Thought-provoking reading via Guy Geens. Needs mulling over before commenting.
"We are depriving the white working classes of their means to give. As we export manufacturing jobs internationally and as we streamline labor with technology, we start moving people to the sidelines. It’s not just that they have less money, it’s that their identity as providers is being threatened. This is why they are often so against welfare. Even if it would fix their financial situation, it would not fix their identity problems."
"...no one wants to occupy the “last” place in society. No one wants to be the most despised. As long as racism remains intact, poor white people are guaranteed not to be “the worst.” If racism is ever truly dismantled, then poor white people will occupy the lowest rung of society, and the shame of occupying this position is very painful. This shame is so painful, that the people at risk of feeling it will vote on it above all other issues."
"Shaming Drumpf supporters for being “ignorant bigots” is the worst thing you can do, because their entire motivation in voting for Drumpf is to alleviate the shame they are already carrying. If you add to their shame, they will dig in further."
https://medium.com/@emmalindsay/trump-supporters-aren-t-stupid-3d38f70f2a2f#.b88db2lu2
Those who look on others doing well with bitterness don't really deserve my respect. I'm part of the age group that comprise much of Trump's support so I understand how things are different today than they were for our parents. That said, I'm not bitter about it and I don't blame others for wage stagnation and job insecurity ....
ReplyDeleteHey dummy you are and will always be stupid and delluded fucking faggoy
ReplyDeleteMr Jenkins is having a bad day because I banned him from the Space community (for repeated flat earth trolling and verbal abuse). I've now blocked him as he was going on an "let's abuse Rhys in as many posts as possible" spree and therefore not likely to ever contribute anything useful. That brings the total of people I've blocked up to three (one for racism, one because their uninteresting posts kept showing as as "what's hot" and I couldn't find a better way to stop it, and this guy).
ReplyDeleteI'm in two minds about this article. On the one hand, I fully agree that you don't win people over by repeatedly calling them stupid - even if they actually are stupid. Lord knows I don't always succeed in this, but I do try.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, the more I see of Trump, the more I think that no-one with even half a brain could think of this man as leader of the free world. I would like to believe his supporters are merely misguided, really I would. But even leaving his ridiculous policies completely aside, the man acts like such a colossal berk that I (literally) cannot bring myself to agree that people who vote for him aren't utter morons. I hope I'm wrong, because I'd dearly like to believe that that many people aren't that stupid. Right now though, that's not a conclusion I can support. A nice try, article, but not sufficient.
No, Trump supporters are not stupid, they're ri-tards....
ReplyDeletecauses and conditions.
ReplyDeleteAccording to this article, those people sound more desperate than stupid, and desperate people tend to do stupid things.
ReplyDeleteSo whether they also are stupid or not, it may be a good idea to take their despair into account. After all, this is the old friend of the extremist demagogue: "maybe their answer is wrong, but they are the only ones tackling the question".
That said, I don't know enough about Trump (or even his European predecessor, Berlusconi) to really judge the relative importance of appeal to despair vs appeal to stupidity in his strategy.