I'm emotional about the fact that there's a portion of the population in this country that seem to think they have any sort of say over what types of medical care another portion of the population can have, where - or even if they get to use the bathroom, or - let's just be honest here - breathe, live; Ya know, little things like that.

This is why it's sooo fucking frustrating for me to see all these people shooting themselves in the foot. I dunno if any of y'all paid attention or not, but there was a pretty big election recently that got handed to a racist, recognized by the courts as a rapist, felon who is (and long has been) expressing blatant signs of dementia running on a platform that largely centered around kicking the brown people out of the country indiscriminately.

Your opposition here is fucking big, loud, nasty, violent MACROaggressions, and yet I still see people like you guys on here doing... what? Chastising people (who might actually be on your side already, mind you) who express signs of frustration/displeasure with the people who you need them to be upset with for being so fed up or whatever prompts their "I'm apolitical" statement? Not just chastising, even, but calling it a 'microaggression'? Which, aside from just sounding like the whiniest thing you can say, immediately paints them as the adversary, putting them on the defensive. And - for those of you playing along at home who might recall - since we've already established who your opposition is (or should be, rather), now that you've put our theoretical "apolitical" person into defense mode too, well... If the enemy of my enemy is my friend then...

Hmm... Maybe making people feel like they're just as bad as the racist fuckheads because they perhaps don't grasp that everything has something of a political component to it isn't the best strategy, as it turns out.

Meeting people where they are is a vital part of the rhetorical process. The bigots and oligarchs are speaking the language of the ordinary people and a lot of those people are making it clear that their vote is contingent on such things.

I get the value of inclusive language. I've been involved in trans activism for a long time and I've watched us go from "please stop referring to us with porn categories and dehumanizing language" to things that while I agree with definitely can come off as nitpicking.

You'll get way further telling someone that they're only able to not care about politics because there are a few heads in front of them on the chopping block and that the guy with an axe keeps telling them they're safe. You'll also get a lot further bringing others' needs into the realm of their concerns. Its why I'm a huge proponent of PFLAG. A lot of straight and cis people struggle to empathize with queer needs, but can readily see themselves in the shoes of our parents. The right has learned this tactic from gay activism while we've let it fall to the wayside.