this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2023
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I disagree. A lot of people are getting caught up in the MAGA cult that are just looking for a team that speaks to their ideals (generally more conservative). Calling them dumb by choice and not trying to understand their underlying reasons for subscribing to this particular ideology is really harmful at a societal level.
I saw some very distressing things leading up to the 2016 election. In CANADA, I saw a bleeding heart leftist become a MAGA cultist, and I still don't understand what happened. I know other people whose families were torn apart over this. In frigging CANADA.
I know this sounds a bit out there but I actually suspect some new psyops technology was deployed against the public in the mid 2010s. Could be something as small as a nation state comprehensively assessing and very slightly moving ahead their understanding of the psychology of advertising or social media. Could be as large as a dark AI technology the public does not know about. I think the public are being intentionally psychologically destabilized by people who benefit when the public acts more randomly. But when you step back from it, it doesn't really require a conspiracy or intention. These systems have a habit of arising naturally under the exploitation of people by capital and in times of growing fear and fascism.
I live in rural Pennsylvania, which is a very red area. There are hundreds of people I interact with on a daily basis in my local community that are MAGA supporters, and yet are totally normal individuals who happen to have conversative views, so they joined the cult that matches their ideology.
How are we supposed to heal as a nation if we blanket statement say "MAGAs are idiots"? Are some psychopaths being duped in to trump thumping? Sure. But to lump them all in to this crazies category is dangerous, immature, and is low rung political discussion that plagues Reddit and I think Lemmy should be better than that.
Apparently I have wildly failed to express myself. I did not call anyone an idiot and I don't think leftists swing MAGA because of idiocy. I did not dismiss anyone as crazy and I would not use such ableist language. But there are clear signs that the mental health of everyone has been suffering. People are not doing well across many indicators. It is striking. You might disagree with me what the reasons that it is happening are, you might not be willing to blame fascism and bad actors intentionally manipulating us, but I doubt you deny it is happening..?
Like, do you think trans hate is an expression of a healthy psychology?