Hey, friends. Didn't know if I was going to write this out, or even *officially* speak out in general around the 2024 election, but after some thought I'm deciding to. Consider taking a few minutes to read if this applies to you.
Given the channel has grown, and I have an audience that does value my opinion on matters such as this, I figured I'd give my thoughts. As I know many of your sympathies align with mine, and it's so incredibly easy to feel hopeless in an undemocratic electoral system that is rigged against normal, working people. Because of this, it's incredibly easy to fall into feelings that induce a type of stasis. Something that causes severe resentment and a cynical disdain that clouds our ability to act, to rationalize, and in some sense, be the best part of what makes us human.
It's probably obvious where I fall politically. I don't really care to get into political theory or the technical terminology around labeling said beliefs, but I guess I would consider myself a radical democrat. Simply put, above all else, the concept of democracy is one of the few "universals" I cherish. Dare I say, I think it should be a guiding north star for humanity. And I want *everyone* to have access to systems and channel that allow us to pursue some type of democratic agency. Whether that be in the workforce, in state functions, and even in your relationships. No matter your skin color, your sexuality, your gender, your income, your religion, the very abstractions we use to categorize people. I simply do not want to live in a world where *anyone* is excluded from partaking in the world they occupy, unless you yourself wish to harm and jeopardize others ability to do so. I also think humanity is worth it.
I think most here agree with this.
With that said, how we deal with this, how we pursue this ideal is always up for debate. I know a ton of people here are understandably disillusioned (myself included) with America's political and economic system. Right now it's more than clear the American political system is meant to work for a very specific class of people. And it's not us. Whether that be the massive centralization of wealth in the hands of the few, the erosion of basic systems like education, lack of commons, housing, basic fundamental necessities. And we're 100% faced with an inherently undemocratic two-party system (arguably a single party system if we are being honest) that does not give us the proper channels to address those issues.
There's no way to simply vote ourselves out of this. Progress will always come from us, and it's up to us, outside electoral frameworks, to move the world. But, I think it's important to state, amidst a pretty undemocratic political system, we can make it a lot worse on us.
That said, I still think voting holds some weight. Is that weight anywhere near enough? Hell no. And it won't be the thing that fundamentally moves things in a more humane direction. That said, particularly if you live in a swing state, I would hope that you take half an hour and vote for the least shit candidate. And it's completely clear Kamala Harris is that. I think it's easy to dissolution ourselves with the idea there's a net *zero* impact that a vote plays. Or that abstaining, or upholding an idealistic notion that merely voting for a better non-viable candidate (Jill Stein and Claudia De La Cruz, let's be honest) during an election cleanses us of a moral stains imparted by the Democratic Party. Particularly when you don't organize, or your organization is merely through the lens of electoralism. Simply put, if another party was viable, the answer is clear where you should focus. And perhaps there's work that can be done on local, municipal and even state levels if you think taking a more electoral approach is worth it. On the national level, it's clear it's pretty futile.
It's more than clear even more innocent Palestinian children will die under Trump. It's clear that more people will die due to the lack of reproductive healthcare, and it's EXTREMELY clear climate change will increase at a much faster rate under a Republican administration. Again, the answers to these problems will never be solved by merely voting for the lesser of two evils alone, but I would much rather have an administration in office that *might* be swayed ideologically, and if not, would be easier to force their hand through direct action. To me, the formula here is simple.
If you're in a deep red or blue state, I suppose vote your immediate conscience. If you are in Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. If you want to know what I would do, I would vote for Kamala Harris. A Republican administration is always a much worse catastrophe to deal with.
To all the independents (like myself) who may sit on the fence on who to actually vote for between a third-party and the Dems, here is my advice.
Overthinking electoral politics is a waste in my mind.
Hey, everyone. Just wanted to give everyone a big thanks for being here. And specifically to a lot of the new people who pledged! I think we have about 20-30 new members shared between here, YT Members, and the Epoch Philosophy website!
Very incredibly kind of everyone to hear a pretty dismal call to action. Having to tap into an audience and ask for support is always tough.
I usually send out an individual thank you DM, but given the small influx of members, it would take hours to do so individually, so I will leave this here: thank you!
We're still not to a point of being sustainable with the current metrics on YouTube, but continued support will definitely grant some breathing room to where we can hopefully climb back!
So, I have some weird stuff going on. My channel's monthly views has been slashed by nearly 2/3rds. Within a month span I've lost nearly 2/3rds of new viewers. Which, I don't think I've ever seen happen in my entire time as a YouTuber? Even with videos that get flagged. Definitely have had ebs and flows which are normal, but nothing like seeing over half my views obliterated within a month time. I think that may be the first I've seen. Further, on our newest Agamben video, I was told by someone in the EU they needed a VPN in order to watch. I had another person reach out on social media and say the same thing. Is anyone else having this problem on my channel? I've had times where a video isn't suitable for advertising, and views certainly always drop because of that, but our video on Agamben is totally golden as far as advertising or anything that may violate TOS. On the surface it's totally okay. Yet, after I released the video, my recommendations for new viewers have plummeted. Again, NOTHING on my channel has been flagged as unsuitable for advertisers, nor anything against TOS. Which, is the first for me.
If anyone is having issues with my videos or they're being prompted that it is region blocked, please do let me know! I appreciate anyone who is willing to go out of their way and check for me. Please let me know about any results you find.
