She says a lot more but my eye rolling made me stop reading after the first five sentences
https://xcancel.com/ImBreckWorsham/status/1986436503988297774#m
LMAO. Suffer, removed.
This is the “Turning Point USA” we need.
I get all of the comments here. I understand the anger and distain that so many of you are feeling over the current state of things. I share in many of the frustrations and anger.
But it depresses me that Trump won’t run for office again. He will be replaced by someone and the entire pool of former Trumpers will see that person and think that they can do all the things they hoped that Trump would do.
Even if Trump exits office without doing any further significant harm, the people who have made these kinds of revelations, like in the OP, will probably still vote for the same party, in spite of it all. Sure, they may never vote for Trump again, but they’ll never get the chance to anyways, so who cares?
This was calculated.
Don’t be surprised if the next candidate follows the same playbook as Trump, and don’t be surprised if the MAGA crowd falls for it again.
The only way forward, to ensure that this kind of damage is stopped, is to rally together in sufficient numbers to ensure that these folks don’t get into office any more. The absentee voters need to get out and vote.
I am confident that the numbers would work out if we could get enough people to the voting booth.
fall for it once or twice shame on them, for fore it more than 3 times shame on the person.
I would love (well…not really “love”) to see the rest of that tweet as I expect them to say something along the lines of “…but I still love you and believe in you and how much you love America yadda yadda”…
When someone leaves a cult, ya got two choices. Accept them or reject them. If you reject them they’ll just run straight to another cult
She voted 3 times for a racist idiot. The last time she knew he was also a pedo.
I may have missed some posts, but I didn’s see a word about deportations tearing apart families. She’s cool with that. She’s angry because Trump hurt the “wrong gmoups”. He was supposed to hurt only some other groups.
Fortunately for me, I don’t live in the US, I am not a US citizen, and I don’t have to “accept her”.
I bet she will rally behind the next guy promising to hurt “others”, but posing as anti-Trump because he hurt some “good” Americans.
didn’t say you had to forgive. Just that you had two choices.
Rejection will 100% guarantee they will flock to the next leader promising to retaliate for them
A year or two ago I would have felt sorry for her.
Now I have absolutely zero sympathy.
I can excuse racism and pedophilia, but my financial wellbeing is where I draw the line!
Man, I mean, that kind of is the ugly truth, isn’t it? Some people actually can excuse racism and pedophilia if it means there’s a shot at personal gain. I’m not surprised, really, just wholly disgusted.
I know right? The dude said “Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything” and ”I moved on her like a removed.”
When I heard that during his first campaign, I thought he was done, no one could possibly accept such deplorable behavior, right?
…and here we are.
I remember when an enthusiastic “yeah!” would end a politicians career and mark them as “too unhinged” to represent anyone.
Brown suits and mustard preferences are also beyond the pale of acceptable political behavior
In the best scenario this is a wedge in what they believe. “If he lied about this… is he lying too about the rest?”
He has lied about so much and been proven wrong, so sadly I doubt anyone will take that away from this
That’s why I say “in the best scenario”. In the typical they won’t see a problem in that.
The thing is that a there’s actually a pretty big divide among MAGA now. Ever since Trump and his admin refused to release the Epstein files like promised, there’s a very big chunk of MAGA who went in uproar and rejected Trump. That chunk of MAGA which I would say is maybe around 1/3 of the base is disenfranchised because while they’re still MAGA in their beliefs, they no longer view Trump as a prophet like the rest of the base.
oh how I wish I believed that
I think its true. Think about it, a big part of right wing ideology, at least in the US, over the past decade or so is the idea that there’s global network of powerful individuals who influence how the world is run, who are discretely working together to run a child trafficking ring. This idea has spanned quite a few conspiracy theories from pizzagate to Q anon to the Epstein list. A very large chunk of the right not only believe this, but it is the basis of their political beliefs.
The reason why this part of the right gravitated towards Trump to begin with is because he’s the only one who entertained the idea. While all the other politicians ignored or denied these conspiracies, Trump used them to gain support. In 2016 Trump claimed that he was going to go against the establishment, expose their crimes, and drain the swamp. In 2020 he claimed that the powerful elites were conspiring against him because he was close to exposing them and they’re trying to steal the election to keep him out. In 2024 he claimed that he will release the Epstein files the first day he’s in office again.
