Thread by @FreedomFriesInc

Thread: Yet another maga self-own

A tiny UK right wing podcast interviewed self-appointed "public intellectual" Sam Harris and maga completely misunderstood his comments and are unknowingly promoting the evidence of their childlike misunderstanding.

And I'm here for it.😁

https://twitter.com/triggerpod/status/1560298774433513476

Their downfall so often is that they don't understand the meaning of words like "conspiracy" and they don't stop to consider which of several word meanings is being used.

The word itself triggers them.😆

When Sam Harris said there was a "conspiracy" to deny T**** a second term he meant (obviously, to me) that the Democratic party and people like #RepublicansForBiden and #IndiesForBiden *openly* conspired/collaborated with each other to lawfully achieve their goal. That's all.

Like me and, evidently, millions of American voters, Sam Harris came to understand that T**** (and those who STILL support, enable, or condone him and his lawless actions and omissions) is dangerous for the country and the world, and must be stopped.

(That work continues, btw.)

The members of #Cult45 are brainwashed af.

At first, when I re-entered reality in early Jan 2021, I bristled at the notion that I had been brainwashed. Over several months I gradually realized my error and started publicly admitting it. The still-brainwashed fear that process.

The Cult 45 brainwashing leads them to misunderstand basic terms like "conspiracy," in the context of the sentences in which those terms appear.

That's a skill I was taught, and learned, in high school and university: To stop and check whether you understand the words.

Most of my Pol Sci degree involved writing essays of around 2,000 words. What's the first thing a lecturer or professor tells you to do?

"Understand the question."

Many of the brainwashed are college graduates or others who have demonstrated skill in some way.

However:

You can have above average IQ, even very above average IQ, and still fall into a carefully laid trap like denying the clear facts about a political movement that increasingly behaves like that of the German Nazi party in the 20s and early 30s. And no, Hitler was not a socialist.

I could talk all day and into the night about all the little ways the Cult 45 brainwashing system is deployed, and why otherwise intelligent people still fall for it.

This is just a quick thread to highlight the cult's drama du jour, the Sam Harris comments.

Maga folk are so desperate to have their biases confirmed that they interpreted his comments as confirming there was an unlawful conspiracy, ie that the 2020 election was "stolen" from their Dear Leader.

Confirmation bias is part of human nature. We are all at risk of it...

Indeed, confirmation bias and other cognitive errors are hardwired into the human brain, because they have helped us survive and successfully reproduce, over millennia.

There should be no shame in admitting a mistake that is inherent in human nature. But for many, there is.

I have zero tolerance for the cult 45 "thought leaders" who knowingly entrap millions of people into believing that 2+2=5.

I have developed empathy & concern for many of their targets, though. The ones who truly don't realize their mistake (yet), & were cognitively vulnerable.

We all know those folk. They are our parent, uncle, aunt, sibling, niece, nephew. Our lifelong friend who won't speak to us anymore. Our co-worker that we have to tiptoe around, lest the conversation turn to politics.

Calling them Nazis doesn't help. They follow Nazis, though.

I'm not advocating for lenient treatment of Nazis & their followers. That's how we got here. How things got this deadly & existentially threatening for the USA & other countries.

I'm advocating for seeing them for who they are, & acting accordingly (within the law of course!)

Figure out what your role is. My top priority is the immediate and short term health and safety of myself and those closest to me. Long term we benefit from a healthy democracy, of course. The extremely challenging work of bringing 45 to justice is largely the job of the US DOJ.

I am extremely heartened by the near-impossible work the DOJ and others are doing, and that partially become public knowledge this month.

There will be things we can do, later on, to help the overall cause. For now, I am not worrying about it 24/7. That's exhausting.

I am working to focus as much as possible on my own life, while keeping up with developments, and enjoying the regular self-owns of maga public figures, as they try to keep their flock inside the brainwashed cult.

I guess you could call it conspiring.

👩‍🎓