I have problems with people who abstained. The hard thing is, how do you change voter behavior?

You are viewing a single thread.
View all comments View context
8 points

Yes it is and it’s such a good example of logic that its archetype is now a formal part of game theory in the prisoner’s dilemma. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner's_dilemma

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

Thank you for this. It’s always nice to have valid reasoning backing up something you find so obvious lol

permalink
report
parent
reply
0 points
*

Not even close. Did you consent when voting for Biden that his administration could do a genocide? I hope not. This logic implies that we have a moral obligation to vote, which eliminates the free-will of individual choice.

To put it another way. If I am morally obligated to choose the lesser-evil, then that eliminates the freedom of choice. Let’s say you are in a coma during election season. Are you now complicit with everything Trump is doing because you couldn’t vote? Of course not.

By conflating voting with moral obligation, this sophist argument is an example of plausible reasoning.

A vote is a preference, a choice. It carries no burden of complicity. This is separate from ideological support. If one voted for Trump, but then regrets that support, they are no longer responsible for Trump’s actions.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

A vote is a preference, a choice. It carries no burden of complicity. This is separate from ideological support. If one voted for Trump, but then regrets that support, they are no longer responsible for Trump’s actions.

Wrong. A vote is an action. And one that has the ability to negatively (or positively) affect others in your sphere.

If you voted for Trump, me and other LGBTQ people are now at immense risk, as are many other populations. Even if you regret your vote you are complicit and have responsibility for the action you took (or didn’t take).

It’s also false to claim that because something is a moral obligation that eliminates freedom of choice. Even if you have a moral obligation you can always choose to do the immoral thing.

permalink
report
parent
reply
0 points

So, the 80 million nonvoters in 2020 voted for Biden? I voted for Biden and Harris. That does not imply my consent for genocide. Complicity is only maintained through inaction. When I denounce the genocidal action, my complicity ends.

Since we’re erroneously referencing logic thought experiments, the trolley problem refutes the prisoner’s dilemma.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

The thing about the dilemma is that you need to realize that the prisoners are rational, feeling people. They have good reasons to do what they do, often enough. Often their goals are good ones, compassionate ones.

They aren’t trying to scheme or sabotage one another. But they wind up doing that, because the only success condition is mutual cooperation.

That didn’t happen for us, and the outcome is boolean, pass or fail. Any move except sticking to the coalition and acting to cooperate would have doomed the effort completely, and we didn’t do that. So, here we are.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point
*

Where in the Wikipedia article does it mention “voting for the lesser evil “ is an archetype for the prisoner’s dilemma? I’m willing to change my mind, but I need actual reasons to do so.

A better understanding about the logic of voting:

The Ethics and Rationality of Voting

permalink
report
parent
reply

Political Memes

!politicalmemes@lemmy.world

Create post

Welcome to politcal memes!

These are our rules:

Be civil

Jokes are okay, but don’t intentionally harass or disturb any member of our community. Sexism, racism and bigotry are not allowed. Good faith argumentation only. No posts discouraging people to vote or shaming people for voting.

No misinformation

Don’t post any intentional misinformation. When asked by mods, provide sources for any claims you make.

Posts should be memes

Random pictures do not qualify as memes. Relevance to politics is required.

No bots, spam or self-promotion

Follow instance rules, ask for your bot to be allowed on this community.

Community stats

  • 11K

    Monthly active users

  • 3.5K

    Posts

  • 136K

    Comments