It’s really tempting right now to fall into the trap of hating people who voted for Trump and enjoy their suffering as a result of his policies. There’s a term going around on the internet for this ... “FAFO” or “Fuck Around, Find Out.”
The admonishment that follows those sentences for a needful attitude adjustment for Democrats was written by Watauga County's own Jack Yordy, a recent college graduate and an accomplished political organizer. He's on Substack:
Are there people who voted for Trump because they are hateful? Yes. But I don’t believe 74 million Americans base their political decisions on hate. For many, if not most Trump voters, it was our failure to convince them he was bad for the country which left the door open for them to vote for him .... we didn’t communicate the gravity of Trump’s impact on their lives effectively enough, and even we couldn’t imagine he’d freeze all federal funding or intentionally try to collapse the economy.
It was our responsibility to get that message through and for whatever reason, we failed.
Jack's understanding and empathy for people with very different ideas is rooted in dedicated door-knocking, and not the kind of door-knocking that involves shoving a leaflet into a stranger's hands. It's an understanding based on listening, on actually hearing and understanding the fears and anxieties that flesh is heir to. Jack ran canvassing for the Watauga Democratic Party and got his education listening to people who worry, who grow restive, whose uneasiness can ripen into anger.
Also people who never had an opportunity for much education, so their grammar may waver, and when they post on their Facebook pages, they may misspell or misuse words. I've seen those people mocked by my political allies, and it always grates on my nerves. No wonder the people being mocked hate liberals, the over-educated, the snobs.
Jack's conclusion:
The fight isn’t reserved for Democrats in blue states. We’re also fighting for those Nebraskan farmers, and Appalachian coal miners, blue collar Trump supporters and disabled Florida retirees.
Our mandate is to care about these people, not just to win political points but because it’s the right damn thing to do. Laughing at people who are suffering is not productive or good. It will accomplish nothing but the further entrenchment of Trump voters rather than their openness to crossing over to our side. If that’s what you plan to do for the next for years, to revel in the misfortune of people who made one bad and likely uninformed choice, you’re Fucking Around, and you’re going to be part of the next group that has the misfortune of Finding Out.
14 comments:
"next four years", Jack. If the Nazi Revolution continues there will be no vote
(as we know it) in 2 or 4 years. I really don't hear much "Schadenfreude/Freudenschade" (words from German) being expressed by those who voted Democrat or tried to vote socialist. It's mostly nihilists and racists elated at a hollow victory. (check Lee Zeldin) Tomorrow is the Project 2025 expected completion of a Nazi Revolution (53 days). This is the junction at which they expect to drag the Federal Government to a bathtub and Baptize it to death. If you're still knocking on doors I advise you better be bringing
gifts. As Austerity and Autocracy surge people will continue building anxiety.
But it is true that most people have not spoken up and complained as they
should have. As in evangelism, they may require an invitation. We need critical mass immediately, especially since Chuck Schumer is surrendering the DNC
today. (as expected, Wall Street is in his state)
That's not correct.
The proper term is "Schadenfreude", something I enjoy immensely.
Schadenfreude (/ˈʃɑːdənfrɔɪdə/; German: [ˈʃaːdn̩ˌfʁɔʏ̯də] ⓘ; lit.Tooltip literal translation "harm-joy") is the experience of pleasure, joy, or self-satisfaction that comes from learning of or witnessing the troubles, failures, pain, suffering, or humiliation of another. It is a loanword from German.
FAFO, (which I also enjoy), is:
The phrase is more commonly known as “(Eff) around, find out.” It’s long been used as a Gen X version of warning “actions have consequences, so choose your’s wisely.”
It more recently has been shortened to the slightly polite acronym FAFO, but with the same unapologetic caution to know what you’re getting into.
Exempli Gratia:
FAFO is what Schumer found out today on the CR vote.
Schadenfreude is what I'm feeling watching him squirm.
I read Mr. Yordy's post and honestly, he, like all of the left, is totally misunderstanding what happened in the 2024 Presidential Election.
It's not that Trumps voters were uninformed, or misled, or just stupid. They knew EXACTLY why they were voting for him, and it most certainly is NOT because the dems didn't get their message out.
They did and it was resoundingly REJECTED.
I've stated here before your problem isn't communicating your message, it got thru, but nobody in their right mind wanted it.
