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2026-09-17 00:48:37

⏩︎VOTE⏪︎ ᶜʸⁿⁱᶜⁱˢᵐ⁼ᵃᶜᶜᵉᵖᵗᵃⁿᶜᵉ (Ben Royce) via JonChevreau 🇨🇦

benroyce@mastodon.social

Attention #fediverse / #mastodon

We're entering #election season in the #USA. The #midterms

That means something for you:

You will see an increase in #trolls

Messages along the lines of

"Nothing ever changes, both sides the same, waah" #cynicism

And

"The candidate is unideal. Allow me to amplify and manufacture high holy outrage on the point" #perfectionism

All of which is designed to suppress the #left #vote and help #MAGA

You have been warned. Brace yourself

https://www.rfi.fr/en/international-news/20260915-russian-disinformation-campaign-sets-sights-on-us-midterms

2026-09-17 01:02:23

axolotl solidario

axolotl@kolektiva.social

@benroyce you almost convinced me, then i remembered Obama's deportation and bombing numbers. Community organizing and direct action is the way forward and electoral politics is literally the system that got us where we are today.

Nothing against others voting though. Maybe you will get some harm reduction. Or maybe you'll be complicit in crimes against humanity. Probably a bit of both.

Remember the vast majority of rights and freedoms we have today, worldwide, weren't voted for but fought for.

2026-09-17 02:00:27

Zep

Tiezep@mastodon.social

Meme reads: fact: 90% of leftist infightrfs quit right before the movement is pure enough for the revolution Poking fun at the fact that no political candidate is perfect and you still need to vote for the dem non-na,I aligned Candidate no matter what <br />micro issue line they crossed for you

@benroyce relevant meme

Doesn't matter if your candidate is not perfect, show up and vote, don't let the doomerism win

2026-09-17 02:57:44

m3t00🌎🇺🇦

m3t00@catodon.rocks

@benroyce@mastodon.social
during 2024 run-up I recall accounts claiming to be polling 'analysts'. they had blue team ahead everywhere. afterward they stopped posting. i've always suspected they were part of some scheme. or embarrassed.

2026-09-17 03:39:12

The Sleight Doctor 🃏🍉

ApostateEnglishman@mastodon.world

@benroyce Especially on Facebook and X. A recent study found 90% of Reform UK-supporting accounts on Facebook are fake. The oligarchs and plutocrats want autocratic governments that'll do their bidding, in their own narrow interests...at the expense of everyone else. This is what happens when we let psychopaths gain too much power and influence.

Corporate social media is an echo chamber for their malign influence campaigns. The fedi isn't much better, but is at least a significant improvement.

2026-09-17 03:57:51

Zalasur 🐸🇺🇦

zalasur@mastodon.surazal.net

@benroyce I've been noticing an uptick of "So you really think you can vote yourself out of this?" posts on Mastodon. It wasn't from a bot account but the cynicism is really starting to ramp up from the "burn it all to the ground" quarter.

2026-09-17 04:08:30

DeanFarrell

DeanFarrell@mstdn.plus

@benroyce On Election Day, I'll go to my polling place and cast my ballot. That's the best I can manage.

2026-09-17 04:10:45

noplasticshower

noplasticshower@infosec.exchange

@benroyce hey look...we can determine who to block by the replies!

2026-09-17 04:15:29

Frater Petra Astrum

CosmickTrigger@mastodon.social

@benroyce

The "both sides are the same" message doesn't suppress the left vote. Because if you vote for a fucking transphobe and Zionist like, say, Talarico, then you can't call yourself left.

Hope this helps.

And no, I'm not a Russian bot. I'm in San Marcos, Texas. I'm absolutely voting for the anti-Israel/Flock/Data Centers left-wing candidates in the City Council and the woman trying tyo "unseat" (see what I did there?) Greg Abbott.