A lot of people genuinely believed that he would do this even though he himself is a powerful elite, has close ties to the people who ran the pedo rings, and there’s allegation that he even participated… but then again, we’re not talking about the most critically skilled bunch. Regardless, these people supported Trump because he promised to deliver what they sought, and so in that sense they’re more loyal to their belief in their conspiracies then they are to Trump himself.
When the Epstein list turned out to be a real thing, their long running conspiracy theory has finally been validated, and they pinned all their hopes on the one guy in the political sphere who promised to bring it all out to light on day one. So when that time came and Trump started his second term, nothing happened. These people started getting antsy and they started putting more and more pressure on Trump and his admin to explain the delays, especially after Bondi explicitly stated that the files were on her desk.
So when Bondi and Trump suddenly did a 180 and not only refused to release the Epstein files, but straight up denied their existence, that’s when the spell was finally broken on some of these MAGA types who hitched a ride just for these files to be exposed to the public. This was doubly so when he publicly disowned any supporter who even entertained the idea of its existence. At that point even the most dimwitted MAGA who joined the movement for the truth saw that Trump was not only not going to deliver on his promises, but he basically just admitted that he’s guilty. He’s one of the elite they were trying to go after all this time.
This portion of MAGA is what became disenfranchised, they’re no longer see Trump as a fit leader for the movement even if they believe a lot of what he stands for. You don’t hear about them or see them as much, because they’re not really a part of MAGA anymore. They’ve been banned from all MAGA spaces virtual and irl the moment Trump disavowed them, and they’ve been rejected as being liberals by the more brainwashed MAGAs who are still in the movement, in fact these ultra brainwashed MAGAs are the movement.
This may ironically be a conspiracy theory on my part, but I firmly believe that this rift is real. I have never, ever seen the comment sections on Fox News, ONN, Brietbart as well as the Twitter, Truth Social, and the right wing youtube space turn as heavily against Trump as that moment. I think this was the last straw for a lot of them, and I assure you that Trump and his MAGA candidates are going to be shells of themselves in terms of performance in every election from now on.
You really nailed it with this, thank you.
If more people actually worked like this, we’d have fewer issues. Rightwing policies are absolutely terrible for working class people, and workers far outnumbers the groups that would benefit financially from these policies (even when the people in power are somewhat more reasonable than Trump and don’t sacrifice the entire economy for their insider trading schemes).
The solution is simple, we eat the rich
They became the victim.
the Epstein shutdown
At least she sees it. I’m glad she does.
Pretty sure this is fake. People who don’t think so have way way more faith in these idiots than I do. The ones who do not starve to death will be voting for him in the next election.
Why would this be “the Epstein shutdown”? Sorry I’m out of the loop(non-american)
While it isn’t the full motive for the shutdown, part of the motive is likely avoiding release of the Epstine files. Currently, only one more “yes” vote is required in the House of Representatives to pass a resolution calling for the release of the files. There is a new member of the House who was elected in Arizona but she hasn’t been sworn in yet. The Speaker of the House has been delaying swearing her in for two months and has essentially shut down the House to avoid the issue. In the mean time, this means that the House is doing literally nothing to end the ongoing government shutdown.
The house isn’t the hold up in the shutdown, but the rest is accurate. House can’t help end the shutdown until the filibuster in the Senate ends. But there’s other things, like committee investigations, they could be doing.
They’re also holding up shutdown negotiations by not passing anything new that the senate can work with. They’re basically saying “do a clean CR or nothing”.
Though I don’t feel bad for her, I would argue we should try to be nice. I’d rather have her see the light for the mistakes she made than her continuing being on the side of evil
We need more people on the right side
She hasn’t changed. She’ll vote for the next Trump who they believe will be more surgical when it comes to hurting people they don’t like. This is her basically telling the party to reduce the collateral damage. The ideology that brought her to support them hasn’t changed.
It’s taken the collapse of the system for them to even notice there is a problem. Notice how she has no issue with ICE and their abuses? Her issue is that the economy isn’t doing well, and her investments are falling apart. That’s what she’s upset about.
These people are not seeing the light, they are simply upset that they are having to burden the consequences as much as the “Other™” people.
