A lot of people are racist, hateful, bigoted, and these figureheads give them permission to be their worst selves. That's really the long and the short of it.
Everyone is always afraid to say why people like Trump or Marie Le Pen have some level of popularity and it’s just that there’s a lot of people in the world who believe in racism. You end up with these goofy ass explanations for Trump where it’s NAFTA or shit and it’s like no you know what it is
Now. Knowing that— admitting it and accepting it: Will you stop making excuses for them, stop looking for the "rational" reason? And just do what it takes to make sure that these people and their hateful bigoted values don't succeed?
…And yes I do believe that people can change their values and behaviour; such a change is ALWAYS possible, right up until the moment someone can't intentionally change anything about themselves ever again.
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…And no, not everyone doing it knows that they're doing it. But being bound up within the systems of white supremacy and other bigotries can very easily lead those who profit from those systems, even unawares, to violently defend those systems.
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…And so what that means is that we have to Keep Fighting against the harm these people do— whether they do it intentionally or unintentionally— EVEN WHILE we hope and maybe even work toward their change.
They often have a lot of benefit to themselves to defend. These systems tend to work out their own defenses.
And if the system of harm I'm contributing to is normal and the status quo and I'm A Good Person, then what I'm doing can't actually be wrong.
That's seriously the only valid explanation.
People used to be shy about their bigotry out of fear of being seen as terrible people.
Folks like Trump or Le Pen basically gave them "permission" to be ABSOLUTELY LOATHSOME folks and to feel part of a movement of like minded people guilt free.
Maybe I'm naive, plenty of white folk who aren't racist "in their hearts" don't know how racist the policies they support are.
The Southern Strategy didn't fool Northerners into thinking Southerners aren't racist - it fooled the Southerners's kids.
But I'm teachable about this if I'm wildly wrong.
Those aren't mutually exclusive things. Being bound up within the systems of white supremacy and other bigotries can very easily lead those who profit from those systems, even unawares, to violently defend those systems.
Imho most bigotries (obviously irrational) are mostly not rationally held beliefs but dispositions operating unconsciously. See: wildly racist people insisting they are not racist.
1) "Willfully ignorant" is right there and less ableist, and 2) yeah a lot of people are willfully ignorant and mean about it; but a lot more people aren't, but are tired and scared and need to be shown that they can Do something about the ones who are. So let's do that.
Most Americans (by a huge preponderance) are dysfunctional and yearn for bullying leaders to tell them what to believe and who to hate and that is Trump
As close a thing to "rational" as they come is that they believe that a racial hierarchy is a good thing, what's gone wrong in their culture is that too many of the "Wrong" people are getting things they don't deserve, and the way to fix it is to be awful to them
We do not want to encourage this
Nope that's the opposite of what i said. Name it. Highlight it. Call it out and undo it. Names have power and the naming of a thing gives you the power to confront it.
The best way to stop racism on Reddit was to painstakingly document the harms it caused and then when the CEO & Chairman said “Black Lives Matter”, hold them to it.
If not talked about & dealt with, you get r/the_donald and President Donald Trump
Yeah, pretty sure "just pretend it's not there" and "ignore bullies" is what's gotten us in this current mess of racists and bullies thinking they have free reign to be their worst selves.
Racist shit has to be called out, shamed, and fought against.
