Sounds like she's trying to create a tidy package package for the left and left-leaning who are still trying to "understand" those who would enthusiastically crush them, who wanted January 6th to be the beginning of a blood-shedding takeover of the country. And they haven't changed. Our only hope is the Delta variant they would voluntarily risk dying from rather than to admit the libs are right. I'm pro-choice on that matter, as well as the better-known one.
You write, "Truth is whatever Dear Leader says, not what your eyes and ears tell you. This “education” begins before birth and lasts a lifetime. As a consequence, there’s no such thing as independent thinking. There’s no such thing as freedom of choice."
Education is the underlying force. Put simply, reality is learned. What is good, what is right, and what one stands for and believes in. I encountered this type of thinking in Afghanistan from would-be suicide bombers who simply wanted the fast track to Heaven, with all its delights.
Think of that photo of the former president with all those religious "leaders" putting their hands on him. I never knew if they were imparting a blessing or drawing something mystical from contact with their Dear Leader. Regardless, consider what message that sent to all the Evangelicals across the land. (Personally, I thought it was the Old Testament in action and bordering on the worship of false gods.) It had to reinforce the idea that the president was the supreme leader of us all and anointed by God. Therefore, rallying with the former president could be seen as "Christian duty." I'm sure this type of thinking drove the insurrectionists on January sixth. That and simple nihilism.
Unfortunately, once one has matured to full adulthood, one's thinking, the way in which one sees the world, can become fossilized, so there's little chance of changing it. It's easily understandable. Personally, I don't see any cause for sympathy. Pity ... maybe.
What's important now is for those with a liberal mindset to make every effort to safeguard our Democracy, because it's truly up to us.
--And maybe make civics a requirement for ALL students no matter where they go to school.
Loneliness? The hot beds of Trumpist MAGA are groups; As you said, evangelical churches, but also veterans groups, militias, fringey political groups (Tea Party Patriots), motor cycle clubs, plus the on-line sites that provide a level of kinship for racists and a broad range of other hate filled people. No, I don't see the threat to American democracy coming from lonely people.
"Nothing causes authoritarianism. It has always been here. It always will be here." I'm not sure I understand what you mean. This sounds kind of like the Calvinist idea of people being fundamentally sinful and only being salvaged by God's grace. Except in this case authoritarianism is the original sin, and democracy is the grace. Seems like the way you formulate the issue in this piece kind of mimics the stark fatalism of the WEPs. I'm probably making a facile analogy, here, but this is what it seemed like to me. Could you expand on what you meant in this piece?
PGDWPGD (People Gonna Do What People Gonna Do), especially people who need telling what to do.
I am not a joiner, but I see joiners all 'round me, and despair...
Sounds like she's trying to create a tidy package package for the left and left-leaning who are still trying to "understand" those who would enthusiastically crush them, who wanted January 6th to be the beginning of a blood-shedding takeover of the country. And they haven't changed. Our only hope is the Delta variant they would voluntarily risk dying from rather than to admit the libs are right. I'm pro-choice on that matter, as well as the better-known one.
You write, "Truth is whatever Dear Leader says, not what your eyes and ears tell you. This “education” begins before birth and lasts a lifetime. As a consequence, there’s no such thing as independent thinking. There’s no such thing as freedom of choice."
Education is the underlying force. Put simply, reality is learned. What is good, what is right, and what one stands for and believes in. I encountered this type of thinking in Afghanistan from would-be suicide bombers who simply wanted the fast track to Heaven, with all its delights.
Think of that photo of the former president with all those religious "leaders" putting their hands on him. I never knew if they were imparting a blessing or drawing something mystical from contact with their Dear Leader. Regardless, consider what message that sent to all the Evangelicals across the land. (Personally, I thought it was the Old Testament in action and bordering on the worship of false gods.) It had to reinforce the idea that the president was the supreme leader of us all and anointed by God. Therefore, rallying with the former president could be seen as "Christian duty." I'm sure this type of thinking drove the insurrectionists on January sixth. That and simple nihilism.
Unfortunately, once one has matured to full adulthood, one's thinking, the way in which one sees the world, can become fossilized, so there's little chance of changing it. It's easily understandable. Personally, I don't see any cause for sympathy. Pity ... maybe.
What's important now is for those with a liberal mindset to make every effort to safeguard our Democracy, because it's truly up to us.
--And maybe make civics a requirement for ALL students no matter where they go to school.
Loneliness? The hot beds of Trumpist MAGA are groups; As you said, evangelical churches, but also veterans groups, militias, fringey political groups (Tea Party Patriots), motor cycle clubs, plus the on-line sites that provide a level of kinship for racists and a broad range of other hate filled people. No, I don't see the threat to American democracy coming from lonely people.
"Nothing causes authoritarianism. It has always been here. It always will be here." I'm not sure I understand what you mean. This sounds kind of like the Calvinist idea of people being fundamentally sinful and only being salvaged by God's grace. Except in this case authoritarianism is the original sin, and democracy is the grace. Seems like the way you formulate the issue in this piece kind of mimics the stark fatalism of the WEPs. I'm probably making a facile analogy, here, but this is what it seemed like to me. Could you expand on what you meant in this piece?