There is a difference between trying to do the right thing and doing nothing because it's not perfect. I tend to let perfect lead me to inaction or passivity far too often at the cost of my own interests.
I've taken to trying to do things good enough rather than right and it's helped a lot
Boredom is a lot more dangerous and potentially disastrous than most people realize, but it's definitely not my only problem. I struggle with some mental health issues that make most things a lot harder for me than many other people.
I was tested as a child and had an iq of 164 at 10 years old. For my entire childhood every adult treated me like I was smarter than them and in most cases I was. I was in gifted and accelerated classes and excelled.
I know I'm not smart because from the headstart in life I got I went on to barely graduate from high school, drop out of community college twice, never hold a job for longer than 18 months, and have more gaps on my resume than experience.
Perfection is exhausting. I struggle with it. My brain tells me that if I'm not the perfect friend or know the right things no one will like me. It has consumed my life so far and has lead me to make very bad and disastrous choices.
More than that though, it's boring. I am so tired of spending my life trying to figure out what the right action is. I would much rather have fun with friends or rewarding sex or find an interesting personal project to work on.
In real terms, we still have a lot left to lose before things get so bad it's time to take up arms. The left is losing because it has spent all of its time responding to what the right has been doing and not enough time working towards the things their constituents want.
It is time to organize and get directly involved if you care about keeping things from getting worse. I can't say this with any authority but there are three problems we have to solve:
The fight will come later, and it will come. Right now we have to prioritize supporting each other. We're on our own for at least the next two years, we need to get creative and find ways to thrive in spite of the bullshit.
We're in kind of a mess right now. The best way we can get out of it is if all of us little people stick together. I'm not a conservative but by Lemmy standards my politics and world view are alien. We all need to figure out a way to coexist and work together if we are ever going to have a chance to deprogram our MAGA neighbors and find a way forward together.
It seems productive to try to share my weird ass views and try to find common ground.
Any innocent death is unacceptable. If under Trump every single Palestinian in Gaza would be killed and under Kamala a single old man would die, I still would make the same choice.
That old man has just as much right to live as anyone else, just because he is the only casualty that doesn't make his life any less valuable or gives someone any more right to kill him.
I am truly sorry this is the outcome we have gotten and that my actions have played a small part in how things have unfolded. But I do not regret my choice not to vote.
To be fair he hadn't outed himself as a racist asshat in 2016. He was just a narcissist I thought was funnier than Trump.
As to your point about my inaction contributing to more dead in Gaza, I am indifferent. Any blood on our hands in Gaza is unacceptable. Had Kamala been chosen in a primary I might have considered voting for her as a compromise candidate, but having her foisted on us after the other compromise candidate was too stubborn to step down before he got in the way is bullshit.
Gaza was what OP asked about, but it's definitely not the only thing I care about at the polls. The main reason I decided not to vote at all is because the will of the people is not reflected by any politicians. There are a dozen issues most Americans agree on (legal weed, minimum wage) that our current politicians won't address because they are at odds with donors. I decided it wasn't worth participating in the political system again until our elected officials do what we want instead of their donors.
If the oligarchy wants to take over officially I can't stop them, but I don't have to participate either.
It is! Or at least what a previous therapist thought.