In most free societies, an individual’s political beliefs are viewed as product of their circumstance, and since circumstances change for people all the time, their politics are also expected to change. The very concept of democracy revolves around the idea that people are able to change their opinions. This idea that politics is some sort immutable personality trait is only found among authoritarians because their ideologies are so rigid that they don’t leave any room for nuance.
Your opinion here is shouldn’t even be argued. It should be the standard for any individual who genuinely believes in the concept of democracy.
She’s not and will never be an ally, she only voted to preserve her privilege with the hope of ruining the lives of those she considered undeserving. now she has lost some of her privilege, and now it is a problem for her.
That’s literally how politics is supposed to work. People are a product of circumstance, and since there are a lot of people with different circumstances that constantly change, there’s going to be a competition of power. Democracy, as a concept, exists to facilitate this competition peacefully. People vote for their best interests, and politicians compete with each other to convince voters that they understand their circumstances and will do what’s in their best interest. If a voter feels like a politicians isn’t representing them anymore, they move to a different politicians that represents them better.
You have to be some type of authoritarian to embrace the idea that people are inherently evil or their politics is immutable. If you reject the notion that people can change their views, compromise, or cooperate with each other then you’re fundamentally at odds with democracy, and YOU are the problem.
That is if you assume everyone is selfish and cares only for themselves. Solidarity exists. she only cared about herself, she did not care at all for anyone else who Trump promised to hurt.
This is not how politics works, and if no one has empathy for anyone else and only cares from themselves, then society itself wont work.
You say politics shouldn’t be about self interest, but you’re condemning someone for not showing solidarity in the past while refusing to acknowledge that they might have it now. That’s not principled, that’s punitive.
You’re demanding empathy from others while showing none yourself. If someone changes their views because they’ve experienced harm, that’s not selfish. That’s how people grow. If you actually believe in solidarity, you should welcome people who come around, not gatekeep it.
Otherwise, you’re not defending empathy. You’re using it as a weapon to feel morally superior. That’s hypocritical.
Let’s say, i doubt that by pure coincidence she got a moral compass the exact same moment her choices caught up to her.
I see her as a liability to any group. accept her at your own risk. and enjoy getting backstabbed or have your movement coopted.
So it looks like I was spot on, you really are self righteous moral crusader with superiority complex.
Also, it’s not a matter of acceptance. It’s a matter of strategic opportunity. You can’t ever achieve anything at all if all you ever do is gatekeep, run endless purity tests, and operate in absolute extremes.
You are the one who wants to work with MAGA. and I’m the extreme one?
Yeah, youre just her with a different coloured shirt on, mate. Youre just a hateful, spiteful little person spewing popular buzzwords like your internet uparrows mean anything.
I mean, whats your endgame here? Round them up and deport them… You either pull your head out of your ass and accept that people are just people, and you forgive. Or, you keep on being a knob, and see where that gets you. Spoiler alert, nowhere good.
Time to put the digital pitchforks down, and start fucking talking.
You can’t even bring together people who aren’t on Trump sides, so you are failing on your messaging from the start when it comes to your big proclamation of talking it out.
You dont have to come together, you just have to stop being cunts to each other. None of you are fucking evil. Just fucking talk!
You aren’t even doing a good job of getting non Trump supporters to agree with you.
And if you don’t see supporting someone who wants to be a dictator, wants to get rid of minorities, hires white nationalists like Hegseth, threatens Canada’s independence, bombs Venezuelan boats, and has ties to the files as not evil then what exactly is evil to you?
Because a person who endorses that type of person and only complains when they are financially affected, but were happily cheering on the policies before hand sure seem evil to me. This isn’t like some disagreement about which food is better. What they fundamentally were in support of is red flags.
Its not my job to make you drink, just show you where the water is.
You dont know what the other people think or why they do the things they do. You just apply your dumb logic to people, and demote them to second class. Theres a word for people like that…
Heres a little history lesson. Just after the slaves were freed they found themselves with nothing. So they applied the skills they had, and grew Watermelon and sold it at market. They didnt just survive, they thrived. So much so that the watermelon became a symbol of Black of hope and strength to the freed slaves. The former slave owners on the other hand, didnt like that. So they started taking out ads showing black people eating watermelon like animals. And not just black people, caricatures of black people with the big lips. Inside 10 years, the watermelon was a racist symbol and struggled to sell it. Theres a story of a young boy who met his former nanny. When she left, the boy cried as he didnt want her to go. But when they met again, and the woman was over joyed to see the young boy she asked him to share some watermelon with him. His reply? “I dont eat n***** food.”.
