Knowing that people are not evil. We’re just animals who conform. It’s too late for some to get better and be more empathetic but not everyone.
My uncle had to move states for work and he went from a MAGA tattoo trumper to a protester in the span of two years because he was isolated from his “friends” and met some fellas at work who took his ignorant ass in. Played pool in one of their garages every Wednesday and Friday with the rest of their friends. Found community. Doted on his coworkers trans daughter to the point where he pitched in a third for her first car. People are all the same but are easily tricked and will do anything to fit in. It gives me hope that love can spread too. Not just hate.
Yeah but why are some people doing the maga thing to fit in whereas others see no need to? If it’s all conformation pressure then surely it will go the other way and we’ll all be trumpers soon enough.
This is what troubles me. More abstractly - Why am I x and others y. I think things would be more good if more people did x, but I cannot discern any particular surefire reason(s) or principle that makes someone x instead of y. To me I can never imagine being y, it is incomprehensible. Some people randomly stop being y and start being x and vice versa, but there’s never a principle(s) that emerges that could be used as a basis of a theory, it seems chaotic, and it defies understanding. Are y misinformed? Doesn’t seem like it. Are y just evil? Are x just fundamentally better, smarter, more moral than y?
Well then that’s no good because that would mean people really aren’t all the same, and anyway such thoughts are unbefitting a systemic humanist view of being able to alter the world unto better outcomes that people will go along with if it’s made to be in their interest, like reducing poverty to reduce crime, and anyway that seems to hold true in data so it can’t be. Can we all be nietzchean "over"men?
I listened to a podcast with someone who left the white power scene, and did some research. What I found in several sources is that extremists leverage your pain points. Feeling lonely? Unseen? Or did you grow up in a broken home? You can use that anger and redirect it towards the out-group of choice.
The wish to fit in is an important part, but I think it’s first and foremost seeking for community. And when you feel lonely and are in pain, you are very vulnerable to people recruiting you into a cult or extremist group.
It could happen to anyone, but I think emotional maturity and coping skills play a big part in being able to identify and resisting extreme ideologies.
Knowing that people are not evil. We’re just animals who conform. It’s too late for some to get better and be more empathetic but not everyone.
My uncle had to move states for work and he went from a MAGA tattoo trumper to a protester in the span of two years because he was isolated from his “friends” and met some fellas at work who took his ignorant ass in. Played pool in one of their garages every Wednesday and Friday with the rest of their friends. Found community. Doted on his coworkers trans daughter to the point where he pitched in a third for her first car. People are all the same but are easily tricked and will do anything to fit in. It gives me hope that love can spread too. Not just hate.
This is fantastic.
Thanks for writing it.
Yeah but why are some people doing the maga thing to fit in whereas others see no need to? If it’s all conformation pressure then surely it will go the other way and we’ll all be trumpers soon enough.
This is what troubles me. More abstractly - Why am I x and others y. I think things would be more good if more people did x, but I cannot discern any particular surefire reason(s) or principle that makes someone x instead of y. To me I can never imagine being y, it is incomprehensible. Some people randomly stop being y and start being x and vice versa, but there’s never a principle(s) that emerges that could be used as a basis of a theory, it seems chaotic, and it defies understanding. Are y misinformed? Doesn’t seem like it. Are y just evil? Are x just fundamentally better, smarter, more moral than y?
Well then that’s no good because that would mean people really aren’t all the same, and anyway such thoughts are unbefitting a systemic humanist view of being able to alter the world unto better outcomes that people will go along with if it’s made to be in their interest, like reducing poverty to reduce crime, and anyway that seems to hold true in data so it can’t be. Can we all be nietzchean "over"men?
And so I continue to think.
I listened to a podcast with someone who left the white power scene, and did some research. What I found in several sources is that extremists leverage your pain points. Feeling lonely? Unseen? Or did you grow up in a broken home? You can use that anger and redirect it towards the out-group of choice.
The wish to fit in is an important part, but I think it’s first and foremost seeking for community. And when you feel lonely and are in pain, you are very vulnerable to people recruiting you into a cult or extremist group.
It could happen to anyone, but I think emotional maturity and coping skills play a big part in being able to identify and resisting extreme ideologies.