I'm honestly worried about tonight. Saturday night, plenty of places where people gather, and a lot of extremists are just waiting for a moment for escalation that they can exploit.

Attempting to take the life of the party leader during an election is going to push some people over the edge.

I honestly give it a 50% chance that there's some sort of mass casualty event in the next 12 hours related to this. I fucking hope I'm wrong, or that the odds are somehow in our favor, but I've run out of optimism.

[–] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 35 points 1 month ago (8 children)

I'm far less concerned about emboldened supporters than I am about the likely backlash by the state. Events like this are always taken as justification for more harsh oppression of the people. Also, Biden now has to make statements sympathetic to Trump. This couldn't have gone worse - we get the blowback from an attempt, and he's able to ride this to more popularity.

Assassination isn't the way, folks. I know you're hurting, I know you're disempowered by the electoral system, but Trump and Biden aren't the core of the problem. You can't cut the head off because it's not a snake, it's a hydra. The way to beat this system is to build alternatives and wean people off of their dependence on it, and deprive it of victims. You have to starve the beast.

[–] akakunai@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 month ago (3 children)

The way to beat this system is to build alternatives and wean people off of their dependence on it, and deprive it of victims.

And how do you propose we do this considering the only way the system can have alternatives is if the system allows for alternatives which (spoiler) >!it won't!<.

[–] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Direct action; ie: don't wait for the permission you will never get. Just start building locally, do mutual aid, make one another's lives better now.

In longer form: How do we build an anarchist revolution? | Constructing the Revolution

There are links there to the text and a version with no music if you'd prefer those.

[–] akakunai@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I appreciate the genuine response. It's good for my cynical ass.

[–] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

No worries, a lot of people are stuck in hierarchical realism. We're programmed for it from the moment we begin school or earlier if we had authoritarian parents. It's nobody's fault if they haven't yet imagined a future without hierarchy.

Edit: It's also nice to get a genuine reply back, so thanks.

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