That is the power of propaganda. And that was just local weekly/monthly newspapers. But it worked so well, that over 100 years later, the watermelon is still associated with hatred of black people, instead of the symbol of hope that it started out as. Theres a lot more than a few newspapers now. But you seem to think that because people fall for the bullshit, that make it ok to hate them. Because they werent cool like to to see through it. Cos youre the good guys… gods chosen people… or some dumb shit that allows you to look at human beings and see something beneath you.
I don’t even want to talk to you and you aren’t even as unpleasant as those who support maga ideals, so your whole just talk it out has been a failure from the onset. But, if you believe maga is even easier to talk it out and change their minds then go at it.
Nah, she is not and will never be an ally. the moment things are OK for her again she will be fine throwing us under the bus again. We need solidarity and a better country for everyone, not just for her or for “me”.
I cared when minorities who arent me were tormented. every decent human did. she did not, she celebrated and caused that.
What I want? to her to stay without friends or family and society to heal but her to die alone because everyone should know the horrors she intentionally caused on everyone.
If trump steps down and becomes broke and poor and suddenly ask for help to the poor, would you accept him?
Dude, all you did was spout popular online thing. You dont give a fuck about the people who just want to earn a living, who dont have the time to worry about everyone else. You just make some wild claim about them, never once considering their circumstances. Talk about being privileged…
I work my ass off for local mutual aid to feed those trump has left behind and it truly breaks my heart knowing I will soon won’t be able afford food for that, as I can barely afford to feed myself. That’s besides all the marches and weekly protests and organising, and canvasing…
Do you really think everyone is just selfish and cares only for themselves?
lol Sure you do. And you just cant wait to tell everyone how totally selfless you are, while at the same time wanting people reduced to 2nd class status because… you think they should.
You sound just like they people you hate. Its hilarious how clear it is, yet you just wont see it.
stop for a second. do you think I do that just so I can brag online? or do you think I’m lying? or do you think that no one would do things to help other people?
because if the last one is “no” that says more about you than you think
Was this your word choice for trying to get people to work together? Demeaning someone for demeaning someone while demanding they work together might not be the best route either. But I agree we need to find ways to build bridges or else we will never be able to make things better. As for deporting people though, there are some harsh actions that may be needed. I’m not saying it is the best route but the next president arresting supreme Court judges for taking bribes, executing them for treason without due process could cause chaos. It could also help pass legislation that makes the president not immune to illegal acts as the supreme Court ruled. It would force the legislature to make abuse of powers and more restrictions on the executive branch which to be honest, needs to have its powers shrunk drastically. The point of a Republic is for the peoples representatives to be empowered to write legislation that helps advance/give opportunities to as many people as possible supposedly “equally”, or at least fairly. But our executive branch having the ability to make executive orders completely undercuts all of that. If we don’t do away with executive orders I think if an executive order is issued it should run side by side with an impeachment. Where then they are voted on by Congress and if half of Congress votes no confidence that it was completely necessary for the safety of the nation, the President is immediately removed. (Different rules than impeachment/removal) obviously
Aka, if there is an attack or something, they can make an executive order to respond before waiting for congress, but if congress feels it was misused, they are gone. No one should care who the president is, they should be a police officer in my mind. What they arrest someone for shouldn’t be their choice, nor any punishment be their choice. If you are found to fake evidence it should also be viewed as treason. Which would make any party fight to do away with capital punishment pretty quick, because they won’t want 7 members of their party getting the electric chair when they get caught up in lying to the public, like they do daily.
You cant work with someone who’s only concern is herself. she will throw you under the bus the moment she can.
We need solidarity, not monsters who are now suffering the consequences of the policies they celebrated.
Do you think we should have mercy for the Germans who supported the Nazis and celebrated the genocide but lost everything during the war?
I am not saying to kill her, just that we should build a better world with our her consent. Let her live the rest of her life without family or friends and hated by everyone in the community.
We must work together. but we cannot work with people who have created this nightmare, who celebrated it, and are only sad when they horrors inevitable reached them. not just a moral purity stance. they will betray you the moment it benefits them.
You cannot build bridges with them, and if you do, don’t complain when they throw you under the bus.
