I think reinforced digital isolation is a big part of the problem. This is something that could be solved by calling the service phone number or asking at the library or a help group, a doctor’s office etc… It might be extra hoops to jump through but there’s not any physical or communication barrier completely blocking her. Instead she clicks a button and gets a form and automatically feels completely helpless.

A 20 page form should take like ~30-45 minutes with help, it’s not a huge ask and doesn’t require as strong of a support network as some people in this thread are claiming. She’s got a phone and can read and talk, the only thing that could lower this hurdle further is support information being stapled to the front of the form.

Now it’s a different issue once the bureaucracy requires multiple followups, workday visits, transportation for evaluation, etc…

Nobody confirmed it was consensual or with a guy tbf. Could have been that horse

Is crude an essential oil? 🇺🇸🇺🇸🦅

Someone edit that into a joint please

I appreciate the response, thanks for the perspective. From my view, I rarely see this line of reasoning in the wild. The “participation” in elections begins and ends with “Both parties bad. Vote for [the nebulous idea of] a third party”. In my opinion, if you can’t give a concrete name and put in enough effort to get it on the ballot then you’re not actually participating.

As a example: I heard complete silence from this portion of the left during the NYC mayoral race/Mamdani’s campaign. No mention of (let alone stumping for) a more progressive alternative. Now with his win, there’s no discussion about parlaying that turnout into other elections. Only attacks on his international politics (not sure why that matters for a mayor) or projected future failure.

Nothing about that approach indicates any good faith engagement with progressive politics in the electoral space. In that sense it’s completely indistinguishable from the right’s suppression and defeatism.

Cool cool, so why does voting vs not voting matter? What actionable alternatives would you suggest and why do those preclude checking a box on a piece of paper?

I’d argue that even an illusory vote has value as a public barometer. If 80% of a voter base is consistently voting against the incumbent party it tells you way more about their discontent than 80% not showing up.

[re-commenting with no instance shaming]

Every Marxist-Leninist user

Is there a race that is statistically more violent then the others?

…

…

…White supremacists use this argument verbatim against certain ethnicities. It’s literally the poster child for statistic-fluffed racism.

Do I have to link the meme or are going to figure this out on your own?..

So? How many die in those vs traditional methods? Why pretend to care about harm reduction and then shit on tech that could reduce it?

I feel like they’ve been shuffling chairs on the titanic to cover up their falling engagement. Their default sort is now showing things from 4+ weeks ago, “Hot” posts with 0 upvotes on massive subs, hiding total sub member count with a rolling view count, etc…

Not sure who they’re trying to fool but it’s not hard to tell that activity has dropped. Stale posts, niche subs have dried up, active readers in the single digits, deleted comments, etc… But their stock is higher than ever so that’s nice I guess?