Content warning: injections, needles, animal testing, blood, all manner of medical stuffRip to the mice.Singapore article:https://fortune.com/2021/09/28/sing...
I know everyone hated talking about it, that it was a fake thing to discuss, but actually I think the whole spectacle did a lot for my understanding of politics & how change can be made in the US.
I was very intrigued, I'd watch Brie talk about it quite a lot and thought what she was saying made sense. Like why shouldn't we risk Pelosi's loss? Even if we get a 'worse speaker' or whatever, it should be worth having taken down the monster Pelosi, even just as a show of force from the left.
Other people would argue that "we're not there yet as a movement, we need to ORGANIZE" which Brie basically laughed off as vague and unclear (wtf does ORGANIZE mean?) I was torn but agreed with her there.
Now in retrospect, I kind of understand what the annoying ORGANIZE people meant. But not in a "nooo pls don't do it" way, more like... it really probably doesn't matter that much. If AOC & friends voted against Pelosi I'd be all for it, but there's not going to be this popular uprising to get M4A passed. The people that need to persuaded aren't clued into DC politics in that way anyway. I'd be inclined to say "just vote against Pelosi either way" but since then I have a more realistic understanding that AOC & the squad aren't the leaders of our revolution. Walking on eggshells is honestly all we can expect. The occasional voice in congress that speaks up for working people, while occasionally doing cringe & awful shit just to stay in power (e.g the Iron Dome Vote).
The spectacle of DC politics is not as relevant as Brie & Dore think. They think this because they're essentially liberal, in the sense that they think congress is all that matters. I think the annoying "ORGANIZE" people were ultimately correct. None of this is going to happen until the working class is organized and demands it.
TLDR; FORCE THE VOTE sounds like a good idea, but if a #squad member decides it's not worth the risk, I'm not going to take it as a betrayal, rather I'll take it as a sign that the US working class is too disorganized for anything good to happen anyway.
I'm genuinely so sorry for writing this much about FTV a year later. It's a good learning moment for me. I submit to Hexbear gulag. :walter-breakdown: :gulag:
I agree with most, if not all, if this; but I can't help but take note that your middle paragraph revolves around Pelosi. To my recollection, that is not what the FTV advocates were focusing on, and I'm specifically recalling how BJG, every time she found herself backed into a corner on this issue, would just go "but what about the 60 million Americans without health insurance?" The Speaker vote was just a means to the goal of M4A.
Yeah I sensed the same thing, while writing it I was like "damn I'm strawmanning a bit too hard here" and almost deleted it all.
I guess I still don't fully understand what the FTV path was so my critique is lacking (if you wanna elaborate on your point I'm curious to hear). But my overall point stands, that looking to 'DC spectacles' as a means to make political gains such as M4A will not work on its own. BJG's counter argument seemed to be that yes, FTV will probably fail, but that it could spark more working class movement. This I am extremely skeptical of.
It's confusing because I'm too uninformed to really say if the strategy itself is bad or good. I'm just more convinced than ever that it was non-consequential.
There was a bit of "its not going to do anything anyways so why even try" round these parts.
And I've only just in the last few months had to come to terms with JD's rightward slide myself so, mea culpa.
I know everyone hated talking about it, that it was a fake thing to discuss, but actually I think the whole spectacle did a lot for my understanding of politics & how change can be made in the US.
I was very intrigued, I'd watch Brie talk about it quite a lot and thought what she was saying made sense. Like why shouldn't we risk Pelosi's loss? Even if we get a 'worse speaker' or whatever, it should be worth having taken down the monster Pelosi, even just as a show of force from the left.
Other people would argue that "we're not there yet as a movement, we need to ORGANIZE" which Brie basically laughed off as vague and unclear (wtf does ORGANIZE mean?) I was torn but agreed with her there.
Now in retrospect, I kind of understand what the annoying ORGANIZE people meant. But not in a "nooo pls don't do it" way, more like... it really probably doesn't matter that much. If AOC & friends voted against Pelosi I'd be all for it, but there's not going to be this popular uprising to get M4A passed. The people that need to persuaded aren't clued into DC politics in that way anyway. I'd be inclined to say "just vote against Pelosi either way" but since then I have a more realistic understanding that AOC & the squad aren't the leaders of our revolution. Walking on eggshells is honestly all we can expect. The occasional voice in congress that speaks up for working people, while occasionally doing cringe & awful shit just to stay in power (e.g the Iron Dome Vote).
The spectacle of DC politics is not as relevant as Brie & Dore think. They think this because they're essentially liberal, in the sense that they think congress is all that matters. I think the annoying "ORGANIZE" people were ultimately correct. None of this is going to happen until the working class is organized and demands it.
TLDR; FORCE THE VOTE sounds like a good idea, but if a #squad member decides it's not worth the risk, I'm not going to take it as a betrayal, rather I'll take it as a sign that the US working class is too disorganized for anything good to happen anyway.
I'm genuinely so sorry for writing this much about FTV a year later. It's a good learning moment for me. I submit to Hexbear gulag. :walter-breakdown: :gulag:
I agree with most, if not all, if this; but I can't help but take note that your middle paragraph revolves around Pelosi. To my recollection, that is not what the FTV advocates were focusing on, and I'm specifically recalling how BJG, every time she found herself backed into a corner on this issue, would just go "but what about the 60 million Americans without health insurance?" The Speaker vote was just a means to the goal of M4A.
Minor point but I wanted to put it out there.
Yeah I sensed the same thing, while writing it I was like "damn I'm strawmanning a bit too hard here" and almost deleted it all.
I guess I still don't fully understand what the FTV path was so my critique is lacking (if you wanna elaborate on your point I'm curious to hear). But my overall point stands, that looking to 'DC spectacles' as a means to make political gains such as M4A will not work on its own. BJG's counter argument seemed to be that yes, FTV will probably fail, but that it could spark more working class movement. This I am extremely skeptical of.
It's confusing because I'm too uninformed to really say if the strategy itself is bad or good. I'm just more convinced than ever that it was non-consequential.