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Also feel free to check out !leopardsatemyface@lemm.ee (also active).
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She says a lot more but my eye rolling made me stop reading after the first five sentences
https://xcancel.com/ImBreckWorsham/status/1986436503988297774#m
Our little victim doesn't even know basic vocabulary. This was not "gaslighting". It was plain old "lying". Simple, easy to spot, as long as you try.
I frequently chat with my neighbor who is a Q-class Trumper. Over the past year, I've been able to observe the leopards licking his face as if I were filming a nature documentary in 4k. We actually get along great. I like having a window into whatever inane, batshit information he consumes, and he really enjoys my company, as I don't outwardly judge him, and I listen. Naturally, he's on disability and dependent upon the state. As such, he's running low on funds and needs to move in a couple months.
We had elections this past week in my state. I told him that I voted, and he offered up some excuses as to why he can't make it to the polls. We tend not to directly discuss politics, because I told him a long time back that I'm still salty about Bernie. Deep down, he knows that we don't align, but he doesn't want to rock the boat. I give his pets treats. I give him treats. He occasionally mentions various religion-based conspiracies and alludes to looming conflict and the criminality of the left, but he's become more mum on this front. I think, the gears may be turning in his head.
I don't have any grand insights with which to conclude my anecdote. I give the guy a 30-70 chance of rediscovering reality. But, by being nice to the dude, I do think his chances are much better than they would be had I ignored him the past few years.
you're honestly one of the best. I wish I could have that kind of patience even just for my own family let alone others.
But your story just continues to show that nobody with such strong opinions seem to care until it directly effects them. In your case, it sounds like they are right on the border of realizing this. It just sucks that this is what it takes for them to even consider this.
It's tragic, yes. But, don't underestimate the effects of propaganda, repeat exposures that dwarf my face time with the guy. He doesn't have my range of experience. He's just a lonely, 50-something man that's had more negative than positive experiences in life. He has tunnel vision.
In my mind, he's responsible for his choices and frame-of-mind. But that's not going to stop me from sharing my perspective without confronting or proselytizing. Insecurity is a mother fucker.
Talking to him and being a good person can do more than you realize.
I was raised white Christian nationalist, although we didn't call it that and I wouldn't have realized that's what I was. I was taught all the conservative bullshit, both politically and socially. Thankfully there was always a part of me that was like "something isn't right here" and I kept my mouth shut and was never the bully going around mouthing off to gay kids or minorities, but I definitely thought things like "being gay is a choice" and "poor people should just work harder" and "abortion is something welfare queens do" but also "welfare queens have lots of babies for more money".
Being around people like you who were nonjudgmental and just talked about their point of view and occasionally gently challenged my beliefs without being confrontational opened my worldview and helped give me the courage to listen to the voice in my head that was saying something felt wrong with the belief system I was raised in. I'd always been taught things like liberals were stupid and lacked critical thinking skills and acted solely on emotions and I was young and kept in a bubble and was dumb enough to believe it until I started meeting people who proved otherwise. That was enough to start the cracks forming that eventually shattered the entire wall of lies. I'm now a raging socialist and I don't care how people live their lives as long as they aren't harming anyone else. I don't think I would have ended up that way if I wasn't someone who is willing to think for myself and who isn't afraid to be the "black sheep", because leaving that mindset lost me my family, but I definitely wouldn't have ever been able to start down the path I'm on if I was never exposed to people like you who started showing me the lies in the first place.
Is this not normal? If you treat people kindly and with respect, they're more likely to respect you back and treat you kindly. This common courtesy establishes a level of trust where others are more willing to listen to what you have to say. This is the only way people can ever change their minds.
I have never seen any instance of anyone changing their minds because others were demonizing them and making fun of them. I feel like the people who advocate for others to be dicks to people like this guy tend to be major assholes themselves, and these people are big part of the problem. Yet that views is becoming more and more common. So props to you for treating this guy like person, you might think much of it, but your interactions with him might very well be the reason why he even has the chance of coming around.
You may not realize it but you're humanizing "the left" for him. Its probably keeping him somewhat grounded.
The economy is doing great! -Trump
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE be Compassionate! She THOUGHT that by Electing Trump ONLY Trans and Brown kids would be Hurt! She NEVER Thought ~~Jesus~~ Trump would go after WHITE People too! Be NICE!
who could have seen this coming??????
Leopards saw it coming and took out the fine china!
I think I might have cancer from reading some of the responses. And then clicking through to their profiles.
It's truly astounding the things these people believe.
And they believe the same things about us.
We have an actual war on truth and objective facts in this country, and it's being waged by billionaires that control the narrative to pit us against each other. American media is a goddamn propaganda farm run by a dozen or so Goebbels.
I cannot bring myself to believe that this is real. The only way I can believe someone so eloquent of a writer would believe Trump is if they are in on it and it seems she's not a billionaire. Also, I don't think people who would vote for Trump 3 times would ever have the ability to reflect and change their view on him.
If they would be capable of that, we wouldn't be here in the first place.
For me it was how easily they slipped in the phrase "Epstein shutdown" that gave it away. That just seems so clearly phrased by someone who always hated Trump cosplaying as victim of a face eating leopard.
100%. Rightwingers believe people who use welfare are mostly undeserving except the occasional outlier. They'd more easily accept that the dems simply won't let Trump release the Epstein list or some conspiratorial nonsense than call it the Epstein shutdown. This is a lib doing a "How do you do fellow cultists".
oh no! my actions have consequences??? OH NO!
Aww she developed her first thought
Everyone hates getting taxed, idk how ppl cant come together on taxing the ultrawealthy more so we get taxed less, they just avoid it entirely, idk how mfs still believe in trickle down economics
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