Now that being against trump is being defined as terrorism. you cannot bring in a MAGA, because they will rat you and your friends out in hopes to regain their status.
Sorry if I am not at my most eloquent, it is late and I am very tired.
Fuck me, youre a right nazi… which kinda ironic, when you think about it…
Fuck off,
are you one of those “antifa are the real fascists”?
Actually Im more one of those, “Anyone in the culture wars is fucking spoon”. Known what I mean, spoon?
She won’t, she will betray you the moment it benefits her.
She will rat you and whoever you are organized with to the state in hopes to regain her status.
Cute, but of course it’s fake, a ‘feel-good’ post for the left. Some of the phrasing (‘we see you’, ‘Sit down’, etc) exposes this as someone on the left impersonating a magat. MAGA simply does not talk like that.
Look at the profile and timeline. It’s all anti-trump, anti-repub stuff, just done in a way to sound like coming from a conservative POV. No posts bashing Democrats which a real maga account would definitely have.
We can see their profile from the link.
- verified account
- Joined April 2023
- 19,284 tweets
- earliest months support Trump & MAGA while opposing Biden & Democrats
For a fake, that’s a long con.
It’s not a long con, it’s a long shtick. And not as long as the Colbert Report.
Colbert was ironic comedy, satire, & parody.
The earliest months look sincere in their support Trump & MAGA while opposing Biden & Democrats. That’s a considerable commitment. I doubt the commenter I responded to actually looked at the timeline.
Maybe, but there is a genuine shift among the right where they’re turning against Trump. Trump has been relevant in politics for a decade, and I have never, ever seen a bigger uproar against him within the right than when refused to release the Epstein files. That was the very first time that I thought “oh shit, this is different”
Republicans do not hold a monopoly on bashing the democrats. The republicans dont even do a good job of it.
I really don’t understand how these people manage to dilute themselves into believing he’d be any different to the first time he was in office.
The fact that her username is The Patriotic Blonde really just tells you all you need to know. She’s got no personality at all, she has one character trait, and it may not be all that interesting but nonetheless, her entire life revolves around it.
The fact that her username is The Patriotic Blonde really just tells you
…that the whole thing was probably never a real person posting their actual thoughts to begin with?
dilute themselves
Well they believed in the rationale and prescription for what he claimed to achieve so there’s a lot of scope there to forgive failure to meet targets because as they see it, there’s a mountain of opposition and sabotage standing in the way of making America great again so if what he said we was going to do didn’t happen and if the way he said he’d do it didn’t work it’s not really a challenge to either what Trump claims should be done nor how he should do it, it only highlights to supporters how difficult that task is and how strong their support needs to be.
This kind of thing, one of the duped expressing regret - I think is probably one of the most effective ways of bursting the MAGA bubble and letting at least a tiny bit or reality set in. It doesn’t challenge the things the supporters think are wrong with their country nor directly challenge the methods for remedying it, but it would introduce that little kernel of doubt for at least a few people without coming from “libtards” or in some way seeming to criticise the beliefs that led them to their current situation. She’d be dismissed of course; a paid shill no doubt, or a crisis actor or just a traitorous member of the flock who didn’t have the faith or conviction necessary, but if this kind of thing shows up a lot and gets loud enough it might stand more of a chance than any critique of MAGA or Trump if there ever was really any hope of such processes having meaningful impact.
That said, even if that worked, it’d do little to address systemic issues that gave rise to MAGA and in any case if the MAGA cultists take this gentle out without need to re-evaluate the thinking that got them there then really it’d just end up being that Trump was only bad for failing to do what he promised not because what he promised was reprehensible and how he planned to do it absurd and illogical so they’ll be prime for the picking for the next Trump hydra head to take his place.
When exactly are children starving through their own fault?
When are adults starving through their own fault?
It’s just something to add emphasis, no need to nitpick.
All the MAGA morons I know are totally fine with what is going on
They will be, until they are personally affected
That video Don’t be a Sucker should be mandatory yearly viewing. It won’t solve everything but people would learn to better recognize the divide and isolate patterns.
Or maybe not. Humans are complicated.
It’s the party of pure selfishness, they do not understand empathy. Until they themselves are affected at all, they won’t understand .
They understand it and they believe that it is “evil”. Charlie Kirk said it himself.
