His intellectual defenders make their case that the danger is overblown.

  • @OpenStars
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    175 months ago

    It is not. Conservatives are gaslighting you, and the media is trying to sell their clickbait. Possibly unpopular thought: at some point it becomes our own fault for choosing to engage? Like the big bad wolf asks “are you home right now?”, where even if you answer “no!” then you have still fallen for the trick? (i.e., of COURSE he would be a dictator, that’s not even a point, but why allow them to control the conversation to switch to the talking points that they choose, rather than driving our own points that we would rather be discussed, like what to do about school shootings or climate change and such?)

    Innuendo Studios has a fascinating whole entire video series called “The Alt-Right Playbook” if anyone wants to learn more about their limited variety of tactics, that are nonetheless extremely effective for those who do not recognize them.

      • @OpenStars
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        75 months ago

        IRK? It totally changed my method of responding to the world… I used to painstakingly attempt to respond unless it was extremely obvious that someone was 110% a troll, but now I know that even halfway reasonable people simply cannot be “reasoned” with, if they have an entirely different worldview than me. i.e., don’t give someone a list of 100 reasons to not allow Trump to win - they don’t care (after the 1st impeachment, and the 2nd impeachment, and January 6, and everything else), nor are they looking for facts and willing to change their minds. I would change my mind in a heartbeat if the facts pointed in a different direction, but they will not, b/c it is not “facts” that are causing them to support him, even if for some people that once was true.

        Ofc I still fall for the tricks, but like 90% less often now:-).

          • @OpenStars
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            5 months ago

            Hehe, what a fantastic story! It reminds me of The Cabin in the Woods, except that might have been nowhere near as successful (or… wasn’t it?), and others such as Addams Family and Bewitched that changed the course of television forever. I remember when I first watched Night of the Living Dead, multiple decades after it was released, and was just shocked - shocked I tell you, shocked! - that it broke the rules of always ensuring a happy ending. Somewhere along the way I also discovered anime e.g. Fullmetal Alchemist, which in some version or another (JP? EN sub or dub?) opened up with one of the very first scenes being the image of his dead mother crawling around after her corpse had been resurrected and everything was bloody from his limbs having been removed - but anyway: THAT’S NOT A CARTOON!?

            I love insightful works like that (edit: I mean the video that you linked + Innuendo Studios, not necessarily all of those above), which see so much farther than the rest of us that they are able to complete the circle and wrap back around and parody it for us to see it also from their POV:-). It’s outright infectious, b/c once you outgrow something by seeing The Truth, you can literally never go back to the way things were before.

            • BolexForSoup
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              15 months ago

              I’ve got nothing to add, fantastic points and examples. I just enjoy reading your comments haha you’ve got a very jovial tone

              • @OpenStars
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                25 months ago

                Well thank you also for your own comments - it is always nice to be appreciated, and I appreciate you.:-)