As I reflect today on one more year gone by, I realized that with a little age I have come to enjoy working through different perspectives. I did not remotely enjoy that effort in my young adulthood, but it’s starting to become interesting and even a little fun.
I joined this DKos community two months ago to gain a different political perspective. And today, I just wanted to offer something useful to whomever may find it useful. Because another thing I enjoy is feeling helpful in some way to someone.
What do I have to share? Just a few observations.
But first, I should introduce myself- hi, I’m Sport Mode, and I’m...well, I’m a...*choking on words* (*AHEM*)
I’m a reformed conservative. (face turns red)
It’s been a decade since I got off the conservative train wreck we are all witnessing. I’ve been on a been a long, slow march leftward since and I have more room to grow. The full story has to wait for another day. To quote the immortal Inigo Montoya, “Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.”
In a nutshell I realized the conservative machinery twisted principles into lies specifically to drive animosity and hatred. I confirmed it was an intentional pattern of deceit and subterfuge. And so I got the hell out of there. But that didn’t magically transform me into a liberal. Oh no, it’s not that easy and it doesn’t work that way.
Along the way I’ve sought different perspectives in the vein of the message from Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits: “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” Just as I’ve learned a lot here, below are a few things I can confirm or share if you didn’t know. Also, feel free to hit me up in comments if you have any burning questions or requests. I’m happy to help any way I can, this is the point of the diary here.
-Conservatives stopped listening to MSM content long ago; most I know cut it out completely. They live in a totally different information bubble. The younger ones I know listen to podcasts; middle age and older ones live in a fantasyland on Facebook/Meta where even nice middle-aged people I know post some real crazy stuff and pretty snarky memes. This feedback loop among similar individuals has caused the quality of discourse to spiral way down an abyss and it has been one of the biggest contributors to their extreme ideology and behavior being normalized.
-Demographics might provide a mild surprise. Many right-wingers in my neighborhood consist of blue-collar, salt-of-the-earth working folk, though not all. Decades back you might have placed some of these types in the Dem camp. Truck driver, ASE mechanic, city maintenance worker. There’s also a mortician, a restaurant industry white collar worker, and a patent attorney. Yes, they are all white males, but they span different economic classes and vary in schooling. Their female spouses (yep, all heteronormative couples) are somewhat split on political affiliation with them. I think this represents a possible inroad for Democrats, but many are anti-abortion so Dobbs may not be a panacea to get them (more luck with rallying the independents). I think there are other ways to reach them.
-Also, I live in one of the most culturally/ethnically diverse suburbs/cities in my not diverse state; it is not left-leaning as a whole, ergo there are a number of right-leaning minorities of many kinds in my area. These are primarily Hispanic but also Pacific Islander and many others. For most of them I’d define their beef as “intrusion.” They don’t like it so by default they pull the wrong voting lever not knowing the consequence of what they do. Naturally there are others that definitely fit the stereotype (white male, trucks rolling coal, etc.) and they’re getting more brazen and dangerous than ever before.
-I trace much of what we see today to conservatives’ distrust, especially of government. Obviously, this is not justified, though there are reasons they feel this way. Point is this sentiment has long been exploited by those holding the mouthpieces. What’s different is that they’re doing it so effectively that lately the audience is encouraged to distrust pretty much everyone except those mouthpieces. This disinformation campaign successfully takes a fringe idea, anti-vaxxing, into the mainstream and is adopted by a solid majority of their base. Do you see the pattern of exploitation I do?
-Regarding the above people I know, many are well and truly brainwashed. That’s not a word I use lightly, and they would think I’m crazy for using that word. But they have- they bought the line fed to them hook, line, and sinker. A mild case of this would be the fairly intelligent right-wing female neighbor of ours who believes in science (patent attorney’s wife) who declared to us a long while before Omicron, “masks don’t work anyways.” There are worse examples, but hopefully it illustrates how even rational people who could work through something don’t. It’s not always a brain cells issue, it’s more like a glitch in the Matrix. Know what I mean? Something’s gone haywire and you can’t reel them back to reality. I am so very concerned by this development because of not just what is believed but also who the machinery has captured in their web.
-Some stay out of the news completely and stay closed minded. Ignorant, in other words, sometimes willfully so. One guy I spoke with literally thought COVID was spread by bodily fluids and that people in their 30s were most at risk. It’s not by being conspiratorial, he literally told me he turned everything off/tuned it out. Is this ignorant guy uneducated? Well, he’s the ASE-certified mechanic.
-The people I reference above are decent human beings in the sense that they help neighbors with moving, cutting trees, doing neighborly stuff. But... something simple like wearing a damn mask for others? Nope! I sure as hell see the conflict, especially because they are religious, and you know that thing about caring for your neighbor………. but they don’t see it. It comes down to personal choice for them- they think forced choice is no choice at all- and I would love to argue with them about it. The problem is most are too brainwashed for it to make a difference: pair distrust with “freedom of choice” and they’re beyond reach. This doesn’t mean I will give up completely. Maybe at some point I will have the right opportunity and tools to spark something in them.
-To really get to people like this, you have to have 1) the right situation/moment, 2) the right point to make, as well as 3) solid delivery of that point (has to be speaking their language). All three have got to be in line or it’s just not going to work, and even then, it’s still no guarantee. I think it’s worth trying, because it’s the best we can do to try get more lost voters to see the light.
Well, it’s admittedly a little intimidating tossing all this out there not knowing how this will be received, but what the hell. Again, I hope this helps someone. Feel free to enrich this further down below, would love to hear your thoughts.