Sure but it also makes me understand that people lack solidarity if they miss a time when their comfort came at the expense of the oppressed simply because they weren’t the one personally being oppressed.
Just because life was more comfortable before doesn’t mean I miss it, because I have solidarity with those who were oppressed for that comfort to have been possible. I would never want those times to return just because I personally benefit from it, thus I do not miss those times.
I also do not miss those times because I understand that those times are what allowed the ones we are currently living in to manifest. The systems, institutions, and cultural norms of those times are what led to today.
I do not miss those times. I yearn for times where those things did not come at the expense of others while enabling evil to continue to consolidate power and disenfranchise my brothers and sisters of the working class.
Bad is bad. Just because you weren’t personally affected by the bad doesn’t make it less bad, just exposes how little solidarity with the oppressed you actually have.
Because there are people who don’t have a shortsighted, reactionary mentality.
The degrees of how bad is entirely contextual. And part of the context of seeing the lesser evil as “better” involves limiting the scope to a false dichotomy.
Being stabbed is better than being shot, but regardless of which option you’re still fucking being injured.
Nice bad faith interpretation. Nothing about what I said implies that I can’t recognize that degrees exist. In fact, I explicitly recognized that degrees exist and the contextual nature of them.
Your inability to have contextual understanding of the wider picture and not limit yourself to the immediate, reactionary perspective is the handicap here.
One step forward for every two steps back is “technically” better than no steps forward and three steps back. Yet, if you understand the full picture, you realize that both are still resulting in backwards progress; so, another choice needs to be made if one’s goal is to go forward.
If all you ever do is react to the “greater evil” by giving power to the “lesser evil”, you simply allow evil to hold it over you as a threat to coerce your obedience and consolidate power while dangling performative concessions to keep the people distracted by the illusion of progress.
I get your point and I don’t disagree, but surely you get your relatives too?
Nope. I don’t really get that shortsighted mentality of missing the lesser evil.
Evil is evil regardless and it should never be missed just because you weren’t a victim of their evil deeds. That’s how you abandon your solidarity
What happened to the concept of better?
Nothing.
Better is contextual. The lesser is technically better, sure, but it still falls below the minimum standards.
Being stabbed is “better” than being shot but regardless of which, you’re still fucking injured.
But if you understand “better” then shouldn’t that help in understanding how people miss better times?
Sure but it also makes me understand that people lack solidarity if they miss a time when their comfort came at the expense of the oppressed simply because they weren’t the one personally being oppressed.
Just because life was more comfortable before doesn’t mean I miss it, because I have solidarity with those who were oppressed for that comfort to have been possible. I would never want those times to return just because I personally benefit from it, thus I do not miss those times.
I also do not miss those times because I understand that those times are what allowed the ones we are currently living in to manifest. The systems, institutions, and cultural norms of those times are what led to today.
I do not miss those times. I yearn for times where those things did not come at the expense of others while enabling evil to continue to consolidate power and disenfranchise my brothers and sisters of the working class.
Did that oppression stop or why is missing those times so bad?
Irrelevant. The oppression didn’t stop beforehand either, and what came before enabled what we have today.
Did you just not read the comment at all? That’s literally what was being explained.
So if the oppression is the same then what does it matter to the oppressed if you were wishful for a time when other things were better?
“I don’t understand why someone might miss when things were less bad!”
Tracks.
Bad is bad. Just because you weren’t personally affected by the bad doesn’t make it less bad, just exposes how little solidarity with the oppressed you actually have.
There’s always degrees to it. I dunno why so many online forget about this
Because there are people who don’t have a shortsighted, reactionary mentality.
The degrees of how bad is entirely contextual. And part of the context of seeing the lesser evil as “better” involves limiting the scope to a false dichotomy.
Being stabbed is better than being shot, but regardless of which option you’re still fucking being injured.
Not being able to see degrees to things seems more like a handicap than anything good tbh.
Nice bad faith interpretation. Nothing about what I said implies that I can’t recognize that degrees exist. In fact, I explicitly recognized that degrees exist and the contextual nature of them.
Your inability to have contextual understanding of the wider picture and not limit yourself to the immediate, reactionary perspective is the handicap here.
One step forward for every two steps back is “technically” better than no steps forward and three steps back. Yet, if you understand the full picture, you realize that both are still resulting in backwards progress; so, another choice needs to be made if one’s goal is to go forward.
If all you ever do is react to the “greater evil” by giving power to the “lesser evil”, you simply allow evil to hold it over you as a threat to coerce your obedience and consolidate power while dangling performative concessions to keep the people distracted by the illusion of progress.
It doesn’t give much power to anyone to think “this time sucks, I wish we still had the better times”