A reckoning for those who still believe in truth but feel abandoned by a system that rewards lies, fear, and tribal loyalty, this is not just about Trump.
I feel like we're dancing around one possible answer when I see it said that: "System justification theory explains this: many people find comfort in believing the system is fair, even when it fails them."
I think that's missing one point: "- if they believe in the system".
You can, after all, choose which system to believe in. The question is, why? Why this or that one? And can any holes be poked in your choice to draw you back from your unquestioning loyalty? And if so, which ones?
I mean, we *all* want to find comfort in the idea that the system is fair. I know I do. And making it fair is sort of the entire point of a true democracy, so yay, we all have something in common, if both sides can at least agree upon *that*.
I tend to vacillate between two states these days: absolute, total hatred for the monolith that is "the other side" (MAGA, conservatives, right-wingers, the GOP) and days where I feel like that monolith, like it or not, is made up of diverse human beings, some of whom can be reached, whose minds are not shut, who might be open to tossing around some ideas.
And that's the beginning of the end: having one conversation at a time with one person at a time, until network effects finally overwhelm the current state of affairs.
How to advance this on an individual level into say, a mass movement of simple persuasion that spreads across networks eludes me atm, but until there's some other sort of tipping point (and especially after, once there is) it's what we've got.
Looking at the other er side as the enemy is sort of just taking their own feelings and flipping them around. It doesn't solve anything, nor is it satisfying when it just devolves into things like depression and dread because we see the problems, the dangers, the likely outcomes of all of this. They don't, or they don't care.
They've basically been told not to, to trust the system and in the process (though the only real process at work here is constant, pointless, chaotic destruction, they erroneously read more into it than say, empowering and enriching the already too rich and powerful, which is the whole entire end game).
So something has to make them see it for what it really is and to start to care, like helping them to see things differently, or else it can happen through disastrous consequences too terrible to ignore or justify using their usual ritualized blame games and excuses, as it's the only other way to chip away at this madness.
The problem with the latter route to their minds is they're well-known for going, "Well, at least the libs/Blacks/browns/other outgroups of mine have got it just as bad or worse" so even through ridiculous amounts of suffering the programming remains in effect: on one side, their leaders are telling them these "sacrifices" have to made for the greater good of all - total line of bs, btw - and on the other, they're taught to see people not like them as lesser and to rejoice in their suffering, so to break out of their rightwing-imposed mold just because life has blown up in your face is not always as reliable a way to get them thinking differently as it might sound.
To say fine, let's just rejoice in *their* suffering as all the shit hits the fan might be temporarily satisfying but does nothing to fix the situation, and I want this national nightmare to end, not just brief, bitter moments of grim satisfaction pulled from the metaphorical rubble we'll all be buried under together.
Jaded, disillusioned, disappointed, gaslit, burned out, at times anxious. That’s how I felt the day after elections and still feel today. The results were not something completely unexpected. Trump knows how to use his incoherent speech to talk to the human psyche and bring out all the greed, misogyny, racism, individualism, religious fanaticism, apathy, superiority complex that pervades this country.
The blindfold came off in 2016 and has been off since then. And it is not just the uneducated or people with a 4th grade level thinking process who follow and support him. That’s one of the mistakes we as a society have made, to think his cult is made up of poor uneducated people. Life goes on.
Or just simple domestic violence on a large scale. We need domestic violence workers out supporting us, teaching us. Some of us have lived through this in our lives…I see and feel no difference. The courts lol just like a restraining order just makes him feel stronger. There is a way out so many have survived in our personal lives. The protest…in my beleif gives strength to those who need to know they are not alone but to the 47 cult and the gop it shows it is safe to get out…we can and are provide safety to those who want another way
I agree with most of this, but I don’t think many nonvoters were motivated by disagreement with Israel’s genocide-even if I might like to think that. They didn’t like either major party candidate and felt like the system wouldn’t work for them either way. Or if they understood the electoral college their votes wouldn’t matter in most states. And many people have a very limited understanding of what the federal government does
This is brilliant. I feel seen and heard. Thank you!
I feel like we're dancing around one possible answer when I see it said that: "System justification theory explains this: many people find comfort in believing the system is fair, even when it fails them."
I think that's missing one point: "- if they believe in the system".
You can, after all, choose which system to believe in. The question is, why? Why this or that one? And can any holes be poked in your choice to draw you back from your unquestioning loyalty? And if so, which ones?
