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Yeah, this is not it. I'm speaking as both a social scientist with some experience studying causal beliefs and as a person who got out of extremist right-wing culture and who has spent some significant time helping other people get out and listening to the folks who have, too. https://twitter.com/ezraklein/status/1347241552209330177
Y'all are always looking for some way to center the people who cause violence against us, instead of the people who fight it, who are courageous and brave and endure, like Black Americans. You want to talk about people who have been LIED TO?
Listen to the marginalized peoples who have been hurt and oppressed & had their lives taken and their land taken. Do not do this thing where you decide we need to intellectualize and argue these extremists out of their beliefs like *confusion* is the problem here.
You don't consider that this was violent anger seeking a justification, not a justification that caused violent anger. You need to read people like @Davin_Phoenix and @NeilLewisJr.
Consider the fact that groups in this country have suffered incredibly and yet STILL rise to pursue justice. Why is THIS group allowed to be "confused" and "misled", look at how much POWER they have. Even in your analysis you grant them endless power and excuse. Shameful.
You know what, I hate talking about the shitty awful people I had to survive and the days I got death threats for even wanting to vote but clearly I need to do it more, you know? So many of you have NO IDEA. I'm not watching this like some startled pundit.
You grant constant excuses to these extremists. THEY ARE THE ONES WHO MAINTAIN THIS INFORMATION LOOP, THEY ELECT THESE PEOPLE. You think they don't have strategy? You think they aren't sitting around, just as smart as you, building all this? Are you kidding?
I listened to people talk about who they would put in judgeships and how they would build schools and how they keep their kids in line. I was deprived of an education for this. I had to build myself anew with my bare hands because of everything people like this tried to take.
They are doing this. They are not passive. I know because I had to break it. I was a *child* being threatened and I still knew I had to break it because I did not want to hate people. I'm more privileged than many and I know that. But why, exactly, are you giving THEM an excuse.
I'm really sorry if this is TMI and look, it is incredibly scary for me to talk about these things. I just want people to know that we can demand more than being threatened every day. I am here to fight for the scared kids who are still trying to get out. Is that who YOU are for?
