Today in politics: The Bro Vote

[minoanmiss]

The Bro Vote

An opinion piece concerning Bro Voters' public policy.

Some people say we should approach these young men and try to deradicalize them, even that it's our duty to do so. I dunno. I want to avoid everyone like this. I want all the people in my life to avoid everyone like this.

Comments

[princessofgeeks]

Look, it is not liberals' duty to deradicalize anyone IMHO. This is my view from a red state full of fundamentalists. The Christian state the MAGA people want is already here where I live.

First of all, trying to deradicalize won't work even if we try. It's a myth.

Second, we all must figure out where to put our energy right now. And fruitless efforts to deradicalize random bros are not high on my list.

I think some of the hand wringing about the election is so misguided because if it was our fault, if there is something more WE CAN DO, then we have a sense of control.

The country chose this and now we have to fight our way out of it. We have to outlast them and do whatever we can to fight back.

Listening sessions with racists and sexists won't really do much. Believe me; I have lived this. So have you.

HUGS

[julian]

I mean, it does SOMETIMES work, but mostly from a "many people doing various parts of this and not one person doing it as their fulltime job" perspective.

So, therefore, Do Not.

[magid]

All of this.

[lokifan]

Yep! It's much more about enthusing and recruiting people who're already on-side than deradicalisation, imo.

[sabotabby]

I get paid to deradicalize them but it doesn't scale.

[lynnenne]

Does it ever work?

[sabotabby]

Yes, but mostly no.

[gingicat]

If J didn't already have a good grounding, I'd have to deradicalize him even more than I already do.

[minoanmiss]

And that is to both your credit (and I continue to cheer both of you on lots and lots an lots).

I think about this a lot

[gwydion]

So I have this friend.

When I moved west, the friend group I joined had mostly gone to school with him. In high School, they saw him starting to radicalize (This was in the very late '80's), and they collectively took him on as a project. When I moved out here towards the end of '90, he was still problematic in a bunch of ways, but there was a clear upward trend.

The process was gentle, mostly Social pressure based, but with consequences. If he wanted to hang with the cool people he needed to behave, basically. If he did or said something fashy, they'd kick him out until he could demonstrate he understood why and do a real apology. a bunch of the old friend group scattered over time. People like me joined those who stayed, and time rolled on. I don't think any one person could have done it. It was many hands over about a decade.

He got so much better. So, so much better.

His adult career has been teaching, almost exclusively in very red rural districts. He has two big goals for his students. The stated one is academic, getting things like reading rates up to grade standard.

His second, secret project he only tells his friends about is deradicalization. He's very good at it. He sees high school kids going wrong the way he started to go wrong, and he patiently tries to turn their path. He's this good at it because he was one of them. He knows how they think and feel. He knows what helped him.

I could never do what he does. He's faster, better, more efficient at it than we ever were. He has a special kind of patience I just don't have any more for people who want me dead. We'd take turns, because it's hard. He's out there almost entirely alone, working on big batches at once.

I am very proud of him.

I think it was different going slow and gentle as left wing people, about half of home would have been sent to the ovens in Hitler's Germany, in a time and place when everyone agreed NAZIs were the bad guys in WWII. I think these days in a time and place when proud NAZIs have been in the White House and will be again, in red areas where the social pressure goes the other way, it maybe needs someone like my friend to do the deprogramming. I can't picture maga pilled people listening to someone like me.

I am not saying we should give up, but I do think there are people who are far better cut out for deradicalizing Magats than you and I, and maybe our energy is better spent on things that play to our strengths. We could burn ourselves out entirely and get nowhere near as far. I think we're better off picking battles we have the right tools for.

Re: I think about this a lot

[minoanmiss]

EXACTLY. What gets up my nose are all the people saying every teenage girl is required to deradicalize the boys around her and it's her fault if she ever pisses them off by telling them not to slap her ass so they go join Andrew Tate. Argh. aRGH.

There are people who are good at this. There are people who have talents for it, who have acquired skills for it. But those skills aren't possessed by everyone let alone everyone societally identified as female.

I wrote an essay about this and racism and it applies to sexism too:

https://minoanmiss.dreamwidth.org/620196.html

Also, Godspeed to your friend. And good job by both him and your friends group.

Re: I think about this a lot

[gwydion]

Have I mentioned lately how much i appreciate you?

Re: I think about this a lot

[minoanmiss]

blushes