this post was submitted on 10 Dec 2023
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What alternative is there to getting preachier? I don’t get in people’s faces, but I understand why people do it. For years, they’ve lightly suggested perhaps making things not terrible, and it’s let the far right get away with heinous shit.
Depends on context. If someone is saying "wow I hate all gays and hope they're put in extermination camps" then sure I'd speak up and tell them they're a piece of shit. If someone says "I think gays should have equal rights but personally I think it's wrong" then I'd shrug it off. I think there's a line between outright hatred and ignorance/cultural/religious-norms that people ignore too much. Qanon type people are too far gone, but the others I think could change, and immediately shutting them down as racists or homophobes doesn't help sway them.
What's the response if someone is making statements like "I think it's important for everyone to get in politics. For instance, I have listened to Mr. Dobadian many times and think he's an excellent candidate." and the first search result for this fictitious person is a speech where he declares; "ALL PEOPLE WITH BROWN EYES NEED TO DROWN IN MUD WATER."?
Shut down the latter person immediately as racist. But what about the first - the person advocating them? What's the right way of disrupting their beliefs without "belittling" them?
"Hey, I listened to that Mr. Dobadian and he sounds crazy. I think you should be careful about listening to him."
"I get that it sounds different for someone indoctrinated by media, but I do think you should give him a chance."
"No, I mean, he literally said that schoolchildren needed to be blown up."
"I don't see value in disingenuously misrepresenting my candidate. I think you're drawing your own extreme conclusions."
"Okay, you know what, screw you, you're just another racist."
"Wow! Immediate shutdown much? Your kind are so intolerant!"
Or, you could ignore these "secondary echos" of the extremist crazies - which is what lead to people in extremist positions spreading their message and getting elected.
So, which is it? Do you interface with them, and make your beliefs known, or not? Keep in mind, you literally won't have all the time in the world to dismantle the lack of logic behind every one of them.
I mean, this made up person definitely sounds difficult to deal with. But this is getting into qanon territory basically, and I don't think the vast majority of conservatives are like that. Plus I believe you can have open discussions and say "I disagree with that entirely" without adding "and you're a bigot" at the end. It's also easier in real life to tell if someone is genuinely hateful or their heart is in the right place but they're a bit of a moron.
My whole gripe with overly-progressives is that they'll completely write someone off as evil for not being progressive enough. It seems you're assuming I'd never speak up against genuine racism, when originally my point was "it's annoying when people tell you saying 'marijuana' or 'mailman' is racist and transphobic.
Man, you'd think so. Wouldn't ya? But I haven't heard that type of discourse in a long time. I know people who accuse anyone who doesn't agree with literally every point they make of being bigots. Just today I was talking with a friend who accused a person with a blended family of being a racist. I see the same thing every single day online. Go find some 10 year old Reddit posts about politics and read the comments, the tone and the communication is completely different than it is now. It's getting pretty bad out there.
Wow! Hateful, much?
I'm kidding there, but maybe you see my point. Just like myself, you've set only a small set of options. Either people are evil, or they're stupid, and no one likes being called either. It's not plausible to completely avoid either label.
The point about marijuana is unfortunately lost on me. If it's a reference to some extremist position, I'm afraid I don't necessarily follow.