Ben Shapiro quaking in his Jewish little boots rn. Turns out if you’re instilling hate about all the minorities, they’ll eventually get to yours.
This is the case for most people. People change their opinions when they’re personally affected because first hand personal experience is as real as its going to get.
Anyone who has empathy can see how bad things are for others without going through it themselves though
But that’s a matter of perspective. Empathy as a concept is vague, subjective, and fluid.
Sure, but the definition is about putting yourself in others shoes. If someone said “let’s lock up all (ethnicity)” and you can’t imagine how shitty it is to be locked up due to ethnicity, then you got a problem
Sure, but let me give you the same example but in a different context.
Let’s suppose that instead of “let’s lock up everyone from this ethnic group”, a politician says “let’s stop illegal immigration”. Stopping illegal immigration is a perfectly rational, reasonable, moral stance to have. If someone hears the latter phrasing, they might take it at face value even if the politician really means the former. Thus, this individual has come to indirectly support the former even though they think they’re supporting the latter. The end result is the same because the politician’s intentions never changed, however, the morality of this individual is no longer as black and white as in your example.
And if said person can see what is happening, for example with ICE, and they don’t question what is going on, after gaining an understanding, then its right back to being as black and white
Your first mistake was thinking the MAGA morons have empathy.
Oh I don’t think they do
I frequently chat with my neighbor who is a Q-class Trumper. Over the past year, I’ve been able to observe the leopards licking his face as if I were filming a nature documentary in 4k. We actually get along great. I like having a window into whatever inane, batshit information he consumes, and he really enjoys my company, as I don’t outwardly judge him, and I listen. Naturally, he’s on disability and dependent upon the state. As such, he’s running low on funds and needs to move in a couple months.
We had elections this past week in my state. I told him that I voted, and he offered up some excuses as to why he can’t make it to the polls. We tend not to directly discuss politics, because I told him a long time back that I’m still salty about Bernie. Deep down, he knows that we don’t align, but he doesn’t want to rock the boat. I give his pets treats. I give him treats. He occasionally mentions various religion-based conspiracies and alludes to looming conflict and the criminality of the left, but he’s become more mum on this front. I think, the gears may be turning in his head.
I don’t have any grand insights with which to conclude my anecdote. I give the guy a 30-70 chance of rediscovering reality. But, by being nice to the dude, I do think his chances are much better than they would be had I ignored him the past few years.
But your story just continues to show that nobody with such strong opinions seem to care until it directly effects them. In your case, it sounds like they are right on the border of realizing this. It just sucks that this is what it takes for them to even consider this.
It’s tragic, yes. But, don’t underestimate the effects of propaganda, repeat exposures that dwarf my face time with the guy. He doesn’t have my range of experience. He’s just a lonely, 50-something man that’s had more negative than positive experiences in life. He has tunnel vision.
In my mind, he’s responsible for his choices and frame-of-mind. But that’s not going to stop me from sharing my perspective without confronting or proselytizing. Insecurity is a mother fucker.
Talking to him and being a good person can do more than you realize.
I was raised white Christian nationalist, although we didn’t call it that and I wouldn’t have realized that’s what I was. I was taught all the conservative bullshit, both politically and socially. Thankfully there was always a part of me that was like “something isn’t right here” and I kept my mouth shut and was never the bully going around mouthing off to gay kids or minorities, but I definitely thought things like “being gay is a choice” and “poor people should just work harder” and “abortion is something welfare queens do” but also “welfare queens have lots of babies for more money”.
Being around people like you who were nonjudgmental and just talked about their point of view and occasionally gently challenged my beliefs without being confrontational opened my worldview and helped give me the courage to listen to the voice in my head that was saying something felt wrong with the belief system I was raised in. I’d always been taught things like liberals were stupid and lacked critical thinking skills and acted solely on emotions and I was young and kept in a bubble and was dumb enough to believe it until I started meeting people who proved otherwise. That was enough to start the cracks forming that eventually shattered the entire wall of lies. I’m now a raging socialist and I don’t care how people live their lives as long as they aren’t harming anyone else. I don’t think I would have ended up that way if I wasn’t someone who is willing to think for myself and who isn’t afraid to be the “black sheep”, because leaving that mindset lost me my family, but I definitely wouldn’t have ever been able to start down the path I’m on if I was never exposed to people like you who started showing me the lies in the first place.
