i'm sorry my lads, lasses and nb pals, but i gotta rant about politics for a moment and why i am having so many issues with leftist discourse atm

i gravitate towards leftism because i view it as a more just, more equal and kinder political philosophy. part of this belief is that every person is deserving of life, and the things that they need to be able to live.

this is non-negotiable.

this applies to every. single. person.

that include people who are criminals. people who hold beliefs that i find abhorrent. people who have done things that i find disturbing or immoral.

i like a good "eat the rich" meme as much as the next anti-capitalist. but the moment we genuinely advocate for taking away people's rights, we are just upholding the same structure we have now that we should be trying to dismantle.

when we talk about imprisoning people whose actions or beliefs don't comply with our morality, we just reinforce the prison-industrial complex that we talk so much about wanting to destroy.

when we talk about taking away people's lives or rights, we do nothing to change the balance of power in society - it reinforces supremacy and inequality; it just changes who holds the power.

this doesn't mean people shouldn't face consequences for their actions, but the system needs a complete overhaul. we need to look for justice solutions outside of what we currently have, because what we have doesn't work, and we know that, so why do we keep advocating for it?

i know that this overhaul will take time and it's not a solution for issues we're facing rn, but maybe we could look at setting a better example? how are people supposed to take our demands for dismantling policing and prisons seriously if we then demand arrests and imprisonment?

how can we say that we value all lives and then call for the death penalty for people we don't like?

we need to do better. we can't keep replicating the system that we are supposedly so against.

everyone deserves rights.

yes, i mean everyone.

that irl person who did terrible things? yes, them.

that fictional example person you made up? yes, them too.

there are no exceptions.