I feel ya. Yeah, it’s a concern. I wish there were an easy answer. Some cartoonishly simple solution, like just surrender and let go of that tree root and then suddenly a giant bird swoops in and catches you and carries you to a nice safe deus ex machina.
But this isn’t a fiction novel, and real life doesn’t work like that. There are despicable, hateful people in the world and in this country, and those people are exploiting otherwise legitimate grievances to twist the minds of large numbers of vulnerable people. They lie to them about some overly simplistic solutions to complex problems, that they have no intention of following through with, and then once they win their trust and have them thoroughly deluded with an entire system of “alternative facts,” then they twist their minds further through fear-mongering used to stoke hatreds, and empty flattery used to inflate egos. It’s a dangerous concoction and some truly vile people have seen that and used it as an evil means to evil ends.
I don’t have a simple solution to that. It’ll likely take generations to heal, if we can even start the healing process. If we can’t even do that, it’s only going to get worse. Unspannable chasms have likely already grown.
Some victims of mass manipulation may be redeemable if we break the hypnosis, but I don’t have a clue what kind of proportion that is. Is it a vanishingly small percentage, or the vast majority of their base? I don’t know, and I won’t pretend to. I won’t pretend to have any better answers than this. I wish I did.
For now let’s just hold onto a little hope and see how the next session of congress goes. See if our political leaders will provide oversight and accountability. Fix what’s broken and use our systems to address the underlying problems at their roots.
If they can’t or won’t do that, then I don’t know what to tell you. Stock up on whatever you might need to protect yourself and your loved ones? Build trust and community among your neighbors, if you live in an area where that’s possible. The rest is what everyone needs to decide for themselves…
I feel ya. Yeah, it’s a concern. I wish there were an easy answer. Some cartoonishly simple solution, like just surrender and let go of that tree root and then suddenly a giant bird swoops in and catches you and carries you to a nice safe deus ex machina.
But this isn’t a fiction novel, and real life doesn’t work like that. There are despicable, hateful people in the world and in this country, and those people are exploiting otherwise legitimate grievances to twist the minds of large numbers of vulnerable people. They lie to them about some overly simplistic solutions to complex problems, that they have no intention of following through with, and then once they win their trust and have them thoroughly deluded with an entire system of “alternative facts,” then they twist their minds further through fear-mongering used to stoke hatreds, and empty flattery used to inflate egos. It’s a dangerous concoction and some truly vile people have seen that and used it as an evil means to evil ends.
I don’t have a simple solution to that. It’ll likely take generations to heal, if we can even start the healing process. If we can’t even do that, it’s only going to get worse. Unspannable chasms have likely already grown.
Some victims of mass manipulation may be redeemable if we break the hypnosis, but I don’t have a clue what kind of proportion that is. Is it a vanishingly small percentage, or the vast majority of their base? I don’t know, and I won’t pretend to. I won’t pretend to have any better answers than this. I wish I did.
For now let’s just hold onto a little hope and see how the next session of congress goes. See if our political leaders will provide oversight and accountability. Fix what’s broken and use our systems to address the underlying problems at their roots.
If they can’t or won’t do that, then I don’t know what to tell you. Stock up on whatever you might need to protect yourself and your loved ones? Build trust and community among your neighbors, if you live in an area where that’s possible. The rest is what everyone needs to decide for themselves…