108
Controversial Dem Candidate Graham Platner Says Anti-Trans Attacks Are “Invented Culture-War Scare” (www.them.us)
submitted 8 months ago by to c/queer_defense_front@lemmy.blahaj.zone
27 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 35 points 8 months ago (15 children)

Calrification, this comment is for general readers, not targetted to the person I am replying to. It is meant for additional context and vocalizing my opinion of Graham Platner.

There was also him being on a podcast interview hosted by a questionable channel. But my thinking is Platner is not a career politician, and is just kinda ignorant politically speaking. People (particularly media and establishment Dems) keep trying to paint him as a nazi. Which yeah, if you only looked at the tattoo and podcast I feel that would be a reasonable conclusion to make. But Platner is also outspoken about queer rights (including trans rights), supports universal healthcare, and other very progressive views and actions (if I remember correctly he was/is a DSA member). No nazi is going to be supporting those actions, particularly supporting trans people. My personal analysis of him is he is an average blue-collar working class Mainer, and that comes with a lot of complexity and nuance that career politicians do not have, and that voters are not used to seeing in political candidates.

Now that being said, I am an anarchist. I do not vote for people, I only vote on individual issues. Whether or not I like Platner, I am not likely to vote for anyone in the first place. Even if somehow I do end up voting for him, I would quickly accept my wrong doing if it turned out he was an anti-semite or nazi. However I do not think that is the case. I think he is a complicated and nuanced person with a complicated and nuanced past that he has grown and learned from. Its pretty clear from his past that he has undergone a pretty radical shift in his beliefs and politics and that growth should be applauded. He should be held accountable for his mistakes, but they should not permanently brand him.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 15 child comments
    •
  • [–] 25 points 8 months ago (7 children)

    I'm totally down with everything you're saying except that you're potentially not going to vote after you have seen what has happened.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 7 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago* (6 children)

    Since you were kinder than the second person who replied to me, I will engage this in good faith. I expressed hesitation for not voting for Platner if he gets to the election (which is still up in the air, cause of the primaries). And as I told the other person, that is because he doesn't feel like a lesser of the two evils. I do not have to vote for genocide lite to avoid genocide pro, I can just not vote for genocide. Which I want to point out was the main reason for most people protest voting in the first place. We had told the Democrat Party for months that we would not vote for a candidate that was supporting Israel. And we were not quite about it. The Democratic Party did not listen, and people held true to the threats they made. The Democratic Party is at fault for American Fascism, not people who refused to vote between fascism lite and fascism pro.

    I have more than just that reason, but I won't deny it was a major reason. Platner seems like an actually good candidate, and because that addressed a major issue I had with voting I now have reason to reconsider my position on voting.

    If you want to change someone's mind on something, addressing their concerns, respecting their perspective, and working constructively is the best way to get someone to work and agree with you. Guilt tripping, scolding, and shaming on the other hand doesn't. Thats because it never addresses our concerns, only tries to combat us on our beliefs. Which, at least for myself, you are not going to change.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
    •
  • [–] 6 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    I share your frustration with the Democrats. They are too deep in the pockets of the corporations; but they are bendable and shame-able, which is something the Republicans are not.

    Republicans alone are responsible for their parties policies, actions and attitudes.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    If they were bendable and shameable they would have moved on the Palestine issue, but instead they stayed supporting Israel's genocide. But thats neither here nor there in terms of this specific situation, cause Graham Platner is condemning the genocide. We will see if he gets through the primaries. Still got time before the election to stew on whether I change my mind about voting

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago

    It appears the US does whatever the Israeli and Saudi governments want us to do.

    I think bringing out all the Epstein files, investigating and prosecuting - or at least running out of office all the people who are compromised (in both parties at every level) would be a step in the right direction.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    Thanks for taking the time to provide a nice response. I believe in your autonomy and ultimately in your stance in a theoretical capacity.

    In a useful, real world application I find not voting is bad praxis. I can't help but see it this way. It was bad before, Trump gets elected and now it's worse. I prefer bad to worse. I understand that in your frame partially accepting bad precludes the possibility of good. I do not know if complete certitude in either of our stances' correctness is possible.

