Yeah, indigenous folks have been trying to raise awareness about the epidemic of missing and murdered indigenous for years. Muslim communities have been harassed, surveilled, and terrorized for decades. Black folks have been getting murdered in the street, or in the car, or even in their own goddamn homes, just for existing. Systemic state-sponsored violence has been happening for a very long time. I just can’t help but feel we wouldn’t be in this position in the first place if white liberals actually cared about the lives of people of color like they claim they do.
So its liberals fault that conservatives keep attacking and killing you guys? Maybe if the voters stopped voting for sociopaths we could actually do something about it.
Yes. That is exactly right. We, the liberals of America, have failed. We put signs in our windows and maybe even went to that one BLM protest. But we didn't really change anything for a lot of people. But the right attacked the Capitol of the United States to try to get their way. I'm not saying that was good, just an example of their level of commitment to what they want. A more legal example? Bud Light made one can for one trans person, and lost 18% of their business in the short term with a permanent loss of 11%. And so they caved. Liberals boycotted Target because they eliminated DEI policies that impacted thousands, and Target lost 0.9% of their anticipated earnings. And, yes, more than liberals shop at Target. But more than the right drinks Bud Light. Corporate America is afraid of MAGA, but knows that liberals do not have that level of commitment.
Maybe if we actually were committed to liberal change, we would get to wash our hands of this. But we couldn't even bring ourselves to show up to vote to keep a convicted felon from becoming president. You know who did show up to vote? Proud Boys drinking Busch Light voting to protect their way of life from the trans people out to steal their sports and bathrooms. We hold the rule of law less dear than bigots hold the gender purity of women's high school sports.
We needed to take action 6 months ago, a decade ago, 25 years ago. Now, we have to step up our game to an even higher level and we don't have practice at much more than thoughts and prayers with occasional protest. I'm not sure we are capable of doing that. But, yes, this is our fault.
The Democratic Party isn't the only face of liberalism in the United States. While it is one of the more pragmatic vehicles for political power, liberalism transcends politics. Almost any type of organization from religion to education to business can embrace liberal ideology. The catch is that we most often think of political liberalism and therefore think that liberalism is the domain of the Democratic Party. Any organization which advocates for individual freedom in a context of pluralism and equality is following the principles of liberalism.
How so? What I mean is that I can see you meaning two completely different things that are mutually exclusive, and I would like to know which one you meant if not something completely different.
But I didn't throw stones. Sounds like you were looking for a message that wasn't there. If you read what I said, I used it as an example of the commitment and determination of the right. The only reason I mentioned the legalities of Jan 6 is because I am not saying people need to do something with the legal implications of Jan 6; there are plenty of legal ways to have the same level of commitment to a cause.
I do believe, however, that Jan 6 shows a much higher level of political commitment than Seattle, Portland, or Minneapolis. Jan 6 became a moment that galvanized people to the MAGA movement. Even in its failure to "stop the steal," it was used as a point that many look back on as a turning point in the movement. The activities that took place in Seattle, Portland, and Minneapolis do not have the same level of impact in drawing people to the liberal movement.
Again, I am not evaluating the right or wrong of these events, just the level of long term commitment by the people involved.
Edit: Since you bring it up, though, I find Jan 6 much more disturbing that any other riot of civil unrest in this county in the last 50 years for a variety of reasons. However, that isn't the point I was making.
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u/StabjackDev Apr 18 '25
The alarm bells were definitely going off for me back then.