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Since 2013 we’ve seen disenfranchisement in Alabama in real time. Require strict new voter id, then close the DMVs in black and left leaning areas. Combine polling places in democratic leaning areas so they are further away and have long lines. Move polling places so they are no longer accessible by bus. Those are just the obvious ones, but the Republicans’ strategy has been to do anything they can to stop people from voting.
Most folks in the south are good, honest, hard-working people - but the levels of propaganda aimed at keeping them ignorant and blaming minorities for systemic issues are hard to overstate. That coupled with a crumbling education system, poverty, and voter suppression is what keeps the south voting against the best interests of the majority of people.
The average Southern voter is just trying to do the right thing with the information they have access to. Doesn't make them any less wrong, but it does make the situation more morally complex.
It always makes me sad when I see people in Left spaces saying things like "it serves them right" etc etc when disasters occur. Sure, the majority of voters may have voted for policies that caused these things, but they are ignorant and have been lied to their whole lives. Not to mention all the folks who have been disenfranchised by the system.
Edit: for those responding: most. Most people. Like 40% of people don't vote. And another 25+% vote Dem. Of the remaining 30-35% that decide elections for Republicans, most of those are extremely misled, either thinking Dems are to blame for Rep policies that harm them, that Dem policies will make it impossible for them to make a living, etc. etc. A subset of those 30-35% are just outright evil and either want to throw everyone under the bus for a few tax breaks or are just rascists/bigots. But, that is not most people. Note, I don't lime the Democrats, but their policies are significantly less harmful than Rep policies. If you actually talk to people in the South, you would understand that. Some are out-and-out ghouls, but most people are miseducated, poor, and have been told who to blame by the powers that be.
No. Hard stop NO. Ignorance is no longer an acceptable excuse. They all have access to the same internet as the rest of us and all have the ability to verify the things they see and hear. Most choose not to.
I'll accept gerrymandering and some other hard physical barriers but ignorance and lack of education is no longer acceptable.
They do not have access to the same internet. Just see how Facebook's algorithm decides what to show you based on your IP and usage history and a bajillion other factors. And how Google changes the search results based on IP too. They don't choose not to verify the things they see; those things were presented as the truth to them in the first place.
Critical thinking skills are essential for that, and they stopped teaching that a long time ago. It's not enough to have access to information, you have to have the skills to judge and interpret it. This is why misinformation is such a problem, people literally don't have the skills to distinguish between it and actual facts
Nobody ever taught me that either but I figured it out. I wish this didn't need to be taught at all.
I lived in VA. From 2nd to 9th grade pre-internet. Now VA. Is South but it's not west va., Mississippi, or Tennessee south. Even back then, you could spend an afternoon in a library and alleviate yourself of a lot of bad information unintentionally just by looking up that information. I know because I did. I'd hear grownups around me say sketchy shit and look into it. It's even easier to do so now. Just the act of seeking clarity can bring some small pieces of enlightenment. A lot of people didn't bother then and wouldn't now.
What's happening is post-truth BS. People just choosing to believe whatever the fuck they want, often without any verification.
Are some people being led astray? Absolutely. But they're also allowing themselves to be. People have been trying to convince southerners (and others) for decades, of not a century, that they're being screwed over and the people they vote in are doing the screwing but many just flatly refuse to look into it at all and just keep going on blind faith. What happened to personal responsibility and self-agency? Not to mention that some people are just dumpster fires given human form and those people definitely deserve to reap what they sow.
I don't wish hardship on anyone but if a person continually brings hardship on themselves through their own, thoughts, votes, and actions, while ignoring all the warnings being handed out like candy at Halloween, I don't find it surprising that others feel less inclined to be sympathetic let alone empathetic with their plight.
It's because most people are intellectually lazy.
It's far easier to believe trusted sources than look things up yourself.
So what you're saying is they can vote to fuck up the country and suppress other peoples freedoms. They can vote to instill pain fear and chaos in other peoples lives. But when the consequences of their vote bites them in the ass all of a sudden we need to have empathy and grace? Libs like you are why we are in this mess with fascism to begin with.
So? When the Internet exists to easily see the proof of reality, they are not blameless for taking in lies
Yeah, someone told me yesterday that the people in Kabul deserve to have no assistance, "because they chose the Taliban".
I mean, that's certainly a perspective.
I’m with you. I live in a red state in the north, in a small island of blue, but if I drive for a few minutes in any direction it’s trump signs & bigotry.
I feel like I’m surrounded by idiots. They’re bringing my state down with them. It’s horrifying.
Sending love ❤️ I truly hate to see would be-“progressives” laughing at the senseless deaths and violence just because some 30% of them voted a certain way.
It’s one of the ways that capital keeps the culture war lit, I find. Breed hatred and dehumanization for a people group while gleefully stripping that people group from self-determination at every opportunity.
I'm seeing a very ugly side around Lemmy the last couple of days. It's nice to see posts like this!
If something is despicable when your adversary does it, then it is despicable when you do it.
We are not immune to propaganda! ❤️ It’s on all of us to help each other out, finding our blind spots.
Food for thought. If youre a working adult youve invested in this country. You have every right to expect something in return. Like the expectation that your investment hasn't been squandered for the purpose of evil.
i thought it was human nature for my paycheck to go to bomb apartment buildings several oceans away while my neighbors die of preventable diseases???? im confused
It probably sucks being trapped in a red state while having empathy.
Hopefully, enough of them gather and enact tangible change.
Otherwise nothing will change.
We try. We get shot & forgotten.
I can't do shit about that in Pennsylvania. You'd think there would have been more an effort to disprove the allegations or fix the problems sometime between 1865 and now.
Guess what! People in the south frequently can’t do shit about it either. If you would like to blame this on the people who live there for not voting correctly, please explain to me what you think ‘gerrymandering’ and ‘disenfranchisement’ mean, and what the average person living in the south is supposed to do about this shit being greenlit by SCOTUS.
Both things can be true: vote manipulation measures and voters choosing horribly.
And every time a city tries to do something good, the state steps in and stops it. This happens daily in Birmingham, Alabama where the state is constantly overturning things the city has passed or the state takes the ability away from the city.
There are rights organizations that work across state borders for these causes. Not trying to shame, just putting out there that there are outlets for your talents, time, money, or even just verbal support.
You can replace "south" with "US" and it's just as true.
honestly very correct. someone else pointed out that even the worst of us states were only 70/30 maga.
call me a bleeding heart lib but i don’t celebrate the suffering of 10 people just because 7 of them asked for it. 🙃