    At least I hope you are a civic participator working to secure rank choice voting or get subversively progressive folks on the ticket. Even if you can't stomach voting for harm reduction.

    I guess what I really wish for is an end to or at least a significant reduction in the friendly fire in left spaces. If we can't all get on board with being on the same side, even if our means are different, we are so fucked. We should uplift strengths and operate in good faith. If you can't vote for a shitty liberal I can understand that. But I do expect you to be doing other things actively in the civic space to move our country in the right direction instead of waiting for the glorious conditions for revolution to naturally materialize.

    That's really all I can ask for and all I can hope for. We all have different capacities and I think it is very important to see all of ourselves on the same side and for all of us to feel obligated to actively participate in moving the needle in some kind of capacity.

    Thanks for taking the time to read.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 child)

    I really appreciate yourresponse. I organize a local anarchist mutual aid group in my area. Mainly focused on helping the houseless and supporting protests. We are also working on expanding into other areas like supporting folks who are at risk from ICE, as well starting zine stuff. Ultimately we are aiming to develop grassroots structures to support people, and in the long term we wish to build structures of power separate from the government.

    Ultimately its not necessarilly a belief that good cant come from bad. I definitely think most of the time bad brings bad, but not always. Part of it is I feel that I am responsible for what those that I vote for do. Or at least what they promise to do before getting elected. In the case of Kamala, she would continue to support Israel's genocide and I wasn't willing to sacrifice Palestinians to protect myself. That and I conflict about whether or not it is really harm reduction? However this is something I feel I have to just figure out by myself at this point. I have heard the arguments for both sides of it and I just gotta figure out what I believe on the matter. The other part (which makes resolving that conflict hard) is that I believe voting for representatives legitimizes them, and thus the system they work for. I don't want to support a system that disempowers me by handing my power to politicians.

    Which yeah, all of that is largely principle and symbolic or abstract but I do believe that stuff to be important. Partly because symbolic acts still have impact. But also they are informed by my morals, values, beliefs, etc. Compromising on them is corrupting. The issue though is that in the dilemma around voting is that two different sets of values are in conflict. Harm reduction versus autonomy and self-determinism. Probably others but I have spent enough time as is trying to organize these thoughts for this comment.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago

    🫡 You're good people, thanks for taking the time. If you can spend even a little bit of time backing any initiative for ranked choice voting or grassroots political upstarts that participate in the mainstream discourse, I would be deeply grateful. No obligation, I'm some random internet nobody.

    Just a couple closing, non-committal thoughts here.

    I have worked in substance use as a therapist and I have come to believe that harm reduction is completely valid. Sure, that micro scale versus a macro scale is a different context. But regardless both of them are expressions of human nature or how we organize ourselves. I believe that harm reduction is legit. That doesn't mean that I have to think that the specific action smells like roses. I'm not personally down with Kamala and I'm not personally down with taking heroin as safely as possible. That's not what I want in my reality.

    But it's not really about what you or I want, it's about what the majority of people in society are able to get behind. If it was just you and I building a society this would be a non-issue. We would just build the type of structures that you are describing and then we would live in it and we would be happy.

    But we have to navigate a space safely where people don't necessarily believe in the theory that we are espousing. Maybe they are even knee-jerk reaction opposed to things that are new or different. Those are the people that I'm focused on. We have to create an appeal to folks who hear the word anarchy and immediately jam their fingers in their ears. We have to appeal to comfortable moderate Democrats who are fine with the way things are.

    I am trying to orient my messaging and my practice around the humans that we have today right here and right now. A lot of those people are not trying to hear what we are saying. Billions and billions of dollars are specifically being spent to make it look like we're actually doing something bad. I think it was more possible 50 or 100 years ago to grassroots ourselves into something better. The incredible power of the vested interests in sustaining the meat grinder versus hopeful do-gooders.

    I'm going to continue staying a hopeful do-gooder and I hope you do too. I'm not saying that you're wrong. I understand. But I do think you should still vote. And that's okay. If we both genuinely are working as hard as we possibly can to make the world a better place something will come of it.

