• BozeKnoflook@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    58
    ·
    3 days ago

    I will absolutely never be able to understand the appeal he has to some people. Nor can I forgive those idiots for falling for his obvious fucking horseshit.

    • Dryad@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      25
      ·
      3 days ago

      It’s easier to understand if all you watch is right wing media and your algorithm is tuned that way. Remember, you’re in a bubble and so are they and things look very different from one to the other.

      Not saying that as an excuse for evil, just hope it helps with understanding. Things would probably get better if we’re could pop some bubbles.

      • BozeKnoflook@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        19
        ·
        3 days ago

        I grew up in that kind of environment and I still don’t understand it. My parents were the sort that used their bedroom TV as an alarm clock; it was set to turn on at 05:55 to the Fox News channel so they wouldn’t miss any of Fox & Friends while they got ready in the day. Commute to work? Rush Limbaugh, G. Gordon Liddy, Laura Schlessinger, etc. Back at home, up until dinner was served? More Fox News.

        And even with the experience of growing up around that – I still just can’t understand it. Yes, those people are dumb as fuck but still; the inability to recognize that he’s a bad conman is just baffling. The same people that ranted about “coastal elites” decided to elect a pompous asshole from a coastal state with a fucking golden toilet and a scam university.

        Baffling. Just fucking baffling.

        • cynar@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          2 days ago

          It’s a terrifying abuse of human brain’s defense wiring.

          At a tribal level/time when we are not under stress, we often disagree and bicker. However, when the tribe is threatened, those disagreements take a back seat to survival. If the stress is constant, our brain structure begins to change. Empathy is reduced, to better allow for defence/warfare.

          The modern right is designed to hijack these mechanisms. The constant flow of fear puts the brain into a warfare state. Tribe becomes everything, with internal issues being put on a back burner till the threat is over. However, the threat is never over. It shifts and changes, but is never gone. Eventually, out-tribe empathy becomes harder and harder, while internal disagreement becomes almost impossible. In a tribe preparing for war, this is life-saving. For a political party, it’s an unthinking, pliant mob to control.

          Breaking out requires breaking that internal cycle. Recognising you are being manipulated, and internally countering the effects. Most people just can’t do that. Deprogramming the damage is a job of generations, and that’s assuming it’s no longer being reinforced.

        • Malyca@lemmy.zip
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          2 days ago

          It’s an identity cult, their identity is tied to his. The can’t reject him because they would be rejecting themselves and their ego can’t take the hit. This is why people need professional help to leave cults.

        • Dryad@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          3 days ago

          Me too. Logic and faith and compassion led me far away. Thankful my parents saw the insanity and bailed. Hoping more people do too.

        • Malyca@lemmy.zip
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          2 days ago

          It’s an identity cult, their identity is tied to his. The can’t reject him because they would be rejecting themselves and their ego can’t take the hit. This is why people need professional help to leave cults.

    • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      3 days ago

      They are the people who populate the bottom 3rd of the bell curve &/or the psychopaths and sociopaths of humanity.

      They don’t understand how anything works, so they are the easiest to manipulate and con into eating dogshit.

      • BozeKnoflook@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        13
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        3 days ago

        That’s not completely true though, which is why I find it so baffling. My mother was a professor that taught English literature and Greek mythology, my step father wasn’t nearly as educated but he designed trusses for new buildings. They weren’t / aren’t the bottom 3rd of the bell curve but they still fell for this assholes promises.

        I think being an idiot makes it more likely that somebody will like Trump, but it’s not the full story. Conservatism, specifically the desire for a stratified society led by an authoritarian that will protect them and punish “the other” is a far greater indicator I believe.

          • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            6
            ·
            edit-2
            3 days ago

            There is a difference between Knowledge and Critical Thinking.

            Knowledge is what you know, but Critical Thinking Skills are how you properly think and manage that knowledge. It’s possible to have knowledge, yet not know how to think properly. It’s even common, as we all witness around us every day.

            Lots of people know stuff, and think that makes them smart. It’s how you think that makes you smart, and that require Critical Thinking Skills, which Conservatives actively try to supress in schools. They claim it causes students to question authority, which it does.

            Questioning authority is the entire fucking point.

        • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          2 days ago

          Yes, there are certainly a portion who are brainwashed/indoctrinated through propaganda, but I consider it more likely that universal education, and what was deemed socially-acceptable by the majority/community, were suppressing the base instincts of those who are empathetically deficient.

          Now that capitalism and technology have simultaneously isolated us from our local communities, destroyed the social contract, and can deliver us sociopath-curated-propaganda and misinformation algorithmically, those people no longer feel the need to hide their terrible beliefs or personalities.

          Narcissism is being made socially desirable and acceptable. It is a largely-manufactured mental illness epidemic.

      • Katana314@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        3 days ago

        NO HE DOESN’T.

        I will die on this fucking hill. Nothing he’s ever said has sounded remotely intelligible. He’s just the racist grandpa rambling, 100% of the time, and I’m incredibly disappointed how people see otherwise.

      • Zahille7@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        3 days ago

        Lol no the fuck he doesn’t. He doesn’t have anything but shit in his pants at any given time of day. The fact you said this makes me think you’re some kind of teenaged idiot troll.