this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2023
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Politics
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I honestly don't know if I buy the "Republicans are all stoopid" argument entirely; there are plenty of relatively intelligent people that have supported him.
More than a lack of intelligence, I think it's more a radical lack of any empathy or concern for anyone they don't see as being on their same side. I mean, the Republican platform is essentially nothing more than "Own the Libs" at this point. It's not so much that they don't necessarily know the consequences of their actions; they don't care, and would rather prioritize hurting their enemies.
Having much of my family being republican, I think you are leaving out an important piece of the puzzle - fear.
Republicans are terrified all the time. Fear of the other, fear that how they grew up and the people they know are being called wrong for what they think and say. It manifests through anger.
If they can knock you down then you are weak and wrong and they are justified in doing it.
I can second this. Every time my parents have expressed a political view, it came from some shock-news spin of how America was a murderous wasteland on the brink of disaster (not because there are more guns than people, but because of all the non-white people who live here).
When I told my parents I was going to New Orleans for a weekend vacation, they were terrified I would get murdered because they had been barraged with news about it being a lawless Democrat-run warren. (Not to downplay the actual violence that has taken place in NO, but their response still made it clear they had seen some first-class fearmongering).
Oh for sure. There are people who literally think Portland was physically destroyed by Democrats and antifa in the summer of 2020, and that it's now a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Hmmm...interestinf point...is there a way to break down this deeply-embeeded fear?
I would classify someone who hurts themselves to hurt others as stupid.