I appreciate your peaceful motivations. I am not interested in offending you and I recognize we have very different life experiences and perspectives on this.

We disagree on some points regarding fault or whether being "brainwashed" is a factor in how culpable a sadistic, narcissistic, blood-thirsty bigot should be held. But, at the end of the day, the enemy we are discussing very much wants both of us to die. No amount of patience or Socratic method or kindness can change that (in my opinion).

I think our main disagreement comes down to how to handle being the targets of a violent enemy that can't or won't stop hating us. After a lifetime of pacifism, I have come to my own realization that peace simply cannot solve this problem. I see the danger increasing daily and my alarms are just getting louder and louder. I view my own inaction as a dereliction of responsibility. But, that doesn't mean I expect you or any other victims of conservatism to be required to engage in violence.

I genuinely respect your preference for peace. I've held a similar position for the majority of my life. I really do wish I could still see things that way. And who knows? Maybe some poetic Deus ex Machina will descend from the heavens and make it all OK.

One thing I am confident about is that a conservative will never humanize us and will despise us until the day we (or they) die. Maybe you are right and brainwashing is to blame. Maybe the most culpable party is the media or the billionaires or Russia or all of them. In my opinion, the threat is still the conservative bigot, no matter who is to blame for creating that threat. I understand we disagree on this, and I respect your position.