Talked with my Dad about this—boomer, was a blue-dog Democrat bitd—and he's convinced its a false-flag by a conservative group like the Proud Boys, prob Russia funded. No joke. You wouldn't believe how many boomers (both democrat and republican) think this shit. Love him to death but he just refuses to entertain the notion that the left can be violent.
It's the whole in the dam that would bring their entire worldview crashing down.
The Democrats are as bad as the Republicans, if not worse. These boomers have spent decades acting like the Republicans are literally Nazis. If they admit that the Democrats can do even one thing wrong, it brings all their terrible shit into question. It makes explicit the fact that those they consider to be evil are the same as they are; it makes them confront their own evil, something that boomers are incapable of.
Essentially, it all stems from Trump Derangement Syndrome. He was a big fan of the Lincoln Project back in '20 if that says anything. That and getting news from friends (curated by the likes of CNN and NPR, natch) and a disinclination to even give a fair shake to any news org that doesn't castigate Trump as the second coming of Hitler or what have you.
Or rather, anything I say that paints the left as just as "bad' as the right automatically gets colored as supporting Trump. It's the damndest thing. He absolutely hates the woke trans/LGBT nonsense but anything with so much as a hint of Drump or MUH RUSSIA absolutely forestalls any hope of him actually listening. Nevermind the stats I can rattle off about the extensive history of leftist terrorist attacks in our own United States, or the leftist bombing of our Congress. Trump is obviously orchestrating a coup de'tat with the likes of Putin and MuH Russians so anything that may paint his opposition in a bad light is immediately terrible, no good, very bad, evil, etc. A relatively common sentiment among the older generations in my neck o' the woods.
We have a similar kind of phenomenon in the UK with the older working class being staunch supporters of the Labour party despite it now actively hating them and supporting everything they complain about socially. For all of their lives, the Labour party has been the party of the 'working man', while the Conservatives have represented monied interests, and they can't break out of that dichotomy.
I think you reach a certain age where your beliefs have become so ossified it's impossible to change them, even if new evidence is staring you in the face. Cognitive dissonance produces a physiological pain response in the brain, so in some sense it is actually 'painful' for these people to reflect on their own beliefs and realise they might be wrong. It's easier to just disregard conflicting evidence entirely.
These cultists turn into conspiracy theorists the moment something that doesn't agree with their narrative happens. Russian agents and right wing extremists are infiltrating everything, no proof needed. However, mention election fraud and you get called a flat earther.
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Cause, you know, rightoids are going to murder a judge when he does what they want, that just makes sense, bigot.
Talked with my Dad about this—boomer, was a blue-dog Democrat bitd—and he's convinced its a false-flag by a conservative group like the Proud Boys, prob Russia funded. No joke. You wouldn't believe how many boomers (both democrat and republican) think this shit. Love him to death but he just refuses to entertain the notion that the left can be violent.
It astounds the mind.
Why?
Because if he did they he would have to acknowledge the possibility that democrats are not universally good and republicans are not universally bad.
For some people that's too much to handle. It's better that the world is divided between good and evil, it's easier that way.
It's the whole in the dam that would bring their entire worldview crashing down.
The Democrats are as bad as the Republicans, if not worse. These boomers have spent decades acting like the Republicans are literally Nazis. If they admit that the Democrats can do even one thing wrong, it brings all their terrible shit into question. It makes explicit the fact that those they consider to be evil are the same as they are; it makes them confront their own evil, something that boomers are incapable of.
Essentially, it all stems from Trump Derangement Syndrome. He was a big fan of the Lincoln Project back in '20 if that says anything. That and getting news from friends (curated by the likes of CNN and NPR, natch) and a disinclination to even give a fair shake to any news org that doesn't castigate Trump as the second coming of Hitler or what have you.
Or rather, anything I say that paints the left as just as "bad' as the right automatically gets colored as supporting Trump. It's the damndest thing. He absolutely hates the woke trans/LGBT nonsense but anything with so much as a hint of Drump or MUH RUSSIA absolutely forestalls any hope of him actually listening. Nevermind the stats I can rattle off about the extensive history of leftist terrorist attacks in our own United States, or the leftist bombing of our Congress. Trump is obviously orchestrating a coup de'tat with the likes of Putin and MuH Russians so anything that may paint his opposition in a bad light is immediately terrible, no good, very bad, evil, etc. A relatively common sentiment among the older generations in my neck o' the woods.
We have a similar kind of phenomenon in the UK with the older working class being staunch supporters of the Labour party despite it now actively hating them and supporting everything they complain about socially. For all of their lives, the Labour party has been the party of the 'working man', while the Conservatives have represented monied interests, and they can't break out of that dichotomy.
I think you reach a certain age where your beliefs have become so ossified it's impossible to change them, even if new evidence is staring you in the face. Cognitive dissonance produces a physiological pain response in the brain, so in some sense it is actually 'painful' for these people to reflect on their own beliefs and realise they might be wrong. It's easier to just disregard conflicting evidence entirely.
These cultists turn into conspiracy theorists the moment something that doesn't agree with their narrative happens. Russian agents and right wing extremists are infiltrating everything, no proof needed. However, mention election fraud and you get called a flat earther.
You see, it’s ok for Stacy Abrams and Hillary Clinton to question their electoral losses, but it’s unacceptable for Trump to do the same.