Although personally in favor of Palestinian independence and critical of war crimes committed by Israel in its siege of Gaza, I attempted to explain in a back-and-forth discussion with a user (only afterwards learning was one of the community’s two moderators) why protest voting in the 2024 election to “punish” the democrats in favor of the republicans harmed the ultimate interest of reigning in Israeli violence in Palestine.

To further emphasize the damage caused by such a protest vote, I argued that not only is Palestine worse off with Trump elected instead of Harris, but as are a myriad of other social issues. The other user disagreed, arguing that Trump’s return to office facilitated the ceasefire, rather than my argument that Netanyahu deliberately delayed it to help Trump get elected.

After my fourth reply post in a reply chain that stemmed from my initial reply to the moderator’s comment, I was banned from !palestine@lemm.ee. Having at no point advocated in favor of the violence perpetuated by Israel in Gaza, I think the ban was unjustified, and demonstrates a bad precedent for maintaining echo chambers of moderator opinions, rather than communities that foster discussion.

  • ocean@lemmy.selfhostcat.com
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    4 days ago

    Your opinion is wrong. If Biden or Harris were going to do anything they would have before their term ended. Harris made that clear. You thinking that democrats would have done anything when they didn’t for four years is just silly. That said, haven’t ann incorrect opinion isn’t ban worthy.

    • Susaga@sh.itjust.works
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      4 days ago

      “Dems are bad” is not a good counterargument to “republicans are worse.” Choose the lesser of two evils.

      • BrainInABox@lemmy.ml
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        2 days ago

        The lesser evil is which ever will hasten the collapse of the US Empire, because it’s clear the mass exportation of genocide is bipartisan policy.

      • _cryptagion@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        3 days ago

        It’s still insane to hear people say that. “Chose the lesser of two evils”.

        You do understand how fucking insane it is that you’re saying that, right?

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            3 days ago

            Judging from the gloating as Palestinians die, despite the fact it was 20 million democrats who stayed home because they’re white enough Trump won’t bother them, yes. I do believe you like it. Democrats refuse to do anything to prevent fascism when they have power, and do nothing but complain about it when they don’t.

            I’ll believe you don’t like it when you lot stop acting so smug and morally superior while you watch Trump kill brown people slightly faster than Harris would. Because at the end of the day, you’re still happy they’re dying, because it makes you “right”.

                • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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                  I spent months on this website breathlessly pleading with morons like you, spelling this shit out in every possible way that I could.

                  It is not gloating, it is frustration. And clearly, you’ve learned nothing.

                  • _cryptagion@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                    3 days ago

                    Morons like me? I fucking voted for Harris because I had no fucking choice. It’s “cis, white, male” like you who sat on your fucking asses at home because you know Trump isn’t coming for you anyway. Twenty million of you shitheads stayed home, and now that democracy is going out the windows, you have the audacity to come on here and strut around like you’re the smartest fucking dildo in the room.

                    Fuck you, you’re all racist pieces of shit. I should have known democrats would lose anyway, and still blame it on everyone but themselves. You lack the intellectual capability to even entertain the thought that your shit doesn’t stink. And in four years, when Trump runs for a third time, I have no doubt you’ll run another warhawk corporate liberal shitstain that’ll lose to him again. Because out of three elections against Trump, you’ve lost two, and you won’t even acknowledge that it was your fault in the first place.

        • Susaga@sh.itjust.works
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          Do you think not choosing either evil somehow prevents both? I would fucking love if it worked like that, but it doesn’t. There are only two possible outcomes. You either receive the greater evil or the lesser evil.

          I want as little evil as possible, so I choose the lesser evil. If you don’t choose the lesser evil, you’re saying you don’t care how much evil there is in the world, and you allow the greater evil. Why would you choose to allow the greater evil?

          • _cryptagion@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            3 days ago

            That’s some real neoliberal bullshit. You lot have absolutely lost it, you know that? You’re straight up admitting your candidate is evil, and moralizing it like you’re the good guys. Yeah, you got me, Harris would have killed brown people a little slower. Congrats, that’s the fucking bar for politicians you’ve set. You’re never going to get anyone who isn’t an absolute monster, and you’re apparently perfectly fine with that, because it lets you be a smug little shit on social media.

            I don’t have any respect for you as a human being, if that’s your attitude. Evil is evil, and your support of that evil makes you just as evil as the ones dropping the bombs. Those dead Palestinians? Their blood is on your hands, for refusing to demand the “greatest nation on earth” be a little bit better than nazi Germany.

            • Susaga@sh.itjust.works
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              3 days ago

              because it lets you be a smug little shit on social media.

              I find it funny you said that.

              be a little bit better than nazi Germany.

              I also find this funny. There was a choice between “a little bit better than nazi Germany” and “nazi Germany.” You let “nazi Germany” win, then condemned everyone who supported “a little bit better than nazi Germany.”

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                You obviously can’t read, dumbass. I said you wouldn’t demand your candidate be a little better than nazi Germany. You gave us the choice between nazi Germany, and someone who thought nazi Germany didn’t go far enough. Naturally, I did the only thing I could, and voted for Harris, since she wanted to kill brown people a little slower and I thought maybe we could protest hard enough she would stop being a fucking piece of shit liberal and actually stand up to Israel.

                Meanwhile, you sat at home and voted for nobody, because democrats don’t give a shit about people who aren’t white. Now be a good little nazi and take that neoliberal bullshit back to lemmy.world.

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                  No you didn’t. You said you wanted the “greatest nation on earth” to be better than nazi Germany, not the political party. Why am I the only one who’s read your comments?

