•  apis   ( @apis@beehaw.org ) 
    link
    fedilink
    English
    147 months ago

    Easy to let despondence & cynicism override reality, but if it were true that voting does nothing, nobody would put such effort into discouraging us from voting; into confusing us so much that we disengage.

    Standing in line to tick may feel too tiny to count, but everything counts, from the mysterious interactions of subatomic particles to your most basic civic interaction with the rest of your nation (voting).

    •  t3rmit3   ( @t3rmit3@beehaw.org ) 
      link
      fedilink
      2
      edit-2
      7 months ago

      Voting can have an effect, of course, but whether it does is dependent on many things.

      if it were true that voting does nothing, nobody would put such effort into discouraging us from voting

      This is not necessarily correct.

      Never assume that the thing that an opponent loudly and visibly opposes is their actual goal; it may very well be a distraction to keep you from their real goal/ or the real threat to them. That’s not some abstract hypothetical, either; this is done all the time in politics. Putting non-starter provisions in bills in order to expend your opponents’ political capital killing the extreme provisions in order to get your real goals passed, is a common practice, as one example.

      An inexperienced opponent telegraphs their real moves unwittingly. An experienced one feints.