• lennybird@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    I’ll thank Donald for one thing: uniting severe cases of mental illness that impacts perception of reality and morality leading to greed and bigotry under one banner.

    Edit: My apologies for speaking for your own personal struggles of mental illness. Perhaps I’m better off just saying assholes. But then I’ll get people saying, “I’m an asshole but not associated with them.”

      • lennybird@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        The severity of illness that comes to mind surpasses that which you possess to such an extent it impacts your perception of reality and morality, but my apologies for casting you a part of this group.

    • Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      9 months ago

      The real tragedy is knowing some of the kindest and most educated people I’ve met are still willing to vote for this monster. I can’t tell if they have some ulterior motives or they’re just willing to play dumb over loving a dictator because they believe in some fantasy that Trump’s not a bad person deep down.

      • lennybird@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Very true. We’ve all witnessed this. I’ve thought about this a good bit, especially coming from a former Republican household decades ago.

        1/3 are people who who may be educated or hard workers but are duped easily by propaganda because they’re short on free time or not educated specifically in how to critically-think and analyze sources. They get home from a hard day’s work and flip on fox news because they were roped in by sports and now stay for the pretty news anchors or the angry men telling them their paychecks are being stolen etc etc. Some of these people may be reachable if you could sit down with them for hours and hours at a time and lay it all out.

        1/3 are the greedy socio/psychopaths who are aware enough to know the game being played and move the pieces accordingly to grift the gullible. (Bannon comes to mind)

        1/3 are the world-burner outcasts who don’t care or are simply too stupid to understand the long-term consequences of their actions. (Typical 4channers or Trump rally groupies).

        The documentary, The Brainwashing of my Dad delves into this: How can kind, smart people be duped into this?

        • TechyDad@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          1/3 are the world-burner outcasts who don’t care or are simply too stupid to understand the longterm consequences of their actions.

          This group concerns me. I saw them in 2016 saying that they were voting for Trump in the hopes that the chaos he brought would change the system. Maybe you could have been fooled once into thinking this, but one would think seeing the result would make people realize that Trump’s chaos wouldn’t bring positive change.

          Unfortunately, I’m now seeing people saying they’ll vote for Trump in 2024 in order to somehow change the Democratic party. A vote for Trump won’t change the Democratic party to make them better, though.

          If Trump gets elected, he’ll target the heads of the Democratic party and imprison them. He might allow the Democrats to continue to exist as an “other” to blame all bad things on. (Why did the economy just crash? It’s those Democrats again!) But Trump won’t allow the Democratic party to be an actual threat to his power, though.

          It will be like opposition parties in Russia. They exist, but if they gain any traction, their leaders are suddenly arrested or have “accidents.”

          Voting for Trump in 2024 won’t mean you get better options from the Democrats in 2028. It would mean you don’t get any options but Vote Trump Again or Prison.

          • lennybird@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            Well said. I’ve seen the same. Here’s my hope that diminishing returns means Trump’s rhetoric is losing its power. Here’s hoping that at least this election will be run from the perspective of Trump NOT being in the White House to try to influence the outcome . Now we know the game being played. Now we have investigators watching.

            And here’s the thing: Those who are Trump supporters are and have always been. The cult is saturated while at the same time boomers continue to die off and a new generation is taking over. With Taylor Swift’s push to turn out voter registration for the youth and the good signs coming out of the last midterm no less, I feel eerily-confident we should be able to avert fascism. Especially if economic trends persist (not saying economy is perfect in reality, but by all metrics that Republicans typically hit Obama or Biden on).

    • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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      9 months ago

      That’s far too broad of a brush to paint with. Don’t do that.

      Also, that sword has two edges: the Nazis aren’t afraid of the rest of us anymore because they’ve realized there’s actually a decent number of latent Nazis around the country, and now they’re coordinating with each other, and that’s a problem.

    • AkaBobHoward@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      The mistake is an understandable one, this man and his minions are greatly and rightfully hated. Many of us have grown up with mental illness as a boogieman myself included and still regularly hear it bandied around as an adjictive. You heard from many, correct as you saw fit and apologized. That took courage and wisdom. Thank you.

    • NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      What does mental illness have to do with supporting donald trump? Very little if you ask me. The two things are not mutually exclusive, not even a little bit.

      • AkaBobHoward@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        I think Lennybird may have worded that in an unfortunate way, but there is a point, the MAGAt crap is designed to exploit mental illness and nurodivergence. The thought process it takes to believe the junk that comes from them is truly magical, and that level of mental gymnastics requires an amount of breakdown of skill or deep religious belief, and while that is not All mental illness I can see where someone on the outside could look into that camp and see only mentally ill people and just put together a very very bad and frankly hurtful phrase.