I mean, we *all* want to find comfort in the idea that the system is fair. I know I do. And making it fair is sort of the entire point of a true democracy, so yay, we all have something in common, if both sides can at least agree upon *that*.
I tend to vacillate between two states these days: absolute, total hatred for the monolith that is "the other side" (MAGA, conservatives, right-wingers, the GOP) and days where I feel like that monolith, like it or not, is made up of diverse human beings, some of whom can be reached, whose minds are not shut, who might be open to tossing around some ideas.
And that's the beginning of the end: having one conversation at a time with one person at a time, until network effects finally overwhelm the current state of affairs.
How to advance this on an individual level into say, a mass movement of simple persuasion that spreads across networks eludes me atm, but until there's some other sort of tipping point (and especially after, once there is) it's what we've got.
Looking at the other er side as the enemy is sort of just taking their own feelings and flipping them around. It doesn't solve anything, nor is it satisfying when it just devolves into things like depression and dread because we see the problems, the dangers, the likely outcomes of all of this. They don't, or they don't care.
They've basically been told not to, to trust the system and in the process (though the only real process at work here is constant, pointless, chaotic destruction, they erroneously read more into it than say, empowering and enriching the already too rich and powerful, which is the whole entire end game).
So something has to make them see it for what it really is and to start to care, like helping them to see things differently, or else it can happen through disastrous consequences too terrible to ignore or justify using their usual ritualized blame games and excuses, as it's the only other way to chip away at this madness.
The problem with the latter route to their minds is they're well-known for going, "Well, at least the libs/Blacks/browns/other outgroups of mine have got it just as bad or worse" so even through ridiculous amounts of suffering the programming remains in effect: on one side, their leaders are telling them these "sacrifices" have to made for the greater good of all - total line of bs, btw - and on the other, they're taught to see people not like them as lesser and to rejoice in their suffering, so to break out of their rightwing-imposed mold just because life has blown up in your face is not always as reliable a way to get them thinking differently as it might sound.
To say fine, let's just rejoice in *their* suffering as all the shit hits the fan might be temporarily satisfying but does nothing to fix the situation, and I want this national nightmare to end, not just brief, bitter moments of grim satisfaction pulled from the metaphorical rubble we'll all be buried under together.
Like Baghdad Bob, Karoline Leavitt will never let the truth interfere with the lies.
Fascinating. Authoritarianism is cultism plus an army.
Very insightful. Thank you!
FYI, there are a few repeated paragraphs in section VI
How many fingers, WINSTON????????
"When economies fail, pandemics rage, and democracy teeters, what does the authoritarian right do? They find someone weaker to blame."
~ So true. Seems the 'blame-game' is always in play today...
Jaded, disillusioned, disappointed, gaslit, burned out, at times anxious. That’s how I felt the day after elections and still feel today. The results were not something completely unexpected. Trump knows how to use his incoherent speech to talk to the human psyche and bring out all the greed, misogyny, racism, individualism, religious fanaticism, apathy, superiority complex that pervades this country.
The blindfold came off in 2016 and has been off since then. And it is not just the uneducated or people with a 4th grade level thinking process who follow and support him. That’s one of the mistakes we as a society have made, to think his cult is made up of poor uneducated people. Life goes on.
Ignore maga. The are nazi attention whores and liars.
Or just simple domestic violence on a large scale. We need domestic violence workers out supporting us, teaching us. Some of us have lived through this in our lives…I see and feel no difference. The courts lol just like a restraining order just makes him feel stronger. There is a way out so many have survived in our personal lives. The protest…in my beleif gives strength to those who need to know they are not alone but to the 47 cult and the gop it shows it is safe to get out…we can and are provide safety to those who want another way
https://substack.com/@katekav/note/p-162777875?r=1pi3e&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
I agree with most of this, but I don’t think many nonvoters were motivated by disagreement with Israel’s genocide-even if I might like to think that. They didn’t like either major party candidate and felt like the system wouldn’t work for them either way. Or if they understood the electoral college their votes wouldn’t matter in most states. And many people have a very limited understanding of what the federal government does
“That’s not pessimism. That’s empathy refusing to be numbed.”
Reading these two sentences was cathartic.
Thank you.
Thank you for this
I agree this is brilliant and so well written and I too feel heard and seen, thank you
Spreading AI art is Poor Character.