Are Americans Just Stupid... Or is it something else?

[hedda_foil]

The Pugilist with Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez

--snip--

This isn’t just about bad civics education or Fox News melting brains like microwaved Velveeta.

It’s about early childhood trauma. Specifically: Authoritarian child abuse—and the way it wires people’s brains, early and permanently, to seek out charismatic narcissistic abusers like heat-seeking missiles launched from the tiny neglected hearts of their own bruised inner children.

Because when you’ve been raised to believe that “love” looks like unquestioned power, punishment, and the Holy Belt of Righteous Correction— when you’ve been taught that independent thought is the Devil’s playground—when you’ve been trained to believe your needs will only be met by enabling and defending a person who hurts you—

A narcissistic strongman doesn’t scare you.
He feels like home.

--more--
https://alisav.substack.com/p/are-americans-just-stupid

[BootinUp]

1. I read this one a few months back. makes sense. nt

[pat_k]

2. Perhaps a part of the puzzle, but 40 years of Fox News brainwashing accelerated by. . .

. . . algorithm created social media information bubbles that just keep getting more bizarre, and you have a serious social problem.

This isn't a political partisan divide of decades past. We are in a whole new place. Far right brainwashing is a serious social problem tearing apart communities and families and we need to figure out some sort of national "recovery program." Something like Exit Deutschland on a big scale. Showcase recovering MAGA folk. More attention to the heartbreak of losing loved ones to the brainwashing.

We need to move from the current us vs. them-ism where we write "them" off as evil people that deserve nothing but our condemnation, to a serious examination of the snowballing social problems the multibillion dollar far right noise machine kicked off, which is being accelerated at an unbelievable pace by social media algorithms fomenting anger and hatred that are sending an unbelievable number of Americans into rabbit holes that just keep getting more and more and more bizarre.

We need to take on Christianism Nationalism, while being very, very, clear that we are not condemning Christian faith.

We need more documentaries like the 2015 Brainwashing of My Dad

[summer_in_TX]

10. "Far right brainwashing is a serious social problem tearing apart communities and families..."

A recovery program is essential, I agree.

Are you familiar with Leaving MAGA founded by Rich Logis? They showcase recovering MAGA folks.

Every broadcast media and social media platform (public media being the main exception) is now owned by billionaires. Billionaires who are working hard to shape our perception and control us.

Big fan of The Brainwashing of My Dad and Jen Senko! We need more like that, spread far and wide. Hers was especially effective in spite of being low budget. Loved the encouraging ending too as Jen and her mom were able to help her dad leave the extremist rightwing perspective behind which a lot to restore their relationship.

[yellow dahlia]

3. Interesting.

Food for thought.

[pat_k]

5. My take in post 2

[Aussie105]

4. On an individual basis, there are many reasons why

an abusive authoritarian figure might seem a sensible person to align yourself with.

But as a collective society there are bigger and more significant reasons why America is the mess it currently is.

But I won't name any, just let me say that when you work out what some of them are, a bright light will go on inside your head.

[GenThePerservering]

7. No need to make it some kind of mystery nt

[Aussie105]

12. It needs to be a mystery.

Any voyage of self-discovery and realization of the sham we live in needs to come from within, from introspective cogitation and analysis.
Questioning the basic things you have accepted all your life.

I'm 77 and have been on that journey for about 20 years now.
Before that, I blindly accepted the way in which I was told to accept and act in the world.

It's all a bit of a con, and realizing what it is and how to work through and around it is up to the individual.

[pat_k]

8. I hate being left guessing.

I'd love to hear your insights. And perhaps your take on what I posted above.

[dgauss]

11. Looking forward to that time. Lots of lights. Hope it happens.

(Seriously)

[GenThePerservering]

6. It's racism and misogyny

Along with religious mania is what this country is built on. Civilization was a veneer.

[betsuni]

9. Some white Americans have lost a sense of identity, have identity envy, find identity in right-wing world.

[usonian]

13. Whatever triggered it, they are in a cult.

Can't change minds brainwashed and thoroughly poisoned.

Just have to get in power and make strong laws to restore democracy and decency (arguably, the country was born racist, but laws can push that down)

https://democraticunderground.com/100216524810
The best, the ONLY cure to WhiteChristianNationalism, race baiting, mysogyny, etc. is WINNING

March 2022!!!

[aggiesal]

14. Americans are just stupid ...

We are told that we are the greatest country in the world, with no identifiable proof.

Enjoy the opening scene of the HBO series Newsroom. Very powerful!

[love_katz]

15. Focusing on MAGATs seems like focusing in the wrong direction.

There's less of them than there is of the (uncommitted) so-called Indepents. We need to out vote the Republicans by vast and unquestionable numbers. We don't have enough time before the midterms to try and fix the kind of brainwashing that created the hateful people who vote for the party of terrible ideas and cruel policies.
What's killing this country is the both sides do it lies. The Democrats aren't perfect, but their ideas and policies are vastly preferable to the party that clearly wants to destroy our democracy and replace it with white Christofacist dictatorship.
We need to focus our energy on the huge numbers of people who are eligible to vote, but are not even registered. We stand a much better chance of getting policies that benefit us from the Democrats than anything we will ever get from the greedy, spineless and rape enabling Republicans.
I expect that it will take a ton of time and effort to reverse the brainwashing which has resulted in MAGAts. We don't have the luxury of putting in that time and effort right now. We need to keep our eyes on the prize: taking back the House and the Senate in November.
It's OK to welcome any MAGAts who have buyers remorse. We need all the votes that we can get. I don't think we should trust them, nor lean on them for support. They swallowed the propaganda for a number of reasons: sexism, racism, xenophobia and classism, aided by greed and cruelty. Poison goes where poison is welcomed.

[Danascot]

16. Hanlon's Razor

States: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

[WhiskeyGrinder]

17. We live in a white supremacy without trying to dismantle it, that's about it.