The question of if they are too far gone is an interesting one. These ppl by and large aren’t nearly as dumb so much as they are wildly confused (ok, many are both tbf). They genuinely live in an alternative reality. I’ve befriended one months back and have been conversing with him almost daily over that time trying to understand wtf is going on in his head.
It’s completely religious, at this stage. People who are disaffected and searching for meaning in a complex world that seemingly has gotten away from them want concrete stories to cling to to make sense of things and find meaning in the way things play out. Some turn to religion, finding an echo chamber of irrational dogma that brings ppl together into a safe bubble where strict adherence to faith is a currency. The exact same thing happens here with Qanon lunatics.
They have a mythology that they cling to just like Doomsday religious nuts. They have a cast of characters and good guys and bad guys and what started out as a fairly simple plot turned out to be dead wrong, so the creators had to graft on conspiracy theories to explain how that could have happened. These only brought more and more predictions/claims that then failed to ever materialize, hence even more conspiracies had to be invented to explain that in their head these ppl felt HAD to be true. They had the beginning of the story, and the end, and they were desperate to digest anything to fill in the missing details in the middle. All plot holes got ‘fixed’ using other conspiracies, over and over.
This is a genuine Cult-45 scenario and that isn’t meant to make fun of these ppl, it’s a wholly accurate depiction. Their entire identities as human beings is wrapped up in the mythology and the role they wanna play in it. They are redeemable though, just as cult members can be deprogrammed. You’d be shocked to learn how much legit policy overlap there is between folks on the left and these ppl when ya detach those policies from their mythology.
Not shocked. On the more expansive scale beyond left/right, there is little difference. To vulgarize it (that a new word?), Republicans will fuck you and take your stuff on the way out (and tell you to work harder); democrats at least kiss and lube up.
I was referring to stuff like free college education, universal healthcare, taxing the rich, closing corporate tax loopholes, climate change, and whatnot. It’s wild how policy-wise they are so misaligned politically.
Blockquote On a private call Monday night, new leaders of the Capitol Police told House Democrats they were closely monitoring three separate plans that could pose serious threats to members of Congress as Washington prepares for Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration on Jan. 20.
Blockquote And another demonstration, which three members said was by far the most concerning plot, would involve insurrectionists forming a perimeter around the Capitol, the White House and the Supreme Court, and then blocking Democrats from entering the Capitol ― perhaps even killing them ― so that Republicans could take control of the government.
Not shocked. If progressive ideas are on the ballot, even Republicans vote on them. Florida people voted for raising the minimum wage to 15$ (almost double to current rate) over the next years with 60%. But then they voted with a majority for their cult leader wo is against this. If the ballots in Georgia simple asked “0$ stimulus checks” or “1400$ stimulus checks” the results wouldn’t have been that close. So yeah, deprogramming is absolut necessary.
The disturbing thing for me are not these plans but you can’t trust secret service and the other branches any more to protect government officials.
I had not seen this yet. I’m not at all surprised. As mentioned in posts above, I’ve watched my dad slowly succumb to the Fox channel propaganda as I’ve slowly been fighting it by sending him counterpoints that aren’t from the “fake news” outlets. Generally dissertations from political scientists, high ranking federal attorneys, law enforcement, and other statistics. Now, I’m fighting the “both sides” argument that’s cropping up.
I am also ex-military and current government employee. I see and live the effects peaceful protesters in BLM and allied groups are speaking against. I’ve also seen the “persecution” of religion and blue lives and think their “evidence” falls utter flat with no logical ground to defend. But, growing up in that religious-controlled red state and learning various religious history, I’m not surprised they play the violent victim card. And it’s very hard for me to appease their objectively inaccurate stances. I don’t bother with “deprogramming” those types any more. The mental gymnastics (mentioned above by @TavishHill and elsewhere) are beyond my zone of control or capability.
No, there is definitely a cult of personality around Donald Trump and many of his supporters are quite literally cult like members at this point and should be treated like one. It is why all this talk of ‘healing’ is a bit of a red hearing because a lot of them are totally detached from reality and substitute their own.
That’s why I said to be treated like cult members hence they mostly need professional help. The healing part is for this notion that Trump shouldn’t face consequence in order for the nation to move on which is nonsense because if anything that might prove to be more dangerous long term.
New has just broken that he will face an impeachment trial. Not holding out much hope but the fact Mitch McConnell hasn’t shot the notion down is certainly interesting.
It’s because he sees the writing on the wall and is scared he’ll be prosecuted as well. But that doesn’t mean he has learned his lesson, and these people aren’t going away, he will just do it again when he has the chance.
This was the first coup, much like the first NAZI one, they are not going away. It is now up to the citizens to do the rest. Which means not allowing the weasels an out and educate those that wish to leave the cult. If you don’t? THey’ll be back and far worse. This is decades in the making, and these makers are still around. Donald Trump was an early warning.
Yeah, it should only be for the ones wishing to leave, but even then you need to be careful. NAZIsm is a cult, it even has a religious version in NEO-Nazism. And they aren’t going anywhere, they are still around you. And yes, this was the old NAZI stuff, they might not have used the exact same symbols but the people behind this are the same ones that have been plotting this for decades. It’s a rabbit-hole that, once you investigate it, will have you flabbergasted in just how much the national security services around the world allowed them to fester.
And no this isn’t just a USA problem. In Asian and European countries, these same fucks and their enablers (grifters, and politicians that are playing with fire) are present.
It get’s even more terrifying, they aren’t going away. These people are amongst us, and they were really close to causing a civil war in the world’s strongest military power! Let that sink in for a second… a civil war or a coup… in the world strongest military power. The ramifications are insane. People need to be held accountable, especially the enabling politicians.
PS: sorry for my late replies, I’ll also get back into the gaming section. Just was really busy in RL and a bit stuck in Yakuza games hehe.