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I read Carano’s post as a warning about persistent state-sanctioned dehumanization of entire groups based on belief or ideology. Meanwhile, politicians & journalists openly call for harassment & conservative re-education camps without reaction or consequence. See how that works?
Look at how this is characterized in headlines, for example. She made no such direct comparison, rather stated that the horrendous acts that led to the Holocaust began with fomenting hatred of neighbors, creating a dehumanized "those people" mentality.
An example:
Or this:
Or this:
Or this:
Or this:
These examples required five minutes (or less) of Google research. There are/were a lot of right-leaning people who weren't Trump supporters, but because we didn't pass the pop culture purity test we became "one of THOSE people." No nuance or debate, just paint in broad strokes.
Once people were sorted into those binary buckets, it's an easier lift to vilify that group. No room for the rational middle. "Don't agree with my point of view? You're one of those Fox/Newsmax/MAGA conspiracy theorists!" Now you're part of the vilified & dehumanized group.
Okay, so you've been pushed into a group, you've been dehumanized, you've been cancelled and/or bullied into silence... what comes next? Well, if "those people" aren't human, it's totally okay to do whatever you like. It's not like they matter, right?
No one, including Carano, was saying that "Republicans are like Jews in Nazi Germany" or anything of the sort. Rather the path of our current political discourse is a very slippery slope, one for which there is historical precedent, and should be concerning to all.
I was super left-leaning when I was younger, swung more to the right as an adult, and ultimately feel passionately about planks from both platforms so now sit somewhere just right of center. But that's not good enough, so given the current mob mentality, I'm one of "those people"
I abhor cancel culture, so I'm not going to cancel my Disney+ subscription or stop loving Star Wars and the world they've created, but I do grow weary of all the cultural roadkill.
I came back to Twitter for similar reasons, I hate the company but I love the people I've met on this platform and I missed the daily interaction. That probably means I don't pass some conservative purity test, but so be it. I quote Murtaugh:
If this stance means I lose friends, followers, or clients... I'm sorry, but I have a different opinion on what "embracing diversity" means...it means ideological diversity, neurodiversity, & all the other less trendy diversity topics out there. Diversity is a "capital D" thing.
If we don't agree on something I hold dear, as long as you're not trying to take away my rights, there are zero problems. There are more topics in the world. Don't believe in Jesus? Okay. So what are you having for dinner? Pro-choice? Well...did you catch the Sox game yesterday?
I don't know... screeds like this is why I walked away from Twitter in the first place. Maybe these things would just be tempests in teapots if it weren't for social media, but that doesn't mean the tool is inherently evil. It just means this is why we can't have nice things.
