This is one sample visit to the conservative subreddit. It's an appalling example of the impact of disinformation. When you need to be reminded of who the enemy is and what they think, visit here. You will see that there is no gratitude or mutual respect, and there never was. There was never any concept of mutual benefit. And now, with Trump leading the cult, there truly is no depth to which they won't go, and no decisions from Trump that won't be retroactively justified.
These people are dangerous, and they don't give a shit about any alliances, friendship or partnership. And they control the levers of power.
Edit to add a screenshot. Not sure how to add more, but it doesn't get any better as you go deeper. What's clear is that this relationship is over, and we need to move on.
James O'Brien isn't my favourite talking head, but I do like his idea of having contempt for the conmen and compassion for the conned. These people have swallowed a lot of big lies and the fault is with the liars.
These people are adults and are responsible for their beliefs and actions.
If they were truely conned sure. But most of these guys just thought the pain would be placed on others, not them. They're fine woth others suffering, but the tears start to flow when they experience anything negative at all.
To some degree, sure. But these are adults with the capability and responsibility to think for themselves. Itโs one thing to punch down on someone repeatedly for a mistake or being fooled, and yes, the majority of the fault lies with the deceiver, but these people arenโt stupid either. Trump and the rest of the Republican ilk made it clear what theyโre about, and their actions speak louder than their rhetoric. If folks are foolish enough to believe him over and over again, the problem is just as much them as it is him.
The con they got suckered into is American Exceptionalism, and it's not Trumppy that suckered them. He's a victim of the same brainrot.
These guys are reveling in it, and I have no sympathy for those that choose "we're just better than everyone else" as part of their core identity.
I agree that someone conned deserves compassion. You got tricked into sending someone money? Im sorry, even if it was dumb of you, im angry at the scammer.
But when you get scammed and the person who scammed you says theyre using your money for atrocious hateful acts, say making someones existence illegal, and you double down and say "well actually theyre right let me send more money, " you do not have any sympathy from me.
Nono, let these morons suffer their consequences. I hope they don't mind learning Russian because they're going to need it to communicate with their new masters.
You're 100% entitled (and right) to feel that way. But there are a lot of lies these people have been fed, often from birth, about for example white supremacy etc. that only education can really erase. Education is withheld by the same liars that profit from the hatred they whip up.
Now I'm not advocating for the softly, softly approach with them, I'm all for punching Nazis, and it's ultimately up to the individual what to believe. But these drones aren't the right target, it's the monsters that made them that way and hide behind them, the people in power advocating for e.g. religion and ethnonationalism to increase their power and profits. They are the root cause. And their first victims are these ignorant sheep forming a human shield around them. If I were to explain how much contempt I have for those people this would be a massive text wall that probably breaks Lemmy TOS.
I get what you are saying, I do. But just allowing everyone to quietly go back to their lives after doing monstrous things is the reason we are here in the first place. After the first civil war, the south was treated with kid gloves as far as the enemy combatants were concerned and there was very little reconstruction. This was a breeding ground of hate and resentment. None of the issues were resolved in any way. This is essentially the same civil war.
Agreed. If America really wants to free itself of toxic bigotry and such an easily exploitable weakness, it needs to detoxify conservative ideology by targeting MAGA and far right voices that benefit Russia.