Us vs. Them is just another way of being Us against Us
Well, the internet has certainly been a safe haven from critical thinking lately. Some of what's out there today is fine. Some of it is to be expected. Most of it makes me feel sorry for people's brains.
Case in point, here's an argument I've seen popping up all day, mostly from people who were upset that they couldn't use a stretch of freeway for a couple of hours:
First, let's breeze past the obvious voter access response. It's a strong, solid response but it's also a certain path to a different online debate. In other words, to use it would be to invite a sidetrack that will quickly degrade into a blathering flame war.
Let's also stay away from any debates about participation as validation. Again, I find this argument solid, but bringing it up here and now is tantamount to pouring Sriracha over fresh jalapeños: We'd be making a lateral move from something that's already hot to something that's just differently hot.
I want to dissect this argument on the basis of its own content, without introducing those other debates, so let's do that.
First, the initial claim: "Protesting doesn't do much[.] And when you are asked to make changes you don't vote. No wonder our world is fucked. You demand change but are on [sic] willing to help actually make it where you can make it count."
This assumes, and states as fact, that a conscious decision not to be civically or politically engaged is an inherent quality of a protester. The poster is immediately called on this.
The poster responds: "...these same people are the ones claiming they want change..."
So, to use the parlance of the day, the poster doubles down. Someone else points out that the poster is making a sweeping assumption.
The poster then triples down: "No a majority of the same people are the ones posting and also the ones not voting."
So, since the poster has twice confirmed that this is their unwavering stance, this is the stance to which I'll respond:
The mindset of the people who organized this act of civil disobedience is also the mindset of people who don't just vote. It's the mindset of people who organize to increase voter turnout in their communities, attend city council meetings, join civilian review boards and even run for local office. I say this not as someone expressing an emotional response to an event that may or may not have inconvenienced me this morning, but as an award-winning journalist who has covered the actions of many of the individuals involved, for something close to two decades. I've covered their campaigns, their occupations, their marches, their panels, their forums and occasionally their court cases.
And I don't mean this as a generalization, as in "the majority of people who do A also do B, because that seems legit to me and I said so." I mean it as an assertion that I watched them as they planned, organized and recruited each other via social media. I saw their faces in all of the press coverage. I recognized them and remembered what I've seen them do before, the least of which is vote... So, I am saying that the exact people who were involved with this action are exactly the opposite of the picture you're trying to paint.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Your claims might only be the ordinary kind, but even the ordinary ones require ordinary evidence, none of which you have.
If you're making this argument, you're either an unsuccessful troll or a sadly misinformed individual who treats outbursts as a substitute for reason. The rest of us would prefer you kept your tantrums private, so step away from the internet for a while and read a freshman civics textbook - or actually do something more than just vote and feel smug about it - then come back when you've actually got something to say.