Thread by @sunnshiiny

@ethniccanuck Yes it will.

As I witness the vicious dehumanization occurring in Ukraine, by Ukrainians towards Russians, the tone of rhetoric is only slightly more toxic than what you find here in Canada. Several conservative politicians & many supporters walk a dangerous line.

@ethniccanuck The dehumanization witnessed for this war is disturbing. But it’s also a rational adaptation to the current situation.

Fight or flight kicks in when we are under existential threat. A paradigm shift occurs to permit individuals to defend themselves & their loved ones.

@ethniccanuck No longer does our mental frame include all human beings as deserving of respect and compassion. It changes to reject those that are causing the threat. That shift must occur to use deadly force. To allow reasonable compassionate people to kill ‘othered’ human beings.

@ethniccanuck “War is hell” is a popular phrase used to warn human beings from using violence to resolve conflict.

Because it requires one to shut off their humanity to defend their life, their family & friends or their nation.

That’s why it’s hell. Because we lose our humanity.

@ethniccanuck What is disturbing to the point of dismay, is the American & Canadian far right’s promotion of the suppression of their humanity and negation of respect for life when they are in conflict with people who hold dissenting ideology.

@ethniccanuck Certainly moderates, centrists, liberals and socialists don’t mean to be an existential threat to the far right. They mean to be an existential threat to the far right’s ideology.

@ethniccanuck Identity politics exacerbates this notion of severe persecution the far right seems to experience when their libertarian beliefs and values are rejected. They consider themselves the personification of their ideology, not merely in favour of the beliefs.

@ethniccanuck If you examine the rhetoric Putin has been using, it is the same rationale used by the far right in US & Canada. To believe Ukraine is an independent nation threatens his identity as a Russian Orthodox Catholic Czar who derives his worth from the validation of that identity.

@ethniccanuck Putin has voiced his belief that Russia was destroyed by democracy. The collapse of the Soviet Union destroyed Russia’s power and influence in geopolitics. Putin’s preferred governance model is absolute monarch. He’s attempting to restore that power.

@ethniccanuck Now examine the stated rhetoric & beliefs of the far right in North America. The ambition is very similar. To restore power dynamics of a past era. But rather than monarchy, North American far right prefers an aristocratic authoritarian system. An Oligarchy.

@ethniccanuck We are on the very same path that Putin has steered Russia towards. Authoritarian dictatorship, where the white, wealthy male is the top of the hierarchy and all others know their place.

Which is why the dehumanization of liberals and socialists is so diabolical.

@ethniccanuck The far right intends to initiate civil war & extinguish any resistance to their dominance. Continued repetition of toxic rhetoric chips away at the mental frames that keep people from using violence to resolve conflict. It’s a matter of time before the tipping point is reached.

@ethniccanuck As right libertarian politicians repeat that the left is an existential threat to the identity and religious freedom the far right now believes they have every right to possess, the level of danger increases.

Thing is, reality is the existential threat. Climate change is real.

@ethniccanuck Continued use of Fossil Fuels at current or increased levels will ensure global extinction of all life, not just human beings.

That leaves only two possibilities. The far right is attempting to end human existence, or kill off enough of the human race to drastically reduce GHG.

@ethniccanuck The existential threat is the far right. Putin is merely one spoke in a giant wheel of far right proponents.

The war in Ukraine is a war for the left’s right to life, self determination and the existence of democracy.

Putin will destroy Ukraine’s spirit or die trying.

@ethniccanuck But there are several others who have the same ambitions. In Canada, the US, in Europe, and all other democracies. Supported by global super wealthy elites who have financed the last 40 years’ long game end goals.

They are ruthless and diabolical. And they have the upper hand.

@ethniccanuck Until the majority of people acknowledge this plan, & recognize the incremental steps the far right is making to begin WW3 & a purge of liberalism & socialism to ensure the global destruction of democracy, we are at a disadvantage.

It’s what I’ve been warning about for 5 years.

@ethniccanuck @threadreaderapp please compile