I think you’re assuming logical or critical thinking leads to a particular answer. It depends on the individual and the context. There is a rationale behind white supremacy, which although it might be alien to us, is not to many people. If one really believes they are in an existential struggle, which for many people life is an existential struggle in fact, this is one means of giving a logic to that.
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Generally, yes, I do. I know there are different thinking styles but there’s a baseline level of critical thinking here that’s just missing or stunted amongst white supremacists and RWA supporters (and rank-and-file non-wealthy GOP voters). I say that even in the context of what they see as an existential struggle but most of us here in the “reality-based community” see as a bamboozle.
@DukeTrout’s acquaintance is a case in point: he’s not “dumb” or “crazy”, but he can’t justify his political choice to support a racist and fascist ideology even in a “this is how A leads to B” linear fashion and instead runs away when challenged on that basis.
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So true.
Every PB ever:
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…
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And the metamorphosis is now officially complete.
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Wow. Who’s Glenn going to re-tweet next? Roger Stone? Donald Segretti?
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Can Trump pardon non-US citizens who are not currently living in the US and not convicted of a crime? 
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This somewhat is inline with my take that MAGAts need something to belong to. I’ve gone down a rabbit hole of papers on the subject and holy shit.
tl;dnr
Summary
…By a similar token, pundits often chalk “radical” behavior up to pathology, or simply to a vague “mental illness” or religious or political extremism. But fusion offers a framework that involves an ordered thought process. It is thought of as distinct from blind obedience (often assumed to be the case in cults and military violence), in which a person might follow orders and torture a prisoner, either unquestioningly or out of fear for personal safety. In fusion, people become “engaged followers.” These people will torture because they have adopted the value system that views the torture as justifiable. Engaged followers do so of their own volition, with enthusiasm.
Fusion is not a bunch of individuals contorting their way of thinking, but a bunch of individuals suspending their way of thinking. “It makes us more likely to do extreme things that aren’t consistent with our normal identity,” Kunst says. “It allows you to do things you couldn’t conceive of doing.”…
A sense of deprivation—real or perceived threats to socioeconomic status—also seems to leave people inclined to fuse. “When we primed people to think of relative deprivation, this increased their likelihood of fusion with the leader,” Kunst says, noting that economic recessions have often preceded authoritarian movements. The findings from Kunst and Dovidio’s study suggest that Trump’s continued emphasis on the relative deprivation of his base—and his promise of the power and resources presumably under his control as an apparently wealthy Manhattan real-estate developer and reality-TV star—probably helped his election by increasing his followers’ fusion with him.
Even if this personal enrichment didn’t come to fruition for his voters, the researchers found that fusion with Trump only increased after his election. The presidency itself made him more powerful, and hence a more attractive target to fuse with.
Fundamentally, fusion is an opportunity to realign the sense of self. It creates new systems by which people can value themselves. A life that consists of living up to negative ideas about yourself does not end well. Nor does a life marked by failing to live up to a positive self-vision. But adopting the values of someone who is doing well is an escape. If Donald Trump is doing well, you are doing well. Alleged collusion with a foreign power might be bad for democracy, but good for an individual leader, and therefore good for you. “Fusion satisfies a lot of need for people,” Dovidio says. “When you fuse with a powerful leader, you feel more in control. If that person is valued, you feel valued.”
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Well, he isn’t, so what’s that gonna do?
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Maybe he’ll pardon Putin
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But he still is enormously valued. By tens of millions, who pretty much think everyone else is their enemy. Fervently believing that the election was stolen from Tromp makes him all the more of a valued hero for them.
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It is mere coincidence that this wave of fascism peaked during the administration of the first Black president. Pure coincidence. I am certain of it. (/s)
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Wow, that took a moment to parse. So many negatives!
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Yeah… sorry…
My point was that racism is as likely to come from the bottom up as from the top down. As I said, people have agency, and white working class people have great agency than non-white working class people. The GOP has been empowering them as a political strategy for years now (since Nixon tried to win voters from Wallace).
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Man, I hope she’s one of the first people Biden fires.
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Agreed. IMHO, allowing oneself to be used or manipulated in this manner is a form of “agency.” Not a healthy one, but for some folks a more comfortable one than taking personal responsibility for their own agency. They just “contract it out” to what ever religion, political guru or whatzit that they feel will give them the most comfort or insulation or whatever they are seeking. I am making a lot of assumptions here, because it is a mindset totally foreign to me and guessed at only from looking outside in.
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I’m sure they’re much more exited over her coming absence than her requests.
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How is she not in jail for contempt?
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