my candidate didn't bomb those people when given the exact same chance. Or are we back to campaigning against hypotheticals instead of reality?
Okie dokie, still didn't bomb Iran
Ok, here I am demanding it. Now what? Continue to be lambasted by the left for also making the only sane decision in a two box election? How am I going to demand anything now when ICE/National Guard are enforcing curfews to suppress any political gatherings? Come on, tell me what magic wand to wave. You've clearly got the answers
Ok so you've got nothing to add so your opinion is worthless ✅
Who said it was my party? I'm casting one vote that needed to be cast. If you don't like my strategy but have no viable alternative then keep your mouth shut
Projected climate collapse deaths by 2050: 14.5 million, about 250k per year.
Gaza deaths to date: in the range of 80k-100k, hard ceiling of ~2 million.
What could be more sacrosanct than the one and only habitable planet we'll ever get? Certainly not a piece of paper?
I live in a first world country with solid resource access, I can tell you for sure I won't affected as much as the people being cooked to death in India. Why should I care about them?
It's revealing that you weigh one favorite group of starving victims against the millions of others. Just because one is direct human cruelty and the other is direct and malicious social murder?
Don't tell me you care about both equally, because that's clearly not the vote you want to cast.
Yup. We had a chance to maybe turn the bus but no, we're going right off the cliff, gunning the engine no less, thanks to people who would rather cling to a single issue instead of mitigate harm across the wider spectrum.
Voting options were not:
A. Genocide
B. No genocide
They were: A. Genocide in Gaza
B: genocide in Gaza + maybe Ukraine + maybe losing democracy + rolling back environmental protections + enabling the best friend of a known pedophile child trafficker... Etc
C. B, but with a side of smug self satisfying moral high ground
You are not more moral for choosing C.
Oh really? Which candidate on the ballot in 2024 who had that platform? None? Well I guess I'll opt for the one that's at least 1 for 2.
The conversation was always about harm reduction, but keep imagining that one policy is the only thing that matters.
Nah man, plenty of other people all over the world are harmed way more by the Trump administration. Take your head out of the sand if you're going to pretend to actually give a shit about anything
Holy fuck open your goddamn eyes. Way worse is continuing that policy PLUS literally every grift, corruption, destruction, repression, depression and violence of the 2nd Trump term. What the fuck are you even arguing here?
Who said it was unavoidable? What the fuck is denialist about needing to cast the obvious vote on this specific election day? You've got nothing to actually add, your "argument" presents no alternatives, just chastisement about my strategy. Why do you even bother?
This guy might actually be this clueless and opinionated, but it also bears mentioning that there have been active social media campaigns to derail serious conversations into flame wars for the past 10+ years from all sorts of different actors. They're probably home grown or influenced by that, but it's just better not to let them aggravate you. From the outside, choices can be misrepresented as support for the things you disapprove of and bad faith actors will always do this.
No doubt, and usually I ignore it. But once in a while there's one like this and I engage so hopefully anyone reading the thread can see the obvious flaws in the thinking.
Ok so they did that. Now what are my new options in the voting booth? Does that actually change my voting strategy in any way?