Cringe Video Kicks Off Vote Shaming Season

Honestly, it’s always vote shaming season in the false dichotomy show that constitutes U.S. electoral politics. 

I’m immune to vote shaming for several reasons: I live in Maine where we have ranked choice voting so candidates literally cannot be spoilers; I left the Democratic Party for good in 2008 when Obama got the nomination and his first two votes back in the Senate were to pass the war supplemental bill and to extend immunity to the big telecoms for spying on us all; and Democrats failed to protect abortion rights, pass universal health care, or cancel student loans like Biden promised. They are the ones who should be ashamed.

I’m also immune to being called “Putin’s spokesperson” or “you sound like Tucker Carlson.” While I might giggle at a cartoon like this one, 

I don’t agree with the underlying thesis that the ruination of the U.S. can be laid at the current administration’s feet. Both parties in the U.S. serve their corporate overlords, and it is they who have gutted both quality of life and life expectancy for working class people.

So this cringe video of white boomers in Philadelphia “dancing” is unlikely to move me in any way other than activating my gag reflex.

I saw it shared on Twitter, but the original video can be found here on TikTok.

Ok maybe you’re laughing instead of gagging. Either way, I doubt that you’re feeling much shame.

A friend of mine stepped into this quagmire with a letter to the editor of the Portland Press Herald today. They printed her critique of Biden administration complicity in the genocide in Gaza, but did not enable comments.

vote-shaming letter in the same edition did allow comments, and that is where a lively debate ensued about censorship, media bias, and…vote shaming. 

Why am I immune to the common liberal malady, Orange Man Bad Derangement Syndrome? Because the old white boomer Trump and the old white boomer Biden are both very, very bad. 

When your “lesser of two evils” candidate is the incumbent who’s actively arming Israel’s genocide in Palestine, the correct sign between the two candidates is an equal sign.

State Of The False Dichotomy Address Is A New Low, Even For Biden

I’m old enough to remember when the State of the Union address was not a stump speech, not a mud slinging session, but made sitting presidents look like wise elder statesmen even if they were actually no such thing.

Joe Biden got the elder part down last night, but his use of the bully pulpit to fulminate against the boogey man who could not be named except as an existential threat to democracy was just embarrassing. 

Then there were the outright lies. 

I’ll list some of them here paired with links refuting them.

“In fact, there are no American soldiers at war in Ukraine.”

https://www.newsweek.com/us-intelligence-pentagon-leaks-american-us-troops-ukraine-jack-teixeira-1794405

“NATO the military alliance of democratic nations created after World War II to prevent war and keep the peace…welcome to NATO, the strongest military alliance the world has ever known.”

https://thecradle.co/articles/the-axis-of-asymmetry-takes-on-the-rules-based-order

“If the United States walks away now, it will put Ukraine at risk.”

https://scheerpost.com/2022/03/11/ray-mcgovern-what-role-has-the-u-s-played-in-the-ukraine-crisis

“The free world at risk”

Recent developments in the “free” world:

“my predecessor came to office determined to see Roe v. Wade overturned. He’s the reason it was overturned”

https://www.newsweek.com/barack-obama-blasted-not-codifying-roe-v-wade-democrat-failure-1719156

https://www.npr.org/2018/06/29/624467256/what-happened-with-merrick-garland-in-2016-and-why-it-matters-now

“Now our economy is the envy of the world!”

https://en.interaffairs.ru/article/pepe-escobar-welcome-to-the-brics-11

“Removing poisonous lead pipes so every child can drink clean water without risk of getting brain damage.”

https://www.metrotimes.com/news/inside-dana-nessels-shit-show-flint-water-investigation-35198674

“With a law I proposed and signed and not one Republican voted for we finally beat Big Pharma!”

https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/171500348876407

“I fixed student loan programs to reduce the burden of student debt for nearly 4 Million Americans”

https://www.studentdebtcrisis.org/free-the-degree

“I’ve already cut the federal deficit by over one trillion dollars.”

“I’m taking the most significant action on climate ever in the history of the world.”

https://www.mainepublic.org/npr-news/npr-news/2022-10-04/the-nord-stream-pipelines-have-stopped-leaking-but-the-methane-emitted-broke-records

“This crisis began on October 7th with a massacre by the terrorist group Hamas.1,200 innocent people women and girls men and boys slaughtered, many enduring sexual violence.”

https://www.democracynow.org/2024/3/1/nyt_anat_schwartz

https://www.oct7factcheck.com/oct7factcheck/Friendly-fire-Israelis-killed-by-IDF-a0b3530b556e423bb8b40f3b2a5e39bc

“The United States has been leading international efforts to get more humanitarian assistance into Gaza.”

China’s on the rise and America is falling behind. They’ve got it backward. America is rising. We have the best economy in the world.”

https://thecradle.co/articles/chinas-unexpected-gains-from-the-red-sea-crisis

“We’re standing up against China’s unfair economic practices. And standing up for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-05/philippines-us-plan-military-drills-near-disputed-sea-taiwan

https://space4peace.blogspot.com/2024/02/korea-war-bases-uss-pyeongteak-tops.html

“May God protect our troops.”

https://www.stripes.com/opinion/2021-07-08/US-troops-in-Iraq-Syria-are-sitting-ducks-2088927.html

I’m not going to address all the things Biden assured us he was “gonna” do. Those are the type of easy lies that can’t be refuted because they are essentially wishful thinking. 

Remember how when he was campaigning last time he assured us he was “gonna” protect abortion rights, cancel all federal student debt and enact universal health care? Uh huh.

Our corporate overlords are desperate to keep us believing that there are deep, abiding differences between two parties that serve identical donor class interests. 

And that is the biggest lie of all.