via http://ift.tt/1OP30qg:
liberalsarecool:
Life is cruel.
Yeah but here’s the thing? People are herd animals. There’s no question but that Trump is a hideous phenomenon borne on a tide of cultural backlash and racism, but– that tide, there. That’s a thing. People go along with prevailing notions without always realizing it. He’s riding a reactionary tide because the culture is changing. People are often more vehement about things that they’re not totally sure about.
If the next charismatic id-appealer is the opposite of Trump, a lot of those same people will flock to that movement instead, with nary a moment to consider the cognitive dissonance.
People don’t always believe in bad things because they’re bad people. They believe in bad things because they hear them phrased compellingly, and are swept up in the tide of their peers doing the same thing.
I’m not excusing Trump at all, or his supporters! But I’m just saying, those same people who now are screaming about building walls and panicking about who uses what bathroom are, individually, probably capable of great compassion. When Trump is defeated and the machines of propaganda denounce him, so will these people. When the zeitgeist moves on, so will these people.
In six months or however much longer we have left to go (whimper) people will look back in confusion. “I dunno, that guy? He was, I dunno. I don’t remember if I voted for him.”
You’d be amazed. That’s how history works. Don’t give up.

liberalsarecool:
Life is cruel.
Yeah but here’s the thing? People are herd animals. There’s no question but that Trump is a hideous phenomenon borne on a tide of cultural backlash and racism, but– that tide, there. That’s a thing. People go along with prevailing notions without always realizing it. He’s riding a reactionary tide because the culture is changing. People are often more vehement about things that they’re not totally sure about.
If the next charismatic id-appealer is the opposite of Trump, a lot of those same people will flock to that movement instead, with nary a moment to consider the cognitive dissonance.
People don’t always believe in bad things because they’re bad people. They believe in bad things because they hear them phrased compellingly, and are swept up in the tide of their peers doing the same thing.
I’m not excusing Trump at all, or his supporters! But I’m just saying, those same people who now are screaming about building walls and panicking about who uses what bathroom are, individually, probably capable of great compassion. When Trump is defeated and the machines of propaganda denounce him, so will these people. When the zeitgeist moves on, so will these people.
In six months or however much longer we have left to go (whimper) people will look back in confusion. “I dunno, that guy? He was, I dunno. I don’t remember if I voted for him.”
You’d be amazed. That’s how history works. Don’t give up.
