"The Revolution"
Apr. 15th, 2020 12:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
writerkitTo the people who are presently saying things like "Get rid of *all* of them" or "burn down the system" or "Time for the revolution!" as a reason not to vote for Biden:
Do you actually have a *plan* for that? Like, not just nebulous "But revolution!" but an actual *plan*, along the lines of "And we're going to do X specific actionable step, and then Y specific actionable step, and then Z specific actionable step?" (Actionable steps have specific dates and times and lists of necessary materials and locations where said materials can be obtained attached to them. You need a schedule and a budget before your revolution is actionable.) Because I kinda feel like people who had an actual *plan* for a revolution wouldn't be posting about it on social media where the NSA can find them and have the CIA torture them for information and their conspirators can get arrested. It's bad operational security. I think most you haven't thought about the specific action plans that would need to be attached to that violent uprising or the collateral damage it's likely to cause. Do some research on how revolutions in dictator countries have ended up, historically-- not the mythologized American Revolution but the Arab Spring and the Russian Revolution and the French Revolution. (Yes, France ended up in a democracy eventually, but first it had the Terror and that led to Napoleon and the empire. The democracy was much later. And the majority of countries with violent revolutions *never* end up in a democracy.)
So what do you actually expect to *happen* by not voting for Biden? On a purely practical level. What do you think the world will look like if you don't and Trump wins? ("I'm going to get people to write in Sanders and he's going to win" doesn't count. He couldn't win the primary while he was actually on the ballot; you really think he's going to win the general when he's not and has himself endorsed Biden?) Why do you think it will look that way? Why is it looking that way better than the way it will look if Biden wins? What makes you think there will be a free election in 2024 if Trump wins? ("It will look awful but it will be someone else's fault" is also not an acceptable answer unless you're also going to tell me why you think the world looking awful is okay as long as you can't be blamed for it.)
Because honestly, to me "the revolution" looks a lot like the left's version of the "good guy with a gun" myth or the post-apocalyptic dystopia fantasy of getting to kill people. No one has any sort of actionable plan for what they'll do if they're ever in that situation, and they don't really have the necessary skills to pull it off well. ("But do you?" you ask. I'm not the one running around saying we should have a violent revolution instead of voting for the candidate who won't prevent us from having elections in the future.)
Do you actually have a *plan* for that? Like, not just nebulous "But revolution!" but an actual *plan*, along the lines of "And we're going to do X specific actionable step, and then Y specific actionable step, and then Z specific actionable step?" (Actionable steps have specific dates and times and lists of necessary materials and locations where said materials can be obtained attached to them. You need a schedule and a budget before your revolution is actionable.) Because I kinda feel like people who had an actual *plan* for a revolution wouldn't be posting about it on social media where the NSA can find them and have the CIA torture them for information and their conspirators can get arrested. It's bad operational security. I think most you haven't thought about the specific action plans that would need to be attached to that violent uprising or the collateral damage it's likely to cause. Do some research on how revolutions in dictator countries have ended up, historically-- not the mythologized American Revolution but the Arab Spring and the Russian Revolution and the French Revolution. (Yes, France ended up in a democracy eventually, but first it had the Terror and that led to Napoleon and the empire. The democracy was much later. And the majority of countries with violent revolutions *never* end up in a democracy.)
So what do you actually expect to *happen* by not voting for Biden? On a purely practical level. What do you think the world will look like if you don't and Trump wins? ("I'm going to get people to write in Sanders and he's going to win" doesn't count. He couldn't win the primary while he was actually on the ballot; you really think he's going to win the general when he's not and has himself endorsed Biden?) Why do you think it will look that way? Why is it looking that way better than the way it will look if Biden wins? What makes you think there will be a free election in 2024 if Trump wins? ("It will look awful but it will be someone else's fault" is also not an acceptable answer unless you're also going to tell me why you think the world looking awful is okay as long as you can't be blamed for it.)
Because honestly, to me "the revolution" looks a lot like the left's version of the "good guy with a gun" myth or the post-apocalyptic dystopia fantasy of getting to kill people. No one has any sort of actionable plan for what they'll do if they're ever in that situation, and they don't really have the necessary skills to pull it off well. ("But do you?" you ask. I'm not the one running around saying we should have a violent revolution instead of voting for the candidate who won't prevent us from having elections in the future.)
no subject
Date: 2020-04-15 10:46 pm (UTC)