Enough!

This is a very close, volatile election.

So... when all the results are in, are Always-Trumpers going to just shut up and accept the results of the election if Biden wins? Or are many of them going to continue down the rabbit-hole of alleged voter fraud?

And has it occurred to them that accusing the left of that, without enough evidence to back it up, is just another form of refusing to peacefully accept a democratic transition of power?

I am well aware that, had this gone the other direction, there would have been a huge outcry, potentially up to and including more riots. I am also aware that planting seeds of distrust in the integrity of our electoral process, with only rumor as evidence, is just as dangerous as blatant riots. Think about it: if enough people are convinced that their votes don't matter, and that nefarious forces in power can just fabricate hundreds of thousands to millions of votes-- in essence, that the system is purposefully stacked against them-- what are those people eventually going to start doing? 

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

It does to me, because I spent years trying to counter that kind of rhetoric from people on the left: "You're a victim, the other is an existential threat, the system is against you." 

Of course, sometimes there is truth to that statement in various different circumstances. This isn't one of those times, in my opinion.

Given that I may be wrong, however, I am fine with recounts, or with taking it to the courts. Those are at least legal avenues to go through in our system. If that reveals widespread voter fraud, then hold those responsible accountable. What I am not okay with, however, is spreading unsubstantiated rumors with little-to-no fact checking behind them, and I've been seeing a lot of that lately. All those rumors serve to do is spread more distrust and animosity towards one another, and that I think is far more threatening to our republican-democracy than either Biden or Trump ever will be in the long run. People are living in increasingly insulated echo chambers where they will only listen to what they want to hear, regardless of how dishonest it is. Yes, it happens on the left too (I should know, again, I spent years pointing that out to people), but in recent days it's mainly been coming from the right.

Stop it. Just stop it.

I mean four years ago we were calling people crying over Trump snowflakes, and telling them to just get over it. Now here we are with Biden apparently winning, and those same people are crying "Voter fraud! Voter fraud!" with little to no evidence to support that beyond rumor. Any "evidence" that has been shown to me thus far has been in the form of Tweets that multiple fact checkers have since debunked, or from these super out-there, click-bait websites that I'm pretty sure would have given my computer viruses had not the browser blocked the pop-ups.

Yes, there are documented cases of convicted voter fraud from previous elections, but they are relatively rare, and not enough to sway an election. Could some also be happening now? Potentially. If so, again, take it to the courts, and let them weigh the evidence, if there is any. But if it were really happening to the scale alleged right now, then Democrats must be really bad at this, because you would think that they would give themselves a wider margin than a couple electoral points. I'm just saying....

And by the way, wouldn't it be more efficient to just hack the electoral college than the popular vote? There are several states where those in the electoral college are allowed to cast their votes for someone who didn't win their state's popular vote.

Of course I say all this, and I know people are going to read it and think: "well yeah, of course they would make this look innocuous, or of course the MSM and 'liberal' fact checkers won't tell you the truth!" and if that's your mindset, let me tell ya something: that is not the mindset of someone trying to be fair and objective, that is the mindset of someone who has already convinced themselves of something, and no amount of counterpoints or evidence will convince them otherwise. That kind of mindset only filters in what that person wants to hear. It doesn't attempt to engage with the opposition in any meaningful way, it just dismisses it outright, because it's convenient and easy.

Case in point: if you distrust the MSM, but then don't apply the same level of skepticism to sketchy, click-bait websites, then you're not a maverick of truth. Rather, you're letting those places take advantage of you because they are telling you what you want to hear.

Another case in point: If recounts did happen, and/or the Supreme Court did evaluate this, and the results still came out in Biden's favor... would you continue making the same allegations you are now, or would you accept the results?

Third case in point: You accuse liberals of accusing Trump of bad stuff without sufficient evidence... but then it's perfectly okay for you to then turn around and do the exact same thing to your enemies?

Fourth and final case in point: Reverse the situation, and just how gracious would Trump and his supporters be towards liberals saying there was voter fraud? Heck, for that matter, if Biden were arrogantly claiming victory too early, and then challenging Pennsylvania in court when Trump might take the lead, what would you say? If such stunts would be unacceptable from Biden's camp, then why are they somehow justified coming from Trump or any of those who support him!?

If someone is bending over backwards to justify actions that would be unacceptable if the other side did them, then that's a pretty good indication that this is more a cynical, partisan ploy than anything else.

Again, I spent years trying to explain stuff like this in arguments I had with people on the left, so don't play any whataboutism cards with me either. It's frustrating that I should even have to explain this to people on the right now after all that time where they and I were calling it out on the left. 

Then again, maybe I was naive to ever have thought that either side really cared about playing fair. Maybe I'm now at the point where I've seen that neither party actually cares about the common good. They just want to stay in power, and they will manipulate their voter base however they want to maintain that status quo.

Granted, I have my biases too. Notice though, how I am willing to admit it. Notice also how I am willing to let my position here be challenged when I say that I'm fine with recounts or taking it to court.

That's the difference.