Or trying to look like they are trying. “Trying” kind of implies at least a tiny sliver of a chance of actually succeeding, which this, at the current political moment, absolutely does not have. Believe me, I’m all for them trying stuff, but this might as well be proposing eliminating the electoral collage, electing Senators based on population, or passing the ERA. I’m all for all of those things, but they are a total pipedream from our current position. I just really really don’t think there is an appreciable number of voters out there who think that now is the time for democrats to be showing off their impossible Christmas wish list because “people will complain if we don’t”. What people are complaining about is Dems puttering around having meetings and proposing non-starter solutions rather than owning the fact that they got stomped this time and should now switch to organizing the type of ground-level resistance that worked such wonders for the republicans the last 10 years.

True. I really wish they would focus on things they can actually do as the minority. Like, this is performative, but I’m not even sure for who it’s supposed to be performative. Do dems honestly think there’s even a single voter out there with the attitude of “well I wasn’t going to vote next year, but after seeing dems moonshot yet another dead-on-arrival amendment about a 15-year old court ruling I’m on board!”

Look at what republicans were able to accomplish on the level of school boards, counties, churches, state houses, election commissions, etc while they were out of power and steal their playbook for goodness sake 😒

Yeah, that was my first thought when I read this too. There were plenty of people for whom the internet in general, or later social media, was too complex for them to bother with. I think each generation of technology leaves behind a certain % of people who are past the point of being willing or able to learn how to use something new, and that isn’t really a bad thing.

Yes, you have to have some notion of what “federated” means and how it works to make full use of federated sites. But it’s just asking people to learn a little bit about a couple new terms, and spending a few minutes outside of their comfort zone while they orient to a new environment, just like when the internet itself or social media started. And I think we obviate the entire point of building something new by trying to make it completely familiar and friction-less for people. If that was the best way to build community, then the internet would just be the phone book and social media would just be the personals section of a newspaper.