Context:
Rep. Jamaal Bowman loses New York primary to pro-Israel George Latimer, most expensive primary race ever
this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2024
213 points (88.4% liked)
People Twitter
4855 readers
1957 users here now
People tweeting stuff. We allow tweets from anyone.
RULES:
- Mark NSFW content.
- No doxxing people.
- Must be a tweet or similar
- No bullying.
- Be excellent to each other.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
This also assumes voters are informed and engaged, and that political campaigns are honest.
As I understand it, mailers trashing Bowman were like 80% of the mail you received in that district and their ads showed up constantly on Tv. It is possible to manufacture a perceived reality when you have enough money.
Admittedly, I was foolishly hopeful that residents of his district would recognize a racist, conservative piece of shit and vote for Bowman even if they didn't agree with his stance on Gaza so shame on me.
I agree, though I am super disdainful of any argument that is sort of reskinning “other people are really stupid”.
On the other hand, participation in a congressional primary is pretty low and should weed out the casuals. Nobody who is going to the polls without much info is probably going to show up for these right?
Further, when you have “safe” districts for your party, you sort of invite people from the entire political spectrum to participate in your primary. The parts of the American electorate that WANT muscular support for Israeli military operations are on the right. If those folks skip this primary, they have no influence over their representative at all. Activating conservative voters is probably easier than changing minds.
I don't consider ignorance and susceptible to sophisticated influence campaigns to mean "really stupid".
Perhaps I'm just using nicer language to say the same thing (or otherwise, ultimately, hold myself to be superior). That's fair I suppose - but I'm aware of the circumstances and privilege that helped me achieve my perspective. I'm of the belief that, if given similar benefits, most would be just as "superior".
Now that I've demonstrated I'm superior, and humble, I still feel like this could have been avoided if people in the district voted instead of just ignoring the campaign or assuming, like I did, that people in the district would do better.
To anyone reading this, if you are a resident in the district and didn't vote for Bowman... do better next time for everyone's sake.