“The United States, just months before its 250th birthday as the world’s leading democracy, has tipped over the edge into authoritarianism and fascism,” Garrett Graff, the American historian and author, wrote in August. “In the end, faster than I imagined possible, it did happen here.”
One awakes to new horrors each day. And it is difficult to grasp – and painful to realize – just how far gone we are, and how quickly it has happened.
I don’t know, the line between malice and stupidity has become so blurred with these folks - like some really didnt know what they were voting for but that’s only because they didn’t want to either out of weakness or assholishness. I never really grasped Malicious Stupidity before, nor how many of us were in its throes.
I don’t make any distinction between the two. These aren’t people who were tricked once or twice, it is a continuous, repetitious pattern of rejecting reality, which is been playing out in front of their very faces. A person who does not learn from mistakes, who never grows as a person, and harms others as a result, is malicious.
I feel like this argument would have held ground in 2016. After the first time around - after Jan 6th - everyone knew exactly what they were voting for.
Idk propaganda is strong, I’ve been having some good discussions with my maga dad and I feel like I’m starting to get through to him, it’s slow but I feel like it’s worth it. He honestly just wants the best for people and the country and he’s been mislead. I know this isn’t true for everyone in maga but some of them for sure are not forever lost.
Have you asked him if he had to do it over would he vote for trump or harris?
I haven’t made it that far with him yet, I think he would still say trump. But I’ve changed his mind on single payer healthcare, started opening his eyes to what ice is really doing (he doesn’t like it), started opening his eyes to what trump is doing internationally continuing wars, threatening other countries, war mongering etc.
It’s slow progress but I am changing some of his opinions.
I wish you good fortune in the wars to come. I have a couple family I talk to when I can. They pretty much lost faith with the maga cause but not picking up any other so it doesn’t help as much.
Good on you, keep it up. We simply cannot wave our hands at these people and dismiss them, they represent a majority of voters in the country. When they start seeing cracks in the facade, we need to engage them thoughtfully and with kindness to wedge those cracks open even more - until they’re able to see past the hatred and ignorance and towards a future that is beneficial for all Americans.
I think so many people have been raised/indoctrinated into the notion that they could not possibly vote Democratic. To do so would mean their soul would go to hell (“demoncrats”), or that they’d lose their manliness (cuz “soy boys” and Teh Gheyz, etc) or that they are siding with “radicals” (lol), and so on. Or you have single issue voters that are still hung up on things like their precious gunz or worried about abortion or getting their little book club into schools…
I think some people are so very locked into a certain identity so much that they think the only option besides voting Republican would be to not vote at all.
Traditionally, being a consumer of mainstream media wasn’t the disability that it has become currently. Not that it was ever totally accurate or great. It’s just managed to get far worse. But so many people out of cultural and social inertia still are.
20 years ago blanket calling out the msm would have safely gotten you dismissed. Today it’s just par for the course as they’ve all been captured by fascists oligarchs.
One semantic point, “it did happen here” is inaccurate, it continues to happen and what little road blocks were in place ammounted to the suggestion of a speed bump in practice. This is still going on and will continue because it has not been stopped.
In a way, all malice is born of stupidity.
Either way, it’ll be small comfort when they are loading people on to the cattle cars saying, well, they were too stupid to know what they were voting for…