Dear Resistance,
It's easy to call our opponents racist, because, well, it's clear.
However, stopping there may be akin to shooting ourselves in the foot because racism is a fruit of a larger tree and attacking the fruit alone, however accurate, will not change it. THREAD
It's easy to call our opponents racist, because, well, it's clear.
However, stopping there may be akin to shooting ourselves in the foot because racism is a fruit of a larger tree and attacking the fruit alone, however accurate, will not change it. THREAD
2. When we start to go deeper we see hatred, grievance, entitlement, feelings of emasculation, incompetence, unreal expectations, and failure... and if we go deeper still we'll find that the roots are usually wrapped firmly around a big ball of fear. psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mind-i…
3. This doesn't make the racism more palatable or the hatred less real but it does mean that if we want to change the outcome, even if it's only for the next generation, we have to find ways to address these fears & disappointments systemically and head on
4. Let's look at "White Extinction Anxiety" (and realize that anyone who feels it avidly supports Trump) summed up as: We must stop the "tide" of migrants before they destroy our freedoms, way of life, and entire civilization (& racial identity of course) nytimes.com/2018/06/24/opi…
5.This theory contains the idea that other countries have corruption, poverty & limited freedoms because they lack stable histories of justice (or because they are brown) and are now incapable of it. Therefore, if there are more of "them" here than "us" America will be destroyed
6. This pairs with the idea that Democrats will "bankrupt the country economically and morally with socialist giveaways and liberal ideals" and is a very old talking point on the right (which started getting pushed after "uneducated" blacks and "bleeding heart" women got to vote)
7. It's adherents believe they are "true patriots" defending the country they love. Labeling them racists doesn't move them, but showing them clearly the statistical and historical holes in their logic just might get through to a few of them.
8. Unfortunately. when an ideology boils down to fear, and identity, sometimes logic and statistics won't budge it. What can we do? It's an open question. Here is a study that showed that is possible to make conservatives more liberal with fear management washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-…
Oh dang... 😲just looked at this and only half of the thread loaded... and I've completely lost the second part and ending. Sorry guys, I guess I left the screen before it all fully loaded. Bummer... Can't fix it either, too much to do. 😕
