Full title: “Shut the fk up!” Democrat storms out of event as voters voice criticism of anti-trans bill. “You can’t fking talk to me that way!” Rep. Eugene Vindman said before walking out without taking more questions.
Full title: “Shut the fk up!” Democrat storms out of event as voters voice criticism of anti-trans bill. “You can’t fking talk to me that way!” Rep. Eugene Vindman said before walking out without taking more questions.
64 Comments
neuracnu@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 83 pts · 1d
That's what you end up with when you let these fuckers slide in the primary.
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz · 17 pts · 23h
This is why the rhetoric around "The dems are unsalvageable. Elections will never save us" is so destructive. It discourages people from participating in the democratic processes in the first place.
The very people who need to participate in it more in order for the system to work in our favor are the ones who are most likely to be dissuaded by this line of thinking. Of course democracy won't work for us if we refuse to vote. That's kind of how it works.
If a progressive had run in that district's primary, they might have won the nomination and this seat's general election could be a completely different story. Of course that would also require progressive voters to show up and vote in the primaries.
So the "don't bother voting" crowd does twofold harm: they discourage progressives from running, and they discourage progressives from voting.
We made our bed and now we have to sleep in it
AlteredEgo@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 12h
I think you're overstating the prevalence and influence of "don't bother voting". This feels more like trying to misplace blame on your fellow socialist who don't believe in "electorialism" instead of blaming plutocrats and propaganda and the ideology of greed and individualism. Or blaming the party that had Harris run.
There is a real danger in this heated rhetoric about voting. Like if you just vote harder it will work out this time. We must resist that lie. And don't be surprised about some trolling if you try to sell that lie to a bunch of gnarly socialists. Imagine someone came to your house and told you something like "Yes, Trump is a bit bad, but he is with the angels and the power of religious faith surrounds him on all sides and just believing in Christ and praying will lead to an untold utopia!" I mean what would you say to such nonsense?
But I don't think it actually discourages a single progressive from running if they want to. Which means having to play a corrupt game if you want to actually gain power and rise to the top.
If you want to actually do something I recommend some autonomous action.
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz · 0 pts · 12h
Roughly a third of eligible voters abstained from voting in 2024. And you want me to pretend that for months leading up to it, the internet wasn't flooded with self-proclaimed leftists screaming about how they won't cast a vote and you shouldn't either?
Plutocrats and propaganda are certainly to blame. And if you think they don't infiltrate leftist spaces on the internet to astroturf their agenda by posing as leftists, then their propaganda is working.
Your entire second paragraph is disingenuous so I'm not going to bother. Comparing voting to door-to-door evangelism and prayer? Really?
You don't?
Okay fed.
fyzzlefry@retrolemmy.com · -1 pts · 20h
Shout out to the Palestine protest voters
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz · 5 pts · 19h
I'm sure the Palestinians in Gaza are so glad that Kamala Harris didn't get elected... 🙄
Wataba@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 1d
At least it wasnt 'I'll do nothing and let active hatred kill me down the line'.
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world · 64 pts · 1d
Quit your fucking job then
resipsaloquitur@lemmy.cafe · 55 pts · 1d
Bad news, sugartits. Your employers can talk to you any way they want.
Auli@lemmy.ca · -2 pts · 1d
That's BS. My employer can't talk to me anyway they want why should theirs. I don't know what got him mad but saying you can say anything to a public employee is just wrong.
ripcord@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 23h
I agree, although
I mean, it's right there in the article...
StupidBrotherInLaw@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 19h
A constituent told him to "shut the fuck up." The title is somewhat misleading, which becomes apparent if you RTFA.
JasonDJ@lemmy.zip · -1 pts · 18h
I did RTFA, and a constituent just told him to shut up, listen, and check his privilege. No swearing involved.
It was a committee member who specifically said to "shut the fuck up", and it was that committee member that he snapped back at.
