I’ve spent a lot of time in similar living situations and I agree. What I see most of about this intersection is fear. I had neighbors that didn’t trust Democrats and almost certainly voted for Trump, but they sure as hell didn’t trust him either.
In their case, I believe they were looking for an out. The previous Democratic president didn’t help them at all, in their view. And Trump probably wouldn’t, either. I mean, really. What an absolute doorknob. But from their perspective, maybe getting things off the rails might get them in a better position overall. Low chance of that ever happening, but the only one they had.
Again, this my impression of their perspective from living nextdoor to them for years.
Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 hours ago
Not some. All. We all got to live through his first term and the failed insurrection with the Jan 6ers. The fact they voted for him a third time is proof they didn’t care about any of that.
kelpie_returns@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
This assumes that we’re all receiving the same information about what all’s going on, which is very definitely not the case. Literally watch 5 minutes of fox news and compare what you hear to the actual events they’re contorting. The difference is basically immediate and painfully obvious. That is only one of a countless many arms in what is one of the most wide-spread and thoroughly controlled propaganda campaigns in history.
We all lived through the first term, but some devious steps were taken to ensure that different groups were receiving very different coverage. This is getting harder for them to do now that the consequences of their lies are starting to outwiegh the lies themselves, but many of these people were and are still being fed bold-faced lies right along with the same kind of propaganda that literal cults deploy. The sort of mind ganes that are used in order to prevent their victims from ever individually coming to the conclusion that something is very fucking wrong. They are running near-every inch of an information ecosystem that traps their victims by making them completely repellent to the sane, effectively isolating most of them from the people that could otherwise help them see reason.
Many of them understand whats actually happening and are going along because of the hate within them. But many others are being manipulated through well tested and well documented means, which are being deployed in a novel way (via these high control/high volume digital ecosystems) and on a scale that we have not yet had enough time to learn how to properly combat.
They are basically breaking people down, isolating them, and driving them into a useful simulacrum of insanity, if not outright madness. It is a mistake to forget the shades of grey and the humanity that underlines every decision made, both among the perpetrators and the victims alike. If the goal is to do what’s right rather than punish anyone and everyone who wasn’t perfect to your standard, then these distinctions really and truly matter. Some of them need rehabilitation, and others need the full brunt of what these rotten choices should earn them. They’re just not a monolith.
Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 hour ago
A lot of the propaganda these isolated people are fed dehumanizes those whom Trump and the Republican party wish to target. These “victims” of propaganda shouldn’t be sympathized with or even pitied because they each have a conscience that they deliberately silenced in order to feel as part of something greater than themselves. Even if these people are somehow rehabilitated this time it’s very obvious they’ll fall back to the same patterns that got us into this mess to begin with.
The only effective way to break the cycle is to destroy the propaganda machine and force a change in the very culture and identity they’re a part of. You’re right these people aren’t a monolith, but you see some recurring themes like nationalism, Christianity, pride in ignorance, and toxic individualism that conservatives just know how to leverage to drive them into a frenzy.
kelpie_returns@lemmy.world 39 minutes ago
A lot of the propaganda they’re fed does certainly dehumanize people, but they are still not all receiving the same information. That is what some are receptive to. Others would never have it if they knew that was the truth, which is why they have so many other avenues for selling this shit in every color and shade you can imagine. Gaia tv, prager u, countless woo-woo “woahhh dude” influencers, tradwife influences, ‘moderates’ who jsut like playing devils advocate but will hear nothing of this racism, good sir! And just on and on and on. Everybody is not tapped into the same internet.
There are people that simply never hear the racist stuff because that is the whole point of the operation; to obscure reality in order to be sure that as few people are acting on good information as is possible. They are plugged into the kinds of propagandic feeds that best suit their values, and pushed further and further down that tract. They get pavlov’d into knee-jerk reactions to the people pointing out the racism (among other things) that they are so artfully removed from, which turns into this self-feeding loop, pulling them further and further from reality.
And thats not even getting into what they did with the spanish speaking community; literally giving them incorrect translations of speeches and policies that make it all sound safe, standard, and sane. Not everyone has access to the same information as you, and not everyone is information-competent enough to even recognize what makes that difference, especially not after being taught to learn fear of the idea of challenging their beliefs.
I think you are severely underestimating the breadth and long-con of this project, as well as what kinds of people have been brought in and how. Though I do agree with you on how to solve the problem. Fine details may vary, but it’s clearly time to try something different.