        • Ook the Librarian@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          It’s worded worse than “in an unfortunate way”. The phrase used was “all the mental illness”. If Lennybird wants to be less prejudice, they can rephrase it themself.

          • lennybird@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            I’m pretty sure most people, as the user who responded to you could see, could understand the intent behind the words. Admittedly it was hyperbole and mental illness in itself shouldn’t be mocked; however it’s not necessarily a good sign that an ideology has a woeful concentration thereof. After all, it is an illness that can impact normalized behavior, which if that is the foundation that fuels a particular ideology… We should be concerned.

            Key to note I didn’t say neurodivergent. And if you have a mental illness and aren’t under the trump banner then that perhaps speaks more to the severity of those who are.

            • Ook the Librarian@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              I’m happy you edited you comment. I think you can just leave mental illness out. Why bring it up without anyway to address it? When we talk about guns, mental health (with no policy action mentioned) gets brought up, and it’s worthless. It’s worse than worthless. It’s a distraction.

              I’m particularly glad you lost the phrase “all mental illness and bigots”. It had a clear “homosexuals and pedophiles” ring to it when it falls on my ears. Thank you.

              • lennybird@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                Despite editing my comment to reflect fair points, I do believe mental illness absolutely needs to be discussed more. There is clearly a crisis going on and there’s an intersect of (but not limited to):

                • Exposure (Lead, brain injuries from football, etc.)
                • Drug Abuse (pharmaceutical or street that alters state of mind)
                • Genetic conditions

                … And these people are being taken advantage of for an ulterior motive they do not understand. Whether I say all or not, the fact remains that there is a deeper issue of mental illness that resides within the Republican ranks. And why is this important to raise? It helps explain why it’s so impossible to reach these people by logic or compassion. Anyone who’s seen it first-hand in a hospital understands exactly what I’m saying here.

                Even in the firearm debate, mental illness is a necessary talking-point that should help fuel change: Increased access to healthcare (Single-payer, therapy, etc.), and an explanation as to how people who perceive themselves to be the “good guys with the guns” can very radically shift to being anything but.

                That being said, I am going to come down hard on any Trump supporter. There is no excuse; no justification to continue supporting Trump or even the broader Republican party at this point without singling one’s self out as being a combination of deeply bigoted, ignorant, or selfish.

                • Ook the Librarian@lemmy.world
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                  9 months ago

                  Ok, I’m trying to give you benefit of the doubt here, but you’re really digging in your heels here.

                  I do believe mental illness absolutely needs to be discussed more

                  Then you should* have done that. Your comment “well I’m glad we can see all the mental illness and bigots together” (paraphased since I can’t access the original) is simply bigoted. It is not a discussion of mental illness or mental illness policy. It’s worthless and hurtful. After posting such trash, trying to have a thoughtful conversation after being called out is disingenuous.

                  Edit: I missed a word, but while I’m here, I’ll add:

                  That being said, I am going to come down hard on any Trump supporter. There is no excuse

                  ^This is exactly why there is push back. Paired with the original comment, this sounds like “I’m going to come down hard on any Trump supporter, the bigots, all mental illness havers, there is no excuse.” It sounds just like the hate preachers deliberately tacking “and homosexuals” to any phrase that includes pedophiles.

                  I’m hearing a lot of words from you, but besides the fact you changed your wording, you seem to show little remorse for your actions. I don’t understand. I don’t think you’re a troll. So either defend the phrase “all mental illness and bigots” or apologize for it. I don’t want to discuss mental health with you.

                  • lennybird@lemmy.world
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                    9 months ago

                    It’s simply a frustration of hitting one’s head against the wall with a group that is causing widespread damage to society and who heeds no appeal to reason or morality. Call it for lack of better words. I’ve edited my comment and adjusted my words to better reflect my position and be more respectful to lumping all with mental illness in with such a group, but with that I absolutely will dig my heels in here until better reason is presented. Frankly, I think you are the one who is making uncalled accusations and outlandish claims now.

                    Edit: To your edit:

                    There is nothing explicitly wrong with being homoexual. And while there is something explicitly wrong with being a pedophile, the flaw in that is that there is an accusation of being a pedophile that is the problem – we don’t have that issue here since this entire discussion is about Trump supporters proudly announcing their identity and immorality. That is the difference.