Unpopular Opinion
Welcome to the Unpopular Opinion community!
How voting works:
Vote the opposite of the norm.
If you agree that the opinion is unpopular give it an arrow up. If it's something that's widely accepted, give it an arrow down.
Guidelines:
Tag your post, if possible (not required)
- If your post is a "General" unpopular opinion, start the subject with [GENERAL].
- If it is a Lemmy-specific unpopular opinion, start it with [LEMMY].
Rules:
1. NO POLITICS
Politics is everywhere. Let's make this about [general] and [lemmy] - specific topics, and keep politics out of it.
2. Be civil.
Disagreements happen, but that doesn’t provide the right to personally attack others. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Please also refrain from gatekeeping others' opinions.
3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.
Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.
4. Shitposts and memes are allowed but...
Only until they prove to be a problem. They can and will be removed at moderator discretion.
5. No trolling.
This shouldn't need an explanation. If your post or comment is made just to get a rise with no real value, it will be removed. You do this too often, you will get a vacation to touch grass, away from this community for 1 or more days. Repeat offenses will result in a perma-ban.
Instance-wide rules always apply. https://legal.lemmy.world/tos/
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When there are two options, and you choose not to decide, you are declaring that you approve of both options equally. If all but one person abstained out of principle it wouldn't expose the flaws in the system, it would just leave the decision in that one person's hands. When all the people who don't want to legitimize the broken system choose not to vote, then it's decided by the people who do want to legitimize the broken system.
This is a prisoners dilemma, yes I understand it. But there's a factor you're not considering: when all the people who don't legitimize it withdraw, it loses it's power over everyone by a little bit. If we all withdrew our support the system we live under might very well change to get our support back.
No it doesn't though?
That's what you said, yeah. Doesn't make it true.
The system we live under doesn't exist in a vacuum, it doesn't have power on its own, it's not a temple we worship in. It's one we maintain. Without us it doesn't exist.
That is the mechanism by which the system works, functionally. Deviating from that system requires some concerted action, passive abstinence is not positive action. Simply not participating does not change the system. Simply not participating yields the result I outlined above.
"Us" is not you and the people who agree with you, it is the sum total of everyone who actively participates. If you subtract yourself and the people who agree with you from that sum total, the "us" that perpetuates the system becomes those who continue to actively participate. You do not speak for everyone, so choosing to be silent merely erases your voice from "us". Do you want everyone else to speak for you?
Nobody speaks for me but me, not even "my representative." It's not just silence, it's withdrawal. I will not be browbeaten and scaremongered into participating in my own abuse. Enjoy your token voice, I'll be busy out here living my way.
Withdrawal does not have a function in the process. There is no clause in any Constitution which declares that if a large portion of people "withdraw", they have a new election with better candidates. Withdrawal is simply forfeiting your share of the decision making process. You will be out there living by the whims of those who chose not to withdraw.