Kudos man. Happy to hear that. It’s tough to assemble a cogent world view when the people closest to you muddy the waters by tugging emotional hooks. I’ve been there.
Talking to him and being a good person can do more than you realize.
100%. Honestly more than anything were suffering a large scale collapse of community. First, the highway system and cars came in and carved up large-scale communities. Everyone riding around in their own personal pods, not having to interact with anyone else.
Then the internet comes in, allowing anyone and everyone to find material that conforms and confirms their biases. Forget about going out and touching grass. Has anyone spent any actual time in an average day brushing elbows with hundreds of strangers and holding casual conversations. Nothing stops stupid behaviors faster than being judged by the community around you.
That’s what fixed the rest of what was left of my toxic worldview. I started working in healthcare. I’ve treated people from all over the world. I’ve treated people who speak so many different languages. I’ve treated people of all religions. I’ve treated different gender identities and sexual preferences. I’ve treated people I knew were rapists or murderers (fucking worst, but you grit your teeth and treat them like human beings who need healthcare). I’ve treated so many refugees from various places (love the refugees, keep them in the US!)
All of them are just people. I’ve met a lot of really shitty people and a lot of really good people. It’s hard to hate a group of people when you meet individuals from a particular subset and realize they have the same hopes and fears as you. At the end of the day, we all just want to go to our respective homes and be safe and loved and alive and there shouldn’t be anything political about that.
Not that you need me to tell you this, but you’re a good person.
But your story just continues to show that nobody with such strong opinions seem to care until it directly effects them.
Yeah. I’ve been considering that it’s a bit like the difference between empirical and theoretical physicist.
The theoretical physicist uses models of how the world works to make predictions about the outcome of experiments. The empirical physicist has to do experiments to believe it. It’s kinda the same for people in politics.
Some people can predict what outcome certain policies are going to have. Others have to figure it out experimentally.
What’s the best way to teach a kid to not play with fire?
Let them touch it. Hopefully they will only do it once
People who are below average intelligence take a lot longer time process new information and tend to hang onto myths much longer than smart people. Smart people can adapt to new information whereas these folks just can’t. They are susceptible to being gaslit because they can’t think critically. Personally, I don’t think people below a certain intelligence level should be permitted to vote.
I’m going to disagree with you a bit here. I’ve seen first hand when intelligent people use all their additional cognitive ability to create rationalizations and pseudo-logical interpretations of questionable facts to avoid challenging their own assumptions. It takes a good dose of humility/integrity to admit that you were wrong and be willing to change course. That’s not a feature of intelligence, at least not in the realm where it is typically measured.
You may not realize it but you’re humanizing “the left” for him. Its probably keeping him somewhat grounded.
Heh, oh I do realize that. I’d not say I’m being strategic, but I am being intentional. One of the reasons I chose to live where I currently do is to expose myself to that subset of the population. I don’t have a car, and one of the (internalized) benefits is creating opportunity to chat with a broad spectrum of people. I hope this doesn’t sound like I’m tooting my own horn, but I consider myself to be a student of perspective. Many years ago, after university, I joined the Peace Corps. I have direct experience building relationships with folks whose beliefs blind them. I just find it tragic that we seem to be careening toward conflict when it’s all so eminently avoidable. So, I try to spread a little grassroots goodwill.
I’d add, I wish that we in America had some form of compulsory or strongly-encouraged foreign service not related to war.
First of all, i don’t think you’re tooting your own horn, you juuust stated you don’t have a car! So its unlikely you happen to have a horn lying about…
Intentional is a good description, but from what i read i want to add sincerity. Thats important, especially in a world of grift and propaganda.
Is this not normal? If you treat people kindly and with respect, they’re more likely to respect you back and treat you kindly. This common courtesy establishes a level of trust where others are more willing to listen to what you have to say. This is the only way people can ever change their minds.
I have never seen any instance of anyone changing their minds because others were demonizing them and making fun of them. I feel like the people who advocate for others to be dicks to people like this guy tend to be major assholes themselves, and these people are big part of the problem. Yet that views is becoming more and more common. So props to you for treating this guy like person, you might think much of it, but your interactions with him might very well be the reason why he even has the chance of coming around.
you’re honestly one of the best. I wish I could have that kind of patience even just for my own family let alone others.
