A fringe website featured the purported names and addresses of the Fulton County grand jury that indicted Trump and 18 others for their efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The only way to break these people out of their echo chambers is to enact anti-cult tactics. Trying to get someone out of a cult is an extremely hard thing to do. When it’s 30% of a country’s citizens, however, it may be impossible. If Capitol Police testimony, video evidence, and other MAGA members speaking out couldn’t break the spell, what will insulting them and their beliefs prove?
I don’t have the solutions to fix this and I loathe the MAGA cult, but the harder you insult, point out hypocrisy, and humiliate these supporters, the deeper into the cult they retreat. This is seen time and time again with friends and family who attempt to help someone escape an obvious cult or religion.
I am 100% in the “punch a Nazi in the face” crowd, but what we need to do is treat these people like they have been brainwashed, rather than them making the conscious decision to support fascist rhetoric. To them, in their cult, we are the outsider trying to prosecute their leader and destroy their beliefs and way of life.
You will never out-debate them in their beliefs. You will never insult them into leaving. And treating them all like the enemy is exactly what their leaders are telling them you will think.
I’m not saying every MAGA member is possible of redemption, but the most success we may find, to remove this fascist rot is with those who were deep in and have found their way out. The call to leave needs to come from “inside the house,” so to speak.
I’m too tired to respond to this fully right now, but I will try to do so later. For now, I will just say that I agree with your general premise, and the few things I have a slight disagreement with may not be important enough to quibble over unless you care for a formal explanation. Also, thanks for your well thought out response.
I appreciate you (and others who may not have bothered to comment) for not immediately jumping to the, “this guy’s a fascist sympathizer,” because I don’t think the emotional responses to this will bring about rational change.
It’s refreshing to see someone put into more articulate words what I’ve been feeling for so long. You cannot fight these people out of their delusions. My fear is that the next time they lose an election, they’ll all just take their ball and go home, so to speak. Fracturing the country and creating one or several new nations run by despots and increasingly impoverished as the years go on. I really hope I’m not stuck living in or adjacent to an American North Korea in 30 years, but that’s how things are looking.
The only way to break these people out of their echo chambers is to enact anti-cult tactics. Trying to get someone out of a cult is an extremely hard thing to do. When it’s 30% of a country’s citizens, however, it may be impossible. If Capitol Police testimony, video evidence, and other MAGA members speaking out couldn’t break the spell, what will insulting them and their beliefs prove?
I don’t have the solutions to fix this and I loathe the MAGA cult, but the harder you insult, point out hypocrisy, and humiliate these supporters, the deeper into the cult they retreat. This is seen time and time again with friends and family who attempt to help someone escape an obvious cult or religion.
I am 100% in the “punch a Nazi in the face” crowd, but what we need to do is treat these people like they have been brainwashed, rather than them making the conscious decision to support fascist rhetoric. To them, in their cult, we are the outsider trying to prosecute their leader and destroy their beliefs and way of life.
You will never out-debate them in their beliefs. You will never insult them into leaving. And treating them all like the enemy is exactly what their leaders are telling them you will think.
I’m not saying every MAGA member is possible of redemption, but the most success we may find, to remove this fascist rot is with those who were deep in and have found their way out. The call to leave needs to come from “inside the house,” so to speak.
I’m too tired to respond to this fully right now, but I will try to do so later. For now, I will just say that I agree with your general premise, and the few things I have a slight disagreement with may not be important enough to quibble over unless you care for a formal explanation. Also, thanks for your well thought out response.
I appreciate you (and others who may not have bothered to comment) for not immediately jumping to the, “this guy’s a fascist sympathizer,” because I don’t think the emotional responses to this will bring about rational change.
It’s refreshing to see someone put into more articulate words what I’ve been feeling for so long. You cannot fight these people out of their delusions. My fear is that the next time they lose an election, they’ll all just take their ball and go home, so to speak. Fracturing the country and creating one or several new nations run by despots and increasingly impoverished as the years go on. I really hope I’m not stuck living in or adjacent to an American North Korea in 30 years, but that’s how things are looking.