but it does virtually nothing to resolve underlying issues
The reaching out period is over. For a decade we’ve tried to get them to see reason. I’m not doing another decade. When someone won’t listen to reason, the only tool you have left in your toolbox is to cut them off to see if that’s enough of a punishment to get through to them. Being lonely and ostracized can be a catalyst for change.
solidarity is a more powerful tool than trying to find the true Scotsmen
There is no solidarity with those who support felons and rapists in order to harm others and refuse to listen to even their own family and friends. That’s just a simple fact.
It’s important to take things case by case. There are always going to be unconvincable supporters, you don’t have to waste time, mental energy and breath on them, I get that. But I think the fraction of people who voted for a rapist criminal liar because they like rape, crime and lying is small. Bigotry is more popular, yes, but I think that’s because blaming minorities is a clear and simple ‘solution’ to complex issues, and it makes it super easy for the wealth class to pit the bottom 98% against each other. Loneliness and ostracism are what primed many people in the latter half of the 2010s to be exploited by the right-wing online radicalization pipeline.
And beyond just Trump, if you take guilt by association too far and without injecting nuance, you risk letting the biggest bigots win because our prospective allies don’t have perfectly squeaky clean records.
sidenote
I’ve long noticed N. American right-wing groups will bring people on when they agree on one thing regardless of anything else, and kick them out only once they’ve outlived their usefulness in accomplishing that. N. American left-wing groups I’ve found kinda the opposite where one point of disagreement will be the first thing that gets talked about, slowing down overall action. Not all bad though, those groups end up more aligned, but smaller and less capable of mass action. I think the situation is improving overall.
The reaching out period is over. For a decade we’ve tried to get them to see reason. I’m not doing another decade. When someone won’t listen to reason, the only tool you have left in your toolbox is to cut them off to see if that’s enough of a punishment to get through to them. Being lonely and ostracized can be a catalyst for change.
There is no solidarity with those who support felons and rapists in order to harm others and refuse to listen to even their own family and friends. That’s just a simple fact.
It’s important to take things case by case. There are always going to be unconvincable supporters, you don’t have to waste time, mental energy and breath on them, I get that. But I think the fraction of people who voted for a rapist criminal liar because they like rape, crime and lying is small. Bigotry is more popular, yes, but I think that’s because blaming minorities is a clear and simple ‘solution’ to complex issues, and it makes it super easy for the wealth class to pit the bottom 98% against each other. Loneliness and ostracism are what primed many people in the latter half of the 2010s to be exploited by the right-wing online radicalization pipeline.
And beyond just Trump, if you take guilt by association too far and without injecting nuance, you risk letting the biggest bigots win because our prospective allies don’t have perfectly squeaky clean records.
sidenote
I’ve long noticed N. American right-wing groups will bring people on when they agree on one thing regardless of anything else, and kick them out only once they’ve outlived their usefulness in accomplishing that. N. American left-wing groups I’ve found kinda the opposite where one point of disagreement will be the first thing that gets talked about, slowing down overall action. Not all bad though, those groups end up more aligned, but smaller and less capable of mass action. I think the situation is improving overall.