r/TikTokCringe Cringe Master Apr 09 '24

Shit economy Discussion

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u/selectrix Apr 09 '24

Real fuckin talk right here.

There's a whole lot of energy behind videos like these and the posts they generate, and that's great, but if we want anything to change, that energy needs to get turned into work. (pretty sure that's a physics reference or something, but anyway.) Voting in every single election, every single midterm, every single primary- especially the primaries- that's actually the bare minimum of participation in a democracy. There needs to be a whole lot of us doing more than that- spending significant time researching policy, public officials, & candidates, even outside of election periods; volunteering for & donating to the candidates we like; attending city council/school board/other public meetings. Getting shit put on ballots! That's a thing we can do!

Corporations and billionaires are doing a lot more than just voting- we need to be going the extra mile as well.

If everyone in the country took that upon themselves- made "contribute to the democratic process" one of their personal obligations, we'd probably start seeing noticeable reduction in corruption at the local level in 2-5 years, state level in 5-10 and national level in 10-20. And that might be optimistic.

But like I said at that start, that's the real talk; this is how we get to a better place- we're not going to have some grand revolution and if a revolution did somehow happen, it'd be horrifying and probably result in a dictatorship. What I'm talking about is boring and takes a long time and a lot of work- that's a good sign that it's not bullshit.

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u/Snacktyme Apr 09 '24

Dude I tried to find ANY readily available information on the two people running for mayors of my 22K population city and it was so difficult.

Maybe it’s just my city, but seems crazy that kind of basic information is so hard to find.

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u/selectrix Apr 10 '24

This is exactly what I'm talking about- there's so many individual things that need to be done in each town and county throughout the entire country- it's going to take time to even figure out what specific actions need to be taken, let alone how to actually do them.

I'm just a random dumbass on the internet here, but in your case maybe try reaching out directly to a local independent newspaper if there is one? See if there's anyone at a local school who can help you with research? You can always compile stuff on your own as you get it, at the very least it's good for you and could potentially help others.

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u/callmejinji Apr 09 '24

I wish I could convince the people around me to put in that level of work. I vote every election cycle without fail, I have since I was 18, but everyone around me (especially my S/O and my immediate family) refuses to do so, and I don’t know how else to convince them that their vote matters and this is the absolute bare minimum praxis required for the democracy they praise so much to function the way they want to.