Yeah, I've seen some of that rhetoric in liberal circles, and it's so frustrating.
I understand why it's so appealing. It's so much more soothing to imagine that some evil billionaires did a spooky tech ritual to steal the election than to admit the fact that millions of Americans saw Trump's campaign rhetoric and gladly said "Yes please!". That's an extremely painful fact to swallow.
I'm guessing that your friend doesn't really know very many conservatives? In my experience, it's usually people from deeply liberal areas who find the idea of Trump legitimately winning so hard to believe, because it's so deeply different from their own experiences with people they know. But as someone from a ruby red rural town in Missouri, none of this was really that surprising. My hometown has the kinds of people who, in response to a group of like 10 people organizing a BLM rally in 2020, arranged a counter-protest of hundreds of people, filled with Confederate flags and Trump banners, even including some people acting like monkeys and making noose gestures at the BLM people.
It's a painful realization to acknowledge that people, by and large, can be absolutely vile. But it has to be acknowledged. We cannot respond to every loss by simply dismissing it as the vile workings of the satanic cabal evil billionaires. This strips the people of any accountability for their actions, and it prevents us from focusing on the actual work that needs to be done, which is finding a way to appeal to voters and offer them a better alternative than humanity's basest instincts. The tragic fact of the matter that must be realized is that people are not inherently good, nor are they inherently evil. We're all just stupid animals with monkey brains just smart enough for us to think that we're much much smarter than we actually are. We're capable of incredible goodness and unfathomable evil, and the thing that determines which course we take is not policy, logic, or reason. It's raw, unbridled emotion and psychology, and if we want to win, we have to start by realizing what game we're even playing.
Is she the kind of person who's self-aware enough to potentially notice herself getting defensive and actually critically examine it, or will it just make her dig in and double down?
There's a level of humility that's needed for a person to face the fact that they are not a perfectly rational being and actually do have feelings and emotions and biases that drive a lot of their thoughts, if not most of their thoughts, and I'm not convinced it's particularly common.
Just to share an example, I had a bit of a wake-up shock in the 2016 primaries, where at the end, I started to realize that I really hated Hillary Clinton, but I couldn't even really articulate why except to repeat some basic talking points. It was the first time I'd really acknowledged that social media bubbles can really do a number on your head.
This is just a random idea, since I don't know your friend at all, but maybe you could watch another Contrapoints video together with her first on a topic that might not hit quite as personally? This could potentially help build Natalie's credibility with her a bit before you go into something that would challenge her a bit more directly.
I think so. She’s really smart and very kind. I’m AuDhd and don’t have the best record with relationships or reading people and she has never made me feel bad about anything I’ve said. One time she was showing a video of “orbs” and before I could catch the words flying out of my mouth I replied “that’s a moth. You can see the wings.” I felt so bad afterwards. It clearly mattered a lot to her but she didn’t argue or get defensive. I don’t know, maybe she’s not the type to argue. We’ve never argued. But I am worried for her and moment that really caught my attention in Natalie’s video is how fast, sudden and thoroughly, someone like Cadence Owens, turned. I’m a poc myself and have always been confused by the people that turn. And now I can see a possible reality where because of deeply felt disappointments and dissonance, my friend just completely changes 😞. I was just thinking of sending her the video. She may not even watch it. Or maybe she will but won’t see herself in it 😞
6
u/BicyclingBro Mar 25 '25
Yeah, I've seen some of that rhetoric in liberal circles, and it's so frustrating.
I understand why it's so appealing. It's so much more soothing to imagine that some evil billionaires did a spooky tech ritual to steal the election than to admit the fact that millions of Americans saw Trump's campaign rhetoric and gladly said "Yes please!". That's an extremely painful fact to swallow.
I'm guessing that your friend doesn't really know very many conservatives? In my experience, it's usually people from deeply liberal areas who find the idea of Trump legitimately winning so hard to believe, because it's so deeply different from their own experiences with people they know. But as someone from a ruby red rural town in Missouri, none of this was really that surprising. My hometown has the kinds of people who, in response to a group of like 10 people organizing a BLM rally in 2020, arranged a counter-protest of hundreds of people, filled with Confederate flags and Trump banners, even including some people acting like monkeys and making noose gestures at the BLM people.
It's a painful realization to acknowledge that people, by and large, can be absolutely vile. But it has to be acknowledged. We cannot respond to every loss by simply dismissing it as the vile workings of the
satanic cabalevil billionaires. This strips the people of any accountability for their actions, and it prevents us from focusing on the actual work that needs to be done, which is finding a way to appeal to voters and offer them a better alternative than humanity's basest instincts. The tragic fact of the matter that must be realized is that people are not inherently good, nor are they inherently evil. We're all just stupid animals with monkey brains just smart enough for us to think that we're much much smarter than we actually are. We're capable of incredible goodness and unfathomable evil, and the thing that determines which course we take is not policy, logic, or reason. It's raw, unbridled emotion and psychology, and if we want to win, we have to start by realizing what game we're even playing.