                  Please stop making things up about me. I’m British. It’s impossible for me to have voted, and impossible for you to have known if I voted or not.

                  But if I could, I would have done what you did, which is what I said to do from the very start, and voted for the lesser evil. Why the fuck are you trying to act superior for doing the same thing you’re condemning?

                  Honestly? Given how vocal you are against Trump’s opponents, how bad-faith your arguments are, how often you insult people (with ablist language, too), and how you seem to treat the word “liberal” like a bad thing, you sound more like a Nazi than anyone else. And I block Nazis, soooooo…

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                    3 days ago

                    Oh no, another liberal adherent to the horseshoe philosophy is gonna block me, oh no, how terrible. Better do it quick, it’s almost time for brunch, you milquetoast, wine-drinking, nazi enabler.

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        4 days ago

        They literally support the same things. Not subscribing to neoliberalism is definitely better. Did Biden/Harris do anything to stop the genocide? Did they do anything to help the average person? No. You’re still choosing evil.

        • Susaga@sh.itjust.works
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          Disengaging doesn’t stop evil, it allows it. You’re not preventing evil by choosing nothing, you’re just passively allowing whichever one wins. It’s the same as supporting both.

          It’s literally a trolly problem. You can do something and cause a lesser evil, or do nothing and allow a greater evil. Choosing to do nothing is still choosing evil.

          • _cryptagion@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            3 days ago

            leave it to a democrat to look at a trolley problem and think the solution is killing people instead of taking them off the tracks. fucking liberals and murder, what is it about the two?

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            America will never change for the better if you think voting against both does not send a message. Who said disengaging? There are other options and clearly stating why you’re abstaining is engaging.

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            4 days ago

            Y’all don’t understand the concept of opposition…

            Vote for either side is a vote of confidence in the regime. They never have to make any changes since they win everytime.

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          One of the two parties was promoting fascism. If you support neither you were enabling fascism. Fascist enablers do not have a moral high ground.

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            Democrats very much enable fascism. They aren’t push back or vote against it. When in office they hardly make it so republicans can’t promote it. Democrats would rather play by the rules than actually help America. One who thinks either parties will ever help America hardly have the high ground. It is clear the democrats either do nothing, enable, or do the same actions. Same neoliberal imperialist coin.

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              4 days ago

              Democrats can enable fascism but the attitude of the person I replied to supports fascism 100% of the time even when they theoretically oppose fascism.

              If you are letting the fascist party win you do not have moral high ground and never can have a claim on morality. This is why as a gay man I often don’t see dedicated cis-het leftists as actual allies as far too often they will sacrifice my safety for their sense of moral superiority.

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          4 days ago

          Not subscribing to neoliberalism is definitely better.

          Most Americans can’t even mentally operate outside of this box.

          Until, they can, third party vote is just a protest vote to document that you don’t support the whores owners plants in the elected offices.

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        4 days ago

        Maybe for Palestine at this point in time a Harris administration could potentially have been less harmful. But do you see what has happened to America and the world by people choosing the lesser evil over and over? The entire narrative has shifted so much to the right, most people consider it normal when the “lesser evil” is openly pro fracking, pro guns, pro Israel, pro big corpo etc etc just to name a few. In that context I think it’s weird to blame third party voters in this election. And don’t forget that for American voters the situation in the middle east is just one of the issues they need to vote on and it’s probably not their first priority.

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            3 days ago

            Nothing, that’s it. He didn’t need to offer anything; Biden was just a pushover. Sometimes things are just that simple.

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                It seems the most likely explanation, but I’m not fanatically committed or anything. If I see a better explanation I’ll accept it, but for now “because Trump” seems the most likely.

                The way I see it is that Trump isn’t ideologically committed to anything; he’s not a true believer like Biden, he doesn’t care. And someone who doesn’t care wouldn’t want to worry a second about Israel’s genocide in Gaza because it’s just a complete and pointless headache. He was then faced with the other headache of what to do about the apocalyptic hellscape of hopefully postwar Gaza, to which he—likely with some amount of bad intention— said “hey let’s just put the people somewhere else”. It perfectly fits someone who simply doesn’t care.

                By the way because I’ve seen this gotcha way too many times: Biden tried to do the same thing (can’t tell you when) and Sisi said what basically meant “hell no over my dead body”.

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        4 days ago

        Did Biden/Harris stop giving money or actively supporting the military? No. The peace deal was never worth anything.

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      4 days ago

      Trump lifted at least two sanctions imposed by Biden:

      • delivery of 2000-pound bombs
      • asset freezing of illegal settlers

      So while Biden’s effort was mediocre at best, Trump’s approach is objectively worse, and will result in even more suffering for the Palestinian people.

      • ocean@lemmy.selfhostcat.com
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        4 days ago

        I think I must have misunderstood because I meant to criticize both the dems for doing nothing and Trump as well.

        Thanks for specific examples!

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          Thing is, the Dems weren’t doing nothing. It was far too little, yes, and people were right to protest and put pressure on them.

          But Trump literally said Gaza is destroyed (never mentioning why, mind you), and that the best course of action is for the Palestinian people to just give up on Gaza and go to Egypt or Jordan. He doesn’t care at all, except for the prime beachfront properties of course.

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            2 days ago

            It’s true they weren’t doing nothing, they were actively supporting Israel to the fullest of their ability. The fact that American blue fascists are trying to rewrite history to defend the Democrats prove that neither side of your fascist political system give a shit about foreign lives, and that the lesser evil is whatever hastens the collapse of your Reich.