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   scott f (scott@carfree.city)'s status on Sunday, 20-Apr-2025 08:57:59 JST scott f

   A subtle but important move is to be able to disapprove strongly of what someone is doing, but at the same time to understand what is driving them to do it — a force, or situation, that is also unjust and must be changed if we want to stop people doing the bad thing on a systemic level.

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     Philip Weiss (Phil in SF) (kingrat@sfba.social)'s status on Sunday, 20-Apr-2025 08:57:57 JST Philip Weiss (Phil in SF)

     in reply to

     @scott Yeah, except liberal Democrats don't believe that. There are certainly some who do, but by and large liberal Democrats have been pushing policy that benefits rural areas.

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     scott f (scott@carfree.city)'s status on Sunday, 20-Apr-2025 08:57:58 JST scott f

     in reply to

     What inspires me to post this today isn't the common observation on the left that robberies, bippings, and the like, while unacceptable, are crimes of poverty that must be addressed on a systemic level. Rather, it's today's discourse on Bluesky that people in rural small towns that have been hollowed out by globalization are irredeemable racists, and should just get over it and move to the city.

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     scott f (scott@carfree.city)'s status on Sunday, 20-Apr-2025 08:57:58 JST scott f

     in reply to

     It's unacceptable that many white people in those places have embraced racism and xenophobia and that majorities of voters in those places voted for a white-supremacist, fascist candidate for president. But what do you expect them to turn to, realistically, if the attitude of liberal Democrats is that their hometowns being economically destroyed is good, deserved, and inevitable? There is a reason far-right ideologies find fertile ground.

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     Philip Weiss (Phil in SF) (kingrat@sfba.social)'s status on Sunday, 20-Apr-2025 08:58:39 JST Philip Weiss (Phil in SF)

     in reply to

     @scott But great strawmanning for the fascists. Congrats.