In fact, the more folks your message reached, the more they turned against you.
Trumpers (Trumpists? Trumpistas? Trumpians? What are the left using now?) don't want a federal spending freeze, they want it cut to, hopefully, almost zero.
Collapsing the economy? Well, if you're a parasitic bureaucrat, a war profiteer, a race or gender whore, human trafficker or drug dealer than yes, your economy will be destroyed, and good riddance.
Yordy is correct that the dems don't give an eff about ordinary people, you know, middle or lower class, workers, heterosexuals, WHITE, religious, or traditional moralists. In fact, Trumpers know they have not only been persecuted for not kneeling to DEI, Socialism, Statism, Elitism, Globalism and Climate bullshit, but thanks to DOGE we now know we have been slaves funding the left's dreams of a new reality for decades and for TRILLIONS of dollars while scraping by trying to live, raise a family and have a future.
A perfect example is the Biden/Cooper/Stein response to Hurricane Helene versus Trump's.
You want to help ordinary Americans and gain their support? End your insufferable moralizing bullshit, end your use of government force to take our money and our property, respect the people who flip your burgers, build your homes, clean your teeth, fix your car.
If you want to fight for the Nebraska farmers then stop corporate influence in Congress, stop favoring corporate agriculture, end income tax, end property tax, end inheritance tax, get your false god of climate change out of government policy and end EPA harassment. They do NOT need another bullshit government program,
Mr. Yordy seems to be a caring and sincere man, perhaps because he is young and has compassion, and I do wish him well, but he is under the false impression that leftism is good and moral, it's not.
Maybe he will realize the truth someday, that the left is a philosophy of power, of forced obedience, perversion, envy and greed.
After all, Trump, Gabbard, Musk, RFKJR were once stars of the democrat party, but have repented and are now seeking redemption by saving not just freedom, but civilization.
And yes, that IS what Trump supporters think.
In 2024, the dems effed around, and they found out.
Sorry you don't like overeducated snobs; I'm one of them. I'm not going to dumb down my fact-based, reality-based beliefs and opinions to make someone who can't spell correctly and who has few critical thinking skills feel better. Education matters. Reasoning matters. We tried to tell them and warn them. Now they're doing the whole leopard-eating-face thing. Well, cry me a river.
Fascism converts normal people into Old Hound Dogs.
White men's greatest fear is that they will be treated the way they have treated non-white men and women. It keeps them up at night.
Your entire critique of the "left" is an endorsement of tumpism. Your differentiation is the white nationalist are in charge.
Anon 9:23 and RH have proved Mr. Yordy's point.
"Your entire critique of the "left" is an endorsement of tumpism." EXACTLY!
" white nationalist" Just were can white people have their own country? Blacks have loads of them, as do Hispanics, Muslims and Orientals, so where do whites have to live to have their own country, according to YOU of course?
Swatted any Conservatives lately?
A LOT wrong with this, but it is informative to see just how distorted your sense of reality is. Trump was NEVER a star of the Democratic party, neither were RFK Jr and Gabbard. Tulsi essentially got laughed off the stage in the one debate where she made the main stage. She's deeply unserious, to the point where she's almost certainly one of Russia's useful idiots.
Perhaps your right, but Trump was a courted democrat donor, RFKJR the son of a slain presidential candidate, and nephew of a slain democrat president and now Secretary of Health and Human Services and committed to making America healthy again. Gabbard was the youngest state legislator in Hawaii, served in Congress from 2013 to 2021, was vice chair of the democrat party, a Lt. Colonel in the US Army, 1st Samoan/Hindu member of Congress, and the first Samoan/Hindu Director of National Intelligence, so yeah, I see why you think they were lightweights.
After all, your chosen stars of the democrat party all crashed and burned and lost to someone like Trump.
Not serious at all.
I should know better than to feed the morbidly obese troll that exists only to torment the other readers of this blog. That being said, I don’t think I’ll take ANY health advice from the dumbass that managed to give himself mercury poisoning, a brain worm, and a multi-decade heroin habit. Gabbard constantly spouts Russian propaganda talking points, has been led around by the nose of her cult leader (I encourage you to look that up), and was practically excommunicated from the Democratic Party for being a gadfly and crazy person. Sprinkle in a little homophobia there too, just for funsies.
Well, guess the future is just going to suck for you. See FAFO and schadenfeude above.
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