The “average” American, much like the average human, is driven by “feels” rather than facts.
They will rail against “socialized medicine” because they live paycheck to paycheck, don’t manage their finances in any meaningful way, and have no idea how much their healthcare is actually costing them. Spoiler: it’s A LOT.
They will demonize immigrants because it’s easier to blame random brown people for “stealing our jobs” than it is to hold giant corporations accountable for closing the plant and moving jobs somewhere cheaper.
They will gladly feed women’s rights into a wood chipper over the idea of “saving babies”, until that baby starts to make demands (on day one of it’s life). Then it’s an “entitled taker.”
They will brag about America being the “greatest country in the world” and in the same breath, complain that we need to “make America great again”, while completely missing the irony.
They will happily drink up as much propaganda as possible because it gives them someone to blame for their problems and allows them to believe that constant manufactured outrage is a solution, even though it’s really just a distraction.
They spent so much of their time believing and repeating the lie that the United States is comprised of “rugged individuals” and that if things have gone poorly for you, that is somehow entirely and unquestionably your own fault.
Upon finding that things have gone poorly for them, they can’t reconcile this incorrect belief with the fact thar they didn’t necessarily do anything wrong. This is incredibly and understandably demoralizing.
I’m painting with a broad brush here. Not every American thinks this way but a lot of them do. I don’t really know what it’s going to take to get us back on the right path but I think a good place to start is by taking notes from John Donne, the English preacher and poet who wrote, “No man is an island entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent. A part of the main.”
I don’t and will never sympathize with Nazis and fascists. I do understand some of the things they’re frustrated about. The only way forward is for them to accept that in order for things to get better, it has to get better for all of us. Shooting holes in the someone else’s corner of the ship only makes their corner sink a little faster than yours. I just hope they figure that out before we’re all completely under water.
The “average” American, much like the average human, is driven by “feels” rather than facts.
They will rail against “socialized medicine” because they live paycheck to paycheck, don’t manage their finances in any meaningful way, and have no idea how much their healthcare is actually costing them. Spoiler: it’s A LOT.
They will demonize immigrants because it’s easier to blame random brown people for “stealing our jobs” than it is to hold giant corporations accountable for closing the plant and moving jobs somewhere cheaper.
They will gladly feed women’s rights into a wood chipper over the idea of “saving babies”, until that baby starts to make demands (on day one of it’s life). Then it’s an “entitled taker.”
They will brag about America being the “greatest country in the world” and in the same breath, complain that we need to “make America great again”, while completely missing the irony.
They will happily drink up as much propaganda as possible because it gives them someone to blame for their problems and allows them to believe that constant manufactured outrage is a solution, even though it’s really just a distraction.
They spent so much of their time believing and repeating the lie that the United States is comprised of “rugged individuals” and that if things have gone poorly for you, that is somehow entirely and unquestionably your own fault. Upon finding that things have gone poorly for them, they can’t reconcile this incorrect belief with the fact thar they didn’t necessarily do anything wrong. This is incredibly and understandably demoralizing.
I’m painting with a broad brush here. Not every American thinks this way but a lot of them do. I don’t really know what it’s going to take to get us back on the right path but I think a good place to start is by taking notes from John Donne, the English preacher and poet who wrote, “No man is an island entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent. A part of the main.”
I don’t and will never sympathize with Nazis and fascists. I do understand some of the things they’re frustrated about. The only way forward is for them to accept that in order for things to get better, it has to get better for all of us. Shooting holes in the someone else’s corner of the ship only makes their corner sink a little faster than yours. I just hope they figure that out before we’re all completely under water.
You described MAGAts not Americans.