In my opinion if you are a left leaner and conclude that Joe Biden is evil and or that you hate him you're not engaging in very nuanced thought.
In my opinion if you are a left leaner and conclude that Joe Biden is evil and or that you hate him you're not engaging in very nuanced thought.
I think he considers himself a loyal public servant with good intentions. I don't think he's engaged in broad scale corruption or intentionally hateful policymaking. I think he was once a thoughtful public person. He's always essentially toed the party line. People genuinely seem to love him as a person. When I made the Facebook suburban wine mom characterization a while back, the person who uses the black lady as a gif response to something online as an avatar for black female friendship, in that same framework, Joe Biden has created more real life black support and black friendships than that suburban white lady ever will.
All that said, he's played an important part in creating a whole lot of pain and suffering around the world in a long career of public service. I don't give him much credit for the good work he's done, and I do place a lot of blame there, with full eyes wide open to his life circumstances full of tragedy and the Congresses and Presidential administration he's been a part of.
If that's not nuanced enough for you, I can expand.
I think this is mostly fine. The problem I have with it, and many on the far left in general, is that this reasoning doesn't account heavily enough for the fact that norms, attitudes, and culture changes over the years. And so can politicians. There are those who are ahead of the curve, and they deserve credit for it. For example, if you support Bernie over Biden because Bernie has championed socialist causes more consistently and for far longer - I totally get it. And to say that a person or a politician is simply a product of their generation/time does not excuse many, or all, moral and/or policy failings. But it does provide context.
We all have a tendency to label ourselves or people we support differently than people we don't. Is Biden "evil" or is he rather a decent guy who has a mixed record on important issues, some positions/votes of which have caused suffering? He's not entitled to blind support just because he's the Dem Nominee. But I do think it's fair to examine his platform, albeit with necessary skeptism, regarding what he will do for progressives moving forward. I also don't really understand why you say you wouldn't give him credit for positive things he's supported.
Nobody is asking you to celebrate Biden. Nobody is saying that he deserves the same place in history as Ghandi. But if you're deciding whether to vote for Biden, Trump, a third party, or not at all, and you're being asked to distinguish between 1) their records and 2) the probable results of their respective administrations, I don't think concluding that Biden is "evil" is reasonable.
But we've gone round and round about all this. I don't really give a shit at this point what the extreme liberals here (or anywhere) do or don't do. There's nothing Biden or anyone else can do to persuade them at this point. His record is what it is. He is who he is. The difference between the character and decency of the two candidates couldn't be clearer. If one's value system leads you to conclude that you can't vote for Biden with all the information that is before us, then nothing is going to change that.
Is it possible to hold the opinions that “Trump is evil,” Biden is evil,” and “Biden is less evil and will get my vote” simultaneously? Seems reasonable?
Nobody is asking you to celebrate Biden. Nobody is saying that he deserves the same place in history as Ghandi. But if you're deciding whether to vote for Biden, Trump, a third party, or not at all, and you're being asked to distinguish between 1) their records and 2) the probable results of their respective administrations, I don't think concluding that Biden is "evil" is reasonable.
But we've gone round and round about all this. I don't really give a shit at this point what the extreme liberals here (or anywhere) do or don't do. There's nothing Biden or anyone else can do to persuade them at this point. His record is what it is. He is who he is. The difference between the character and decency of the two candidates couldn't be clearer. If one's value system leads you to conclude that you can't vote for Biden with all the information that is before us, then nothing is going to change that.
What is an extreme liberal?
What is an extreme liberal?
I guess. I understand if people view Biden as a part of a system that needs far more drastic change than he is ever likely to push for w.r.t. banks, corporations, inequality, etc.
I just think if Biden is your standard for "evil" - then we have a different feeling of what that word entails, or alternatively you think an awful lot of people are "evil."
You. Maybe there’s a better term for it, I don’t mean any offense by it. But not really interested in playing this game.
...I just think if Biden is your standard for "evil" - then we have a different feeling of what that word entails, or alternatively you think an awful lot of people are "evil."