StupidBrotherInLaw@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 18h
Mate, your quoted text even calls both of them committee members. They were from the King George County Democratic Committee, which is compromised of... *drum roll*... constituents!
JasonDJ@lemmy.zip · 0 pts · 13h
Sure they are.
But when you say constituent, you imply a random member of the public in the crowd.
A committee member is at a peer-level. It hits harder when a peer drops the professionalism and the restraint and just lays it out like that...as opposed to some rando in the audience.
StupidBrotherInLaw@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2h
Today in explaining to Americans how their own government works...
They're not peers - it's a group of volunteers that supports the Democratic Party. If I lived in the US, I could join today and attend as a committee member. They hold no office or position and have no authority.
jerkface@lemmy.ca · -2 pts · 22h
Evidently, they could not. No point in talking tough about it now.
Objection@lemmy.ml · 41 pts · 23h
Dang, this reminds me of what I was saying two years ago:
I'm just saying, if you're willing to accept excuses like, "Palestine isn't on the ballot this year" then you'll readily accept excuses like "trans rights aren't on the ballot" and so on, until there's no one left to stand up for you.
Reject trolley problem thinking.
SalmonTractor@discuss.tchncs.de · -4 pts · 13h
What a weird take to try and justify the way morons didn’t vote to keep their own country functioning. Instead, they helped to directly destabilize the entire planetary governance system but somehow still think it was justified action.
Other countries are not the scope of the US vote. Especially now more than ever.
Conflating internal problems with external ones is just missing the point. Can’t have it both ways. Either the US dictates world policy and you accept that with that will come chaos to other nations, possibly without their consent. Or the US stays completely out of world policy, and you accept that with that will come chaos to other nations, possibly without their consent.
It isn’t a trolley problem. Both sets of tracks are piled with bodies.
You can’t have feelings and turn them into a non-vote that determines your own country’s downfall because of what happens in another country in either of those two scenarios, because destroying your own country helps nobody, and in fact has already led to the death of hundreds of thousands (mostly children) across the planet and many more will follow.
Now, your own country is in jeopardy, and with that comes jeopardy to all the people in your nation and many other nations. Not just trans rights. Everyone’s rights. Everyone’s lives.
RIP: critical thinking.
AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world · 32 pts · 21h
We're your fucking bosses. You signed up to be talked to however we fucking like. Whiney little bitch baby.
BigMacHole@thelemmy.club · 31 pts · 1d
I CANT believe SO MANY Democrats want Change from THIS!
-Media Labeling Socialists as an UPRISING!
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz · 23 pts · 23h
The constituents can talk to their reps however they fucking want, that's kind of enshrined in the constitution. The whole idea of "america is so great", false though it was, was almost entirely based on the Bill of Rights in which the freedom to openly criticize one's government is at the very top.
If citizens can't criticize their representatives, then they have no representation and we're becoming a feudalist system with an untouchable aristocracy. That's like centuries of regression.
On the other hand, government officials should be held to a higher standard and need to maintain decorum in their own actions and words, so cussing out your constituents and then storming out is conduct unbecoming of the station and makes one unqualified to hold office.
Astrealix@lemmy.world · 23 pts · 1d
The problem with having a big tent party to unite everyone that isn't actively a fascist is you get people who are still white-wing as fuck I suppose... disgusting anti-human representative, and somehow there's still worse, what is wrong with our world
HazardousBanjo@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 1d
And note these fucks talk and talk all the time about wanting a "big tent", then that narrative crumbles into fucking dust the moment leftist voters and DSA candidates enter the chat.
in_my_honest_opinion@piefed.social · 19 pts · 1d
If the LGBTQA+ community and leftists and DSA aren't invited in, it's not a very big tent.
meco03211@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 1d
They're invited in. They're just expected to sit quietly in the corner while the old timers repeat the mistakes of the last old timers.
Jaysyn@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 19h
The "old-timers" are sucking up a lot of air on the media, but they lost control of the DNC in 2024.
