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Post by sgev1977 on Nov 6, 2020 1:21:07 GMT
You shouldn't! BUT TBH probably the very few who actually like to be called Latinx are the kind of people who would be more angry if someone called them with another term! LOL And actually there is nothing bad if they enjoy it. The problem is that it's being imposed on the majority. Also it's not necessarily offensive, it's just cringeworthy and unpronounceable. I think most Latinos wouldn't even understand you because it's very niche and foreign.
When I was at the University, the fashion feminist thing was to call a bunch of people with the femenine gender if most members of the group were female but nowadays we have the non-binaries so I guess that would be considered bigoted, too.
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Post by roverpup on Nov 6, 2020 1:40:50 GMT
Interesting take in the Guardian today about the election. Just an excerpt on how this author thinks the Democrats should proceed in the future... "We know how Democrats can win again. Thomas Frank, in his vital book, Listen, Liberal: Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People?, explains that Democrats need to get back to being a party that offers something meaningful to working people. We know that voting Republican is no indication that voters actually want the agenda the Republican party will pursue in office. Fox News polling indicates voters want universal healthcare, abortion rights and a pathway to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants. Florida voters, even as they selected Donald Trump, also opted to increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. The Democrats do not need to propose insipid half-measures when the data indicates that the public are fully on board with a progressive agenda... Already, there is talk that they need to embrace tax cuts and run away from the “socialism” label. In other words, double down on what they were already doing. Those who think that is the lesson may simply be “unteachable” – a word George Orwell used to describe the old British cavalry generals who still insisted on using horses long after the invention of automatic weapons, and could not be persuaded that a horse is not useful against a machine gun. Today’s Democratic leaders are like those generals. If 2016 couldn’t persuade them that they were wrong, this won’t either. Nothing ever will. It is time for a whole new approach, not a double dose of the existing one. We need to take the right lessons from this election, the ones that didn’t take in 2016. First, don’t trust polls, and don’t get complacent or assume the tides of history will carry you to victory. Second, Trumpism will not “self-destruct”: you can’t simply run against Trump, you need a powerful alternative vision that actually gives people what they say they want and fights for something worth believing in." www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/05/trump-should-have-lost-in-a-landslide-the-fact-that-he-didnt-speaks-volumesAs a life long socialist I think an educated electorate is essential to democracy. The trouble with the American situation is too many people have irrational fears and hatred (brought on by a constant stream of propaganda from capitalist interests) of exactly what "socialism" is.
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Post by queenzod on Nov 6, 2020 3:33:01 GMT
Lol sgev, every time I think I’ve learned the correct term someone comes along and says I’m wrong. I had no idea LatinX wasn’t pronounceable in Spanish! Also, there’s a difference between Hispanic & Latino or Latina that correlates to the country of origin? I can’t keep track of which countries go with which term, and apparently some folks get very angry about it. 😬
RP, good take on the American electorate. The Dems have such a wide base and the current (older) leaders like Nancy Pelosi are worried if they adopt a progressive agenda they’ll drive the moderates further right, so they’re trying to straddle an untenable line as young voters want more rapid change. We’re running out of time to deal with climate change and those young people know that and are ticked off at our lack of response, in addition to concern over the ever growing and disgusting hoarding of wealth by the 1% which is driving great swaths of the country into poverty through the lack of economic opportunities. And thanks to conservative propaganda, many Americans equate Socialism with Communism and cant seem to discern Democratic Socialism from the state owning and running everything, turning the country into “commie pinkos.” It’s shades of Joe McCarthy.
Ah, well, it looks very much like Biden will take the win sometime over the next few days and we’ll get rid of Trump. I’m so excited! As Eurus might say: today was such a good day. 😁
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Post by sgev1977 on Nov 6, 2020 11:19:18 GMT
I think the people who get angry at those who are, well, Latinx and woke whites! I saw someone claiming that Hispanic was wrong because it refers to Spain and Latin or Latino to France, Italy, Portugal, etc. And technically yes, they also refer to people who speak Spanish and they have been used for years to refer to people who born in America, the continent, who speak Spanish or Latin languages. They are comprehensive terms. Interesting enough, the guy doing that corrections was a French living in France! I would guess that most Latin Americans would, in general, prefer to be called by their own country origin, tho.
About Americans and Democrats, I agree there is a lot of uneducated people but this goes beyond than racism. How it's possible that the country went from the beloved Barack Obama, the first black president, to the villain cartoon that is Trump? It was a backlash of some kind but I don't think the voters were different people from one election to the other. This one will have more new voters and it still isn't an easy victory for Democrats! Actually Republicans are winning the chambers. Someone said yesterday how Trump didn't have ground to tell there was fraud because apart that he is obviously deluded, Republicans are winning. He is the only Republican who is losing!
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Post by roverpup on Nov 6, 2020 14:42:47 GMT
Voting participation in American federal elections hasn't been over 60% since 1968! In fact, when Obama was reelected in 2012 less than 55% of the electorate participated in the federal elections.
There have even been a number of elections in the US that the rate of voter participation has fallen BELOW 50% (1996) and numerous times in recent years it struggled to get just barely above 50%.
In comparison in Canada voter turnout consistently averages around the 70% mark and the lowest it's ever been is just below 60% in 2008.
When there are that many non-participants in the voting process then it very difficult to predict what the true feelings are of the general population.
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Post by mllemass on Nov 6, 2020 15:05:02 GMT
My father always told us to vote, even if it’s for a little local election. He said that if you ever have to go to a government official for help, the first thing they’ll do is check if you voted in the last election. If you’re not a voter, they won’t try very hard to help you. Of course, I never really believed my father and I still don’t, but it got me into the habit of voting in every election.
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Post by queenzod on Nov 6, 2020 17:22:24 GMT
I feel so proud to be able to vote! I think about what my female ancestors had to go through so I could have a voice in my country and it just chokes me up. I won’t dishonor their struggles by abstaining. It’s a privilege and a duty and I get so excited (nerd level lol) about voting. Plus, if you don’t vote, you can’t complain later about the state of anything, 😃👍🏼
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Post by roverpup on Nov 6, 2020 17:39:25 GMT
I have voted in every municipal, provincial and federal elections since I was legally able to vote. In our family (as I have said before) since politics was something that was natural, not participating in elections, at any level, never was an option. Voting was considered to be a natural function the same as breathing.
But just as essential is to familiarize yourself with the candidates and issues. I have never voted "automatically" for a certain candidate just because of my political beliefs. I have voted mostly for the NDP (left leaning party), sometimes for the Liberals (centrist party) and even once in a provincial election for the Conservative candidate (because the local person was the best candidate).
But I have met people who are 30+ years old and have never voted. I don't understand them, but they are out there.
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Post by mllemass on Nov 6, 2020 20:55:18 GMT
My family has always voted Liberal, so when I was old enough to vote, I also went with Liberal. Except, as you said, when the local candidate belonging to a different party is just too good not to choose.
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Post by roverpup on Nov 7, 2020 17:01:49 GMT
When I heard the news that AP had called the race for Joe Biden tears actually fell from my eyes! Now hopefully the orange boil on the soul of the US can be lanced successfully!
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