I had missed this, but Nepenthe literally dismissed concerns of B-Dubs death: https://www.resetera.com/threads/biden-administration-no-longer-supporting-an-immediate-ceasefire-in-lebanon.1005735/page-9#post-130014735
As a response, Nepenthe effectively conceded that yes, she'd prefer that B-Dubs and trans people be genocided than sully her hands by voting for Democrats:
B-Dubs wrote:There's a HUGE difference between the Trump voters who literally run around being racist shitheels and bragging about it, people who have been tacitly endorsing the GOP's bigotry the whole way through, and people who have to hold their noses to vote for people in order to protect the people they love from literal death. Fuck that. Seriously, if Trump gets in office and the ACA goes away I'm dead. So if I vote to prevent that, to protect myself from literally dying or going into a debt that I can't ever really climb out of, then I'm endorsing everything Harris does? If I vote for Harris to protect my LGBTQ+ friends from the literal libsoftiktok people taking over the government and persecuting them then I'm endorsing genocide in Gaza?
As a response, Nepenthe effectively conceded that yes, she'd prefer that B-Dubs and trans people be genocided than sully her hands by voting for Democrats:
Nepenthe wrote:I am not bullshitting Dubs. You know me. However, you were bullshitting when you earlier compared the Ukranian people to the Palestinians.Changes the context of B-Dubs' response doesn't it?
We can pretend like voting for only A, B, C of a Democrat's platform is not a wholesale endorsement of the entire platform while simultaneously saying all Trump voters inherently supported a racist platform even while they were insisting to our faces that they were economically anxious and wanted the tax breaks. Or we can maintain some level of actual political and moral consistency and examine our place within a system that constantly promotes imperialist outcomes.
And it's not even really an extremely strong moral condemnation I'm leveling at loyal Democrats, at least no more than what I leveled at myself for voting for Obama and Biden (especially Biden, because hoo-boy I haven't forgotten what he did to my people with the crime bill). I'm not even saying anything I haven't leveled on myself, and I would not necessarily be convinced by anyone in this thread that I was not complicit within this country's awful foreign policies when I cast my vote for these men. I also wouldn't want the assuagement or pity. My choices are mine and mine alone to deal with. Being an American means inherently being stuck as a cog in this death machine and, if you're somewhat empathetic, it's a constant struggle with trying to do your best to mitigate the damage you will wring as an unwilling participant in this system for the time you've got on this Earth.
If anyone votes for Harris to protect their loved ones, then that's the lever they're pulling. But they cannot then turn around to me and say that they care equally for anyone affected by Middle Eastern policy. Like, on the surface, they're admitting that their family and friends come first. And humans being humans are going to act in ways that protect those whom they consider to be part of their proverbial tribe or pack. This isn't really surprising or excessively condemnable, per se; I'm not Peter Singer levels of extreme.
Hell, I imagine if you rig the hypothetical situation enough, I could be convinced to vote for Harris if, like, I was absolutely convinced me and my family were going to be wiped out if I didn't, because I also have an instinct of self-preservation. Indeed, this instinct not being activated right now in this election could be used against me by you and others to say I truly think trans Americans and Americans with disabilities are worth sacrificing.
...
All I am looking for is some level of moral consitency and a willingness for people to examine their complicitly in an effort to understand why people like me have taking the position that they have.