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 23h
It's a big tent. It encompasses a diversity of opinions, and subjugates them all to the official party line.
Honestly, in a way, parties that reject outsider opinions are more honest. They might be vile and despicable human beings with god-awful opinions and perspectives. But at least they're not pretending to welcome disagreement only to stifle dissent when it counts; their party is full of true believers who aren't being coerced into toeing the party line.
Actually, on second thought, maybe they are being coerced, but in an entirely different way...
Keilik@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 1d
How about we try to organize a nationwide protest where we just act like our fucking representatives for a day or two. Get asked a question? Go the fuck home and get paid apparently. Disappear for weeks? Fuck it I’m working from home now apparently.
I got written up and sent home once at work because my pants weren’t black enough and I was making 15¢ above minimum wage. Why does more money and power come with less responsibility?
DagwoodIII@piefed.social · 4 pts · 1d
Or, you could become an active participant in the process.
Look up Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority.
Falwell was a TV preacher who figured out how to take over the GOP at the grass roots.
If the local GOP had an average attendance of twenty people at the monthly meeting, Falwell's folks would show up with fifty. It started out with them grabbing jobs like sheriff and county clerk, but it was a short step to Congressmembers and governors.
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz · 5 pts · 23h
That would require 50+ people cooperate, which the left famously is extremely bad at.
Hierarchical leadership styles might have a tendency to lean towards authoritarianism, but we can't deny that they're effective at organizing large numbers or people efficiently.
The left tends to be allergic to even the idea of leadership, so it's harder for someone to say "I need fifty people at this meeting, and a hundred people at that one" because most people would just be like "You can't tell me what to do."
I know there's a tendency to think of leadership as a cushy do-nothing position of privilege, and bad leadership can certainly be like that, but examples of good leadership exist even though they're more rare in our current system.
Coordinating and delegating large groups of people is a job in its own right, even if they're not the ones swinging hammers and doing gruntwork. There needs to be a mind behind it all who sees the big picture and can follow a plan, receive reports and feedback and adjust as necessary. Leftists reallllly don't like that idea. They'd be more likely to say "Oh yeah, why don't you show up to all those meetings yourself?", ignoring the fact that one person can't be in multiple places at once, let alone participate as dozens of people at even one meeting.
If the left wants to take over the Democratic party the way maga took over the GOP, we need to learn how to do central coordination in order to organize organize ourselves for large-scale and efficient mobilization.
And we need to unify beyond everyone's individual pet issues and stop competing for relevance as if anyone's oppression is more important than anyone else's. We're all oppressed, it doesn't matter who's the most oppressed. We need to work together to fix this system, not fight each other over who gets the gold medal in the oppression olympics.
DagwoodIII@piefed.social · 3 pts · 22h
https://youtu.be/bsFzc0wAtFs
Judean People's Front has entered the chat.
green_goglin@thelemmy.club · 16 pts · 18h
Welp, time to call his Office and talk to this lil bitchboi like that
unemployedclaquer@sopuli.xyz · 15 pts · 1d
Sorta notable that Alex and Eugene Vindman are twin brothers, and both were mixed up in the disclosure of Trump's threatening phone call to Ukraine President Zelenskyy, which led to Trump's impeachment.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vindman
ripcord@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 23h
Oh man, I had no idea there were 2 or that they were both running for office. I just confused this one with Alex
Jaysyn@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 19h
Alex is also bought & paid for by Israel, was proud to vote for his opponent earlier this week.
unemployedclaquer@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 19h
ffs
VitoRobles@lemmy.today · 11 pts · 12h
Runs for politics, which serves the people.
People call him out.
Tells people to shut the fuck up.
Yeah -- this guy needs to go.
Jaysyn@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 19h
Both of the Vindmans are wolves-in-sheep's clothing and working for Israel. Vote them out.
banter6888@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 10h
Bingo.
mercano@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 22h
This guy should have been primaried. Now, without congressional recall elections, we have to live with him for another two years.
ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 1d
Th headline is misleading.
No one has to take that sort of treatment.
Gerblat@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 1d
People all over the world are treated much worse than that daily, but sure, clutch your pearls because someone said “shut the fuck up” 🙄
Auli@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 1d
And they don't have to. If I was talked to that way I'd get angry and most people would.
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 23h
Are you... clutching your pearls because he responded by saying "you can't fucking talk to me that way"?
Weird to accuse someone of pearl clutching when all they really said was that his response was justified...
TheLadyAugust@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 1d
I'd argue his job is to listen to his constituents, and since through his actions or inactions this person is coming to harm, that he is not listening. Perhaps he should "Shut the fuck up and listen." The problem is that while she's talking, he's not listening. He's just waiting for her to stop talking so he can tell her that she's wrong. This has been a big problem with the establishment of Democrats for a very long time.
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz · 4 pts · 23h
Oh wow yeah, the headline made it seem like both quotes were from him. That's fucked up journalism.
santa@sh.itjust.works · -1 pts · 1d
deceiver@infosec.pub · 3 pts · 1d
read the article
OldChicoAle@lemmy.world · -2 pts · 1d
What the fuck do you think your job is? If this fucker gets elected again, the constituency is dumb as rocks.
Auli@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 1d
Its not to get sweared at. Have we lost all forms of civility now? What a world we live in.
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz · 3 pts · 23h
Constituents are protected by the first amendment. They can swear at their reps if they want to. It might be rude and unnecessary, but it's allowed.
The reps are holding a position of public office so they should be held to a higher standard. Cussing back at his constituents was a breach of decorum and conduct unbecoming of his station. Storming out makes him unfit for office.
If he can't handle people's criticism and ire in a mature way, then he doesn't deserve to represent them.
JeeBaiChow@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1d
2024 enters the chat...
Turret3857@infosec.pub · 1 pts · 1d
Thr Virginia dem primaries got fucked over and theres no other option. They pretty much told all the other possible runners to fuck off in march before primaries even happened.
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 23h
That's fucked. Couldn't people just run anyway? Like can the party really tell them "No, you can't run"?
Turret3857@infosec.pub · 2 pts · 19h
They can run independent but VA is generally not known for supporting independents. One of the guys who was running for senator is trying it but im not sure he'll get anywhere.
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 19h
At this point yeah, because the primaries are over. But I meant before the primaries, why did he run uncontested? Did people seriously just drop out because the state Dem convention said to? That makes no sense.
Turret3857@infosec.pub · 1 pts · 19h
I'm not entirely sure on all the details but I believe there may have been something with them having to get signatures on petitions for getting their names on the ballot but I'm not actually familiar with the details.
melsaskca@lemmy.ca · -4 pts · 1d
"Wow! Those democrats are worse than donald trump and the republicans!". There, is that what we were going for here?
chuckleslord@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 22h
"Wow! The other side is literal demons, so how dare you hold the good guys to any kind of standard?!". There, is that what we were going for here?
EnchiladaRaisins@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 16h
Punch right a thousand times before punching the good guys.
sportsjorts@lemmy.zip · 8 pts · 21h
Just a reminder that a shit load of republicans rape kids the president has raped kids and they all support people who have raped kids.
StupidBrotherInLaw@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 19h
theham@lemmy.wtf · -13 pts · 1d
It is like when you get the subsitute teacher to quit....
y0u cAn’T 🦆king tAlK t0 mE tHaT wAy!
😏 Just did 🏖️
Yo I swear to gord these liberals are covert hogs. I want delegates not representative pullin dem pants down b-team corpo sluts. The USA is a brutal imperialist empire. Fascist are the useful idiots of empire. Democrats are third string. A little light on the bag everytime.
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 4 pts · 1d
Genuinely, how old are you?