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this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2024
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the_dunk_tank
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It's the dunk tank.
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The key is, unfortunately, unless you have state power on your side to do a mass re-education effort (you don't, and won't) you're left with relying on individuals wanting to change on their own. The classic "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink." Well, you can make it drink... but, since we lack that power, we're left with just putting its face into the water and saying "drink! Drink for god's sake!"
Similar to addictions, until a person has a spark inside of them and desires to change their habits and thinking, basically nothing else from the outside will matter. You can bombard them with stuff like images of black, cancerous lungs and they'll shrug it off. Literally none of it matters until some internal switch happens. (Speaking as an ex-smoker. Nothing mattered from my friends/family telling me to quit. It just annoyed me more. Until I wanted to quit, really wanted to at a deep level, then it mattered what they were saying)
Anyway, all we can really do in the current circumstances is keep sprinkling propaganda or resources out there. Push back on possible weak points in their internal logic. But ultimately you also gotta accept many people will never change on their own or with your pushing. They have no real reason to change. They'll say stuff like "the orange man is fascist!" yet when you say "ok. Then why don't dems like Biden do something about him?" they get mad at you for suggesting an actual solution to the problem that they claim to recognize. They're addicted to liberalism I guess is my best analogy here. Liberalism, neoliberalism, whatever, it's all self delusion, worship of these mythical institutions and a belief that owning Donald Trump in court or in a debate matters. It doesn't. Also, the actual actual solutions, addressing the underlying fundamental issues that fuel fascism (improving material conditions and eliminating the 24/7 bullshit spewing machine of liberal media including the news but also all the other media we consume) is quite literally antithetical to their chosen worldview. And when you suggest that their worldview sucks shit they often, again, get mad at you for pointing out the truth. Because they're addicted to a lie, they've internalized it, and they aren't anywhere near ready to quit huffing that liberal bullshit
If this sounds bleak that's because it is. Doesn't mean we should stop, but, yeah.
Well yeah, agreed, but thats why I suggested that maybe they will realize something, not that we can pounce on this to force them to. Incidents like this that force them to face contradictions can in my mind be the spark that makes them want to change.