if you won't understand why conservatives are conservative, you can't understand why you are a leftist.
can you really know what you're for if you don't understand what you're against? can you strike your foe true when you willingly wear a blindfold? to blindly thrust in the dark is to waste effort or worse, harm a comrade. you are only here in these circles to hang out and chill and feel superior to those dopes and hicks and florida men who voted """the cheeto""" into office. you are not here to put your shoulder to the wheel, and we can all tell. this is why Orange Man Bad is a meme to both sides. you are just as human as they are and their convictions hold no less power than yours. half of the country was not duped, they are not idiots, they just want something different than you. learn that.
it's not just about ignorance. it's about treatin people right. it's about being effective in affecting positive change. "know thyself, know thy enemy. a thousand battles, a thousand victories!"
All right hold up
half of the country was not duped, they are not idiots, they just want something different than you.
First of all, yes, they were duped. They recognize, same as us, that there's something fundamentally broken about our society. But they don't recognize the cause. This isn't because they're stupid. It's because they have been the targets of a constant barrage of pro-capitalist propaganda for their entire lives. But rather than face the fact that the system is rotten to the core, they believe the lies the ruling class feeds them and blame it on the scapegoat of the day. Why does the world suck? Why does my life feel meaningless? Why do I spend all my time and energy doing what I'm supposed to be doing, and I still can't reach the American Dream? Must be the fault of those gay commie immigrants!
This is not to say that your average Republican voter is blameless. For whatever reason, they have chosen to believe the messages of hate that their rulers have offered them. They have chosen to kick down at those more vulnerable than themselves, rather than face the root cause of their problems.
It's a moral failing. Because the "something different" that they want is to eliminate gay and transgender people. To force their religion onto the entire country and create a theocracy. To strip women and minorities of their rights. To impose their way of life on everyone else.
There is no equivalence. Fuck this "both sides" shit.
^^^
to be clear, for my part, i REALLY do not want to come off as defending rightists or doing bothsides shit or anything like that. conservatism IS a bad thing, it’s just a bad thing that happens for a reason, and we can’t address it without understanding those reasons and the people behind it
