Read on Twitter
Occasionally I look at the feed of my former friend just to see how far radicalisation has taken her. It has given me an insight into how it happens, but don't ask me how to stop it. Her personality, or what's left of it, has entirely changed. She's now 10 months in.
She started out as a low-key anti-vaxxer. So low-key I was barely aware of it. She was a Remainer, Corbyn supporter, anti-fracking, social justice type. Generally a lovely person.
She has dumped all her friends, decades of friendships simply dumped. We are all sheep. Or other dehumanising names.
She is now a Trumper, antisemitic, racist (anti-woke), transphobic, LGBT-phobic, QAnon full-blown conspiracy theorist.
I don't peek often, because it's quite depressing, but when I do, I find she has embraced yet another form of bigotry.
That's how it works - one hook leads to another, and over time the bingo card fills up.
That's how it works - one hook leads to another, and over time the bingo card fills up.
I forgot, she's also flirting with climate change denial.
I don't think she started out as a bigot, although I now see her anti-vaxxer stance comes from ableist attitudes towards autistic people. She just became a bigot through radicalisation.
The more "community" she got from Covid denial, which is directly linked to her anti-vaxxer beliefs, the more she detached from her friends. The more attention she got, the more praise she got, the further she detached from reality.
I'm not really going anywhere with this thread, other than to say that extremism and radicalisation happens to perfectly decent people, and it is a huge problem, a ticking time bomb.
The saddest part is we already have elected politicians dabbling in some of the hooks.
The saddest part is we already have elected politicians dabbling in some of the hooks.
