this post was submitted on 21 Oct 2026
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I believe in NOT being purposefully deceitful when trying to convince other people, which is what people misusing the Trolley Problem for this situation are.
This is especially so because the logic of the Trolley Problem is an hypersimplification which does not include the kind of things that might actually work in the totally fucked up anti-Democratic system in America - voting in Primaries and being part of Civil Society movements.
The Trolley Falacy is nothing more than tought closing political propaganda.
Those who really believe in harm reduction have been long talking about voting in Primaries and direct political participation supporting Primary candidates who are different in preparation for these Midterms, not parroting simplistic bollocks
If you really think people are being purposely deceitful by pointing out a simple way to understand how to make a choice when you have two bad options, then you have a very dim view of people in general.
JFC
Last I checked knowingly presenting a false or misleading simplification, whilst not an outright lie, is deceit
Specifically for elections, this specific false simplification by denying the cyclical nature of elections can steer people away from the idea that you can punish a dominant political party in one electoral cycle when they put forward deeply unsuitable candidates to incentivize them to put forward better candidates in the next electoral cycle, something that has happened in the past even in America and is more common in other countries.
Whilst right now given just how shit Trump and the present day Republican party are, such a "punishment" strategy against the Democrats would be an incredibly bad idea, had it been used in previous elections it's quite likely that America would never have become so extremely Far-Right.
That kind of false simplification was very much the political propaganda strategy of the mainstream Democrat politicians over the last 3 decades to steer voters away from punishing them as they moved ever more Rightwards alongside the Republicans creating the current political reality in America were the politics of the present day mainstream Democrats are to the right of the politics of Roosevelt, a Republican.
But it's not false or misleading when you only have two choices. But in primaries you have more choices.
So the lesson is support the DSA in primaries and work hard to get them to win.
But even then, you still have only two choices in a general in the primary and you will NEVER have a candidate you agree with 100%. Democracy is an exercise in compromise in order to avoid violence.
JFC
Re-read the part about the cyclical nature of elections vs the one-off nature or the choice in the Trolley Problem.
Elections in a fucked up anti-Democratic power-duopoly electoral system like the one in the US are a lot more like a Cyclical Ultimatum Game between voters and the party supposedly closest to their own principles and very little like a Trolley Problem. A "punish now to get a better choice offered in a later round" strategy is not only viable but often the best choice in a Cyclical Ultimatum Game, i.e. when the side that has to accept or reject the candidate put forward is offered a bad one and they know they will play the same role (i.e. vote) in later rounds, but it is not at all a valid or even possible strategy in a Trolley Problem.
The relentless insistence in framing it as a Trolley Problem and thus as a unique once-in-a-lifetime choice which will result in a forever the same outcome that cannot be changed (yet another way it differs from a Trolley Problem - you can change the choice every 4 years), rather than a situation were punishing those choosing the available candidates in one round can change which candidates they put forward in the next round, is a self-serving piece of propaganda from politicians who don't want voters to punish them for always making available only bad candidates.
So you're an accelerationist.
I'm somebody who knows Mathematics and detests manipulation and deceit.
You fundamentally don't understand what elections are, like, on principal
Psh.