2026-09-17 04:23:27

HubertManne

HubertManne@piefed.social

some of the comments below are why I call myself a centerist because I don’t like to be associated with the virtue testing left. My proper area is left of center though.

2026-09-17 04:24:23

AkaSci 🛰️

AkaSci@fosstodon.org

@benroyce
Assuming that most folks here are politically savvy, let's provide them with some tips and tools and inspiration on how to counteract the disinformation onslaught that we know is coming.

Such as -
- talking to friends and family
- writing progressive messages and articles
- promoting/boosting progressive messages and articles
- promoting Democratic candidates
- making donations
- joining a local progressive group
- volunteering
...

#UsPol

2026-09-17 06:34:24

Alexander Goeres 𒀯

jabgoe2089@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

@⏩︎VOTE⏪︎ ᶜʸⁿⁱᶜⁱˢᵐ⁼ᵃᶜᶜᵉᵖᵗᵃⁿᶜᵉ (Ben Royce) how am i to see this increase if i don't follow such people/bots?

2026-09-17 06:36:43

Max Leibman

maxleibman@beige.party

@benroyce Something I heard a couple years ago that really sticks with me:

“You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube.”

“Why not? Somebody put it in there in the first place.”

They were voted in; until proven otherwise, they can be voted out.

2026-09-17 06:42:33

Carolyn

CStamp@mastodon.social

@benroyce A good idea is to see who your candidates are, look at what they represent, then ignore the news. If you have specific questions, contact them.

It should be offensive that folk who spend the most in PR are considered most in chance of winning.

2026-09-17 08:02:00

Jimjoe_IsBack

Jimjoe_IsBack@mastodon.social

@benroyce “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”
— George Orwell

2026-09-17 08:02:27

Jimjoe_IsBack

Jimjoe_IsBack@mastodon.social

@benroyce “The only security of all is in a free press. The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed.”
— Thomas Jefferson

2026-09-17 08:02:50

Jimjoe_IsBack

Jimjoe_IsBack@mastodon.social

@benroyce “He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that.”
— John Stuart Mill

2026-09-17 08:04:05

Jimjoe_IsBack

Jimjoe_IsBack@mastodon.social

@benroyce “The worst offence of this kind which can be committed by a polemic, is to stigmatise those who hold the contrary opinion as bad and immoral men.”
— John Stuart Mill, On Liberty

2026-09-17 08:04:21

Jimjoe_IsBack

Jimjoe_IsBack@mastodon.social

@benroyce “All silencing of discussion is an assumption of infallibility.”
— John Stuart Mill, On Liberty

2026-09-17 08:04:37

Jimjoe_IsBack

Jimjoe_IsBack@mastodon.social

@benroyce “If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion… mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person…”
— John Stuart Mill, On Liberty

2026-09-17 08:04:56

Jimjoe_IsBack

Jimjoe_IsBack@mastodon.social

@benroyce “…if it is not fully, frequently, and fearlessly discussed, it will be held as a dead dogma, not a living truth.”
— John Stuart Mill, On Liberty

2026-09-17 08:05:34

Jimjoe_IsBack

Jimjoe_IsBack@mastodon.social

@benroyce “The worst offence… is to stigmatise those who hold the contrary opinion as bad and immoral men.”

Shaming the person instead of engaging the person's argument.

2026-09-17 08:07:00

Jimjoe_IsBack

Jimjoe_IsBack@mastodon.social

@benroyce “The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge… is itself a frightful despotism.” - George Washington

2026-09-17 08:07:48

Jimjoe_IsBack

Jimjoe_IsBack@mastodon.social

@benroyce “I know no country in which there is so little true independence of mind and freedom of discussion as in America.” - Alexis de Tocqueville

Let's keep it this way!

2026-09-17 08:08:29

Jimjoe_IsBack

Jimjoe_IsBack@mastodon.social

@benroyce "Don't allow hatred and fear of another faction to dominate political life." - Washington

And for this I will always live the America ideal.