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My parents are suburban, college-educated Republican voters who read WSJ & AP stories & watch Fox when they watch TV news at all. And yet, the first they heard that confederate flags were on the mall & in the Capitol on 1/6 is when I told my mom today, and she was taken aback. 1/
In our first conversation about this, she said to me, “Both sides riot.”
Initially, I blew up at this. And then, I forced her to listen to me about how wrong equating what she perceived of the summer protests to what happened on 1/6. That took a fair amount of work. 2/
Initially, I blew up at this. And then, I forced her to listen to me about how wrong equating what she perceived of the summer protests to what happened on 1/6. That took a fair amount of work. 2/
When I asked her about why she wasn’t familiar with how horrible 1/6 was, she said:
1. The news is hard to stomach these days. It’s gotten awful, and
2. You’re in the thick of it. You get the intensity. We don’t get as much out here in between the coasts, living our lives. 3/
1. The news is hard to stomach these days. It’s gotten awful, and
2. You’re in the thick of it. You get the intensity. We don’t get as much out here in between the coasts, living our lives. 3/
Before I could get her to acknowledge how awful all of this has become, she said:
1. “I don’t like ‘Democrat’ policies.” (“Ic” I said.)
2. “Democrats don’t want to listen to us. If we have a different opinion, we’re canceled.”
4/
1. “I don’t like ‘Democrat’ policies.” (“Ic” I said.)
2. “Democrats don’t want to listen to us. If we have a different opinion, we’re canceled.”
4/
She also said, “Not everyone who voted for Trump is a bad person.” And that, “We’re worried that with Democrats in power, we’re all going to be censored forever and can never exercise a different viewpoint.” 5/
Importantly, she also tried to dismiss the 1/6 crowd as people who “aren’t normal.” So then I insisted that she spend time with the New Yorker piece to understand that they were “once normal” people who have become radicalized. It included cops, military, ppl she could’ve met. 6/
I think that’s the biggest lesson. Some ppl are trying to dismiss this as fringe. They’re trying to ignore the massive problem of radicalization and how racism is deeply intertwined into it. And there needs to be a significant amount of education for the general public. -30-
