That seems to be a long way of saying that you're being intentionally ignorant of the world around you, blaming anyone who tries to explain what's happening, and that you can't be bothered reading anything longer than...

Never mind, I've already lost you.

I'm a little confused.

You're a fence-sitting-lefty?

Without being rude... what behavior on the right are you in favor of? Is it the reduction of rights for literally every minority? Is it the clearly stated planned process in Project 2025 that is being implemented? Is it tariffs, to punish our "trade partners" (read: farmers, citizens, small businesses)? Do you think trans people are not human?

I'm cranky, clearly, but honestly looking for some insight. What makes you not a staunch lefty? I don't think an informed lefty can possibly be fence-sitting; the political landscape is just so polarized and the right is just trashing everything they can get their hands on.

If you're just uninformed and not paying attention, then you need to start looking around. There are tons of left memes right here, so if you're not seeing them, then you're not looking. If you're seeing the right-leaning memes more, then check your sources and biases.

The right figured it out that you need to engage at this level.

Of course you mean they have to pander and lie right?

The Democrats are asking for the following:

• Extension & expansion of health-care subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This was set to expire at the end of 2025, and would drive up insurance costs for millions of low-income and middle class families if not subsidized.
• Reversal or protection against Republican-led cuts in Medicaid / other health programs. The BBB removed a lot of people from Medicade coverage, they want to prevent it from getting worse and guarantee protection for US citizens.
• A meaningful say in any continuing resolution (CR) or stop-gap that reopens the government.

Essentially, Republicans are trying to ram through legislation that fuck over a lot of people. Democrats are trying to prevent a lot of people from being fucked over, and have essentially told Republicans that you need to work with us on these things....like, you know, a functional government is supposed to do.

The reason you see simple messaging from the right and not the left, is because lies are simple. If you're just making shit up, you can make it as simple and meme-worthy as you want, it doesn't matter. The truth is always more complicated, so if you want to tell the truth, you have to explain in something other than memes and simplistic pictures like this one. You need articles, or at least a paragraph or two of explaining, which means reading.

I'm not reading articles all day. Just looking at pictures.

You don't even need to read an entire article. Most reasonable news sources put it in a quick info box for you. Or you could pull up a democratic senator's Bluesky or Mastodon account and see what they've posted about why they voted against it. There's probably info on Tiktok and Instagram, too.

In this modern world, the issue is never that the information isn't available; just that you didn't look for it.

Do I read this right? You're saying "the right is winning because they're posting clickbait bullshit (technical term here, not just a sloppy swear) consumed in memes or tiktok-style videos"?

Aren't you terrified that's the life so many (and I think you're putting yourself in this camp as well) are choosing to live?

You took more time writing this up than it takes to read couple articles.

Get you priorities straight.

I could read it but me and millions of others aren't going to. But we vote.

You probably shouldn't, if you refuse to be informed. You're going to be talked into making decisions based on all manner of misinformation from sources foreign and domestic. You're going to form opinions based on lies, rumors, and propaganda. You're essentially saying that your vote is for sale to whoever pays Mark Zuckerberg enough money. Honestly, if you're going to commit election fraud, at least insist that they pay you.

Right now I see a lot of very impressive pictures and headlines and shorts telling me Democrats caused this.

That's not because the content doesn't exist on the left. There are tens of thousands of liberal and leftist creators making content and putting it out there; in fact there are probably more leftward leaning creators making political content than rightward-leaning creators. You're just being targeted by algorithms and ads; maybe because that's the sort of thing you've clicked before, or maybe because you're in a demographic that's traditionally sympathetic to right-wing talking points. In either case, you're letting billionaires sell your opinion off to the highest bidder, for their own profit.

On the other side are guys like you saying I'm stupid and just Google it.

I'm not saying you're stupid. I'm saying that you're making choices that are going to harm you in the long run, because you're refusing to do the bare minimum to stay informed.

[just Google it.] I'm not going to [by] the way. You'll have to live with that.

No, you're going to have to live with that. You're not helping yourself out there. It's like sitting in a burning car and saying "I'm not going to open the car door myself. You'll have to live with that." Honestly, I don't love the idea of someone dying who doesn't have to, but between the two of us, you are the one who is more harmed by your intentional ignorance. (I don't use the word "ignorance" in an insulting way here. You're being ignorant, in the sense that you're ignoring current events.)

Yes, in a sense we're all locked in the car with you until you agree to open the door, but I'm not even going there at this point. You making hostage demands about your media diet strikes me as something you thought was a good idea when you wrote it, but it's really not.

You could produce content to engage me like the right does which if there is enough content it could sway opinions slowly over time.

1. No, I couldn't. I'm a software engineer, not a journalist.

2. Tens of thousands of actual journalists are. You're not being served their content, and because you've insisted on not going out of your way to find it, you're never going to see it.

3. It isn't our responsibility to make you a responsible citizen.

Cause you're smart. So smart. Keep doing what you're doing. Stay informed with your nice little group.

You know why we're informed, right? It's because it only takes a very tiny amount of effort to be, and we're willing to expend that effort. If you're not, you're going to be expending more effort in the long run as people take advantage of your willful ignorance to take things from you.

With a little propaganda machine at all your fingertips [...]

So you recognize that it's a propaganda machine, and you're fine with it? "I know that the food machine is shoveling straight manure into my mouth, but the real problem is the people who went and found a burger to eat because instead of bringing me a burger they're telling me to close my mouth!"

[...] with tools that act like force multipliers such as AI,

AI isn't a force multiplier. I say this as someone who works with it all the time on a technical level in my job. It's a convenience tool at best. At worst, it makes stuff take longer.

you guys just keep not doing any of the stuff that historically worked to swing voters, instead get people to drive miles to random cities and stand around for the day then go home.

Historically, what swings voters and changes opinions is talking to people with whom you have (1) mutual trust and respect, (2) who have a baseline understanding of current events, (3) in person. Not AI or social media or anything like that. All of that stuff can inform, but if you're being served everything but reality from the algorithm, you aren't going to be getting information either.

As for protests...huh? They worked amazingly well during the Civil Rights movement.

So my point is I'm not reading shit little probably didn't read this ramble which is my point.

I did.

But you'll look at and give it a few seconds at least. Again which is my point. Hopefully you understand now. The people to sway the country back is not you or your fellow lefty political article readers. It's me, average guy. Just looking at things and moving on.

Maybe. But hopefully it'll be people who don't intentionally avoid doing whatever they can to actually learn about current events, as you seem dead-set on doing right now.

It's your responsibility and your civic duty to stay informed, but if you're unwilling, and just want to eat propaganda slop, then it's not up to us to educate you. So shrug you do you.

Here's something to explode your noggin. I'm not a US citizen, I don't even live in the USA, and I'm better informed about what's happening in your country than you. And that's not because I'm some lefty political article reader. I read articles on all sides.

And would you have said to Doctor King that his Million Man March was pointless?

Your self confessed low information diet, and refusal to correct that, just means you vote for policies and people that don't actually help you, or you don't vote, which has the same effect. You hurt yourself and the people you love, but right wingnuts don't seem to mind that.... It's crazy to me that there are people trying to rule every important aspect of your life, including what healthcare you and your family can have, and how much tax you pay, and whether you get sent into war, but you don't care enough to do more than look at pictures. This has to be one definition of insanity tbh.

So your head is stuck up your arse and you refuse to exert the effort to extract it.

God help us if the majority of the country matches your level of apathy, 'cause we're all fucked six ways from Sunday if so.

No, it's a big problem for you because I'm not validating your selfish decision.

The world does not exist for your gratification.