    So again I appreciate your time and let's keep the left fighting the right not ourselves. 💪💪 Peace my friend.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 7 points 8 months ago

    I think he is a complicated and nuanced person with a complicated and nuanced past that he has grown and learned from. Its pretty clear from his past that he has undergone a pretty radical shift in his beliefs and politics and that growth should be applauded. He should be held accountable for his mistakes, but they should not permanently brand him.

    I wish more people had this level of critical thinking.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [+] -2 points 8 months ago (6 children)
    [deleted]
  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
    •
  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago (4 children)

    It's funny. This last election cycle I thought exactly like this, but Trump changed it all. I'll never vote for another liberal or Zionist again. Establishment Dems are just the slower poison, not less evil, just less carcinogenic. Both of these parties are funneling away our futures and our children's futures for a quick buck. I'd rather the entire system crashes and we rip this band aid off quickly. I do have a voice and it's been ignored my entire life. Corruption has completely enveloped our government and it needs to be fixed from the top down.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [+] 4 points 8 months ago (1 child)
    [deleted]
  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago

    Clearly you're still living in some fantasy world where you think working within this corrupt system can yield the results you're looking for. Not going to happen, especially when you'll accept any old crusty turd the liberal masters serve you. You don't get it, our way of life has fundamentally changed already. The train has left the station. The cat is out of the bag. Things will never be the way they were before. Stop levying everything at Trump too, he's not the problem. The entire right-wing and a large portion of the left-wing wants us dead. Trump is just the flavor of the day. We've let the elites get too much power and they won't relinquish it willingly. I certainly hope you own firearms and ammo. I hope you and your friends know how to use them too. We're going to need them in the next ten years. In the meantime, stop voting for slop candidates that work on behalf of the elites.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 0 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    So you voted for the most corrupt person and party? That isn't particularly logical

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago* (1 child)

    I did, lifelong straight-ticket Democrat voter that won't be blindly making that mistake again.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago

    It depends on who is running in your area I suppose. I personally can't support any Republican because of their policies (as well as their lack of personal morals) I miss the days when politicians were boring.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
    • load more comments (-1 replies)
  • [–] -1 points 8 months ago*

    I will not lie that my opinion on voting as a form of harm reduction is something I have been debating with myself for awhile, even before Trump's election. However not once has someone like you coming in to shame and guilt and scold me ever pushed me one way or another. You know why? Because you're all self entitled assholes about it who wouldnt listen to me about a lot of things. You come in with bad faith and want to blame us for fascism rather than, you know, the fascists (which yes includes fascist lite, the Democratic Party). Cause the fact of the matter is we aren't. You don't come in here in good faith, you don't treat us with respect, so if you aren't going to do that why the fuck should I give you the time of day?

    You either say we (people who don't vote out of protest) hold enough power that we could've swayed the vote and delayed America's decent into fascism, or we aren't relevant enough for the Democratic party to adapt their platform and candidates to better appeal to us. So which is it? Are we so powerful we cost the election, or are we just some tiny minority worth considering (unlike those mythical moderate republicans the Dems keep chasing apparently)? And you wanna know what? My vote didnt matter because of the electoral college. My state voted blue, so my vote wouldn't've done anything even if I didn't even show up to the ballot. Which I did, and I voted on the issues up for vote because that is where I can directly impact. Not pass the responsibility to a career politician.

    The Democratic Party is the reason for fascism. They knew Palestine was a pivotal issue, and chose genocide over winning the election. They continue to shift more and more right trying to appeal to the illusive moderate republicans, and you want me to encourage that? Cause thats what that vote means. It tells the Democratic Party that they could put anyone out for you and you'd vote for them because they're the "lesser evil."

    You know what has been able to make me reconsider not voting for people? Candidates that were actually possibly worth voting for like Mamdani and Platner. You know why? Because it actually solves at least some of the issues with why I don't vote. So maybe if you stopped wasting your time scolding non-voters like me for holding beliefs, standards, and principles that are fundamentally different than yours, but still just as based on logic, reasoning, good faith as yours and instead dedicated that time to pressuring the Democratic Party to choose worth-while candidates we could have a productive discussion.

    But untill you are willing to engage in good-faith and work constructively with our perspective, I will end discussion now and give you the kind of attitude you give me. Fuck off.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
    • load more comments (-1 replies)