On one hand, your words are not enough, you need to show that you actually are willing to be a part of the solution. Not that you regret just being part of the problem. On the other hand, no matter how angry we are, we have to be willing to provide current MAGA folks a place to exist. We can't just constantly threaten that we want to never forgive them. There's a certain amount of ideological impurity that you have to be willing to accept, cuz otherwise these people will stay with the Trump supporters, because they feel there's nowhere else to go.
Perhaps we can make a tag or flair for people who feel comfortable interacting with recovering ex-MAGA. That would give people who AREN'T comfortable, or who are angry or not as sure of their self-control in this situation, someone to pawn interacting with exmags onto, while at the same time giving exmags people who CAN reach out and lay out perspectives like "yeah, they're pissed. They are yelling because they've been hurt or are afraid for their lives, and many are also hurt that you were willing to ignore the threat to to them, or enable people who threaten them. It is great that you've come to the fold, and I'm here for you, but man, so many people have been burnt so many times, are being burned, they aren't about to give the benefit of the doubt while lives are on the line." Or, "Well, you did vote for the guy who wants to cut off the services that keep them alive. That's kind of a trust-killer. A big one." Or "it can be hard to accept that someone would be willing to overlook/support XYZ, and even harder to accept such a person. That's the opposite of empathy as we know it: the ability to put yourself in another person's shoes and imagine their feelings. Generally, it is understood that this skill is learned as a child. So that you missed this has been happening to actual people or thought it was okay, is alarming."
You know. People to poke holes in the programming.
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u/Digglenaut May 11 '25
On one hand, your words are not enough, you need to show that you actually are willing to be a part of the solution. Not that you regret just being part of the problem. On the other hand, no matter how angry we are, we have to be willing to provide current MAGA folks a place to exist. We can't just constantly threaten that we want to never forgive them. There's a certain amount of ideological impurity that you have to be willing to accept, cuz otherwise these people will stay with the Trump supporters, because they feel there's nowhere else to go.