See @katemanne.bsky.social on why empathy is particularly ineffective with radical misogynists. Part of the ideology is a belief that men are entitled to women’s emotional support, attention, etc. Empathizing feeds that entitlement.
Reposted from
Michael Hobbes
I think this comes from a good place but I disagree. A common thread in deradicalization stories is stigma: Once people start losing friends and jobs they reconsider their beliefs.
Obviously you should try to be nice to people but you also need to draw a line where you won’t engage anymore.
Obviously you should try to be nice to people but you also need to draw a line where you won’t engage anymore.
Comments
It's OBVIOUSLY not how things work. Make the persona non grata until they change.
You should have empathy for conspiracists in that you should understand their base attraction to conspiracies.
But you can recognize that baseness as primitive/rash, then insult them for it in ways that hit them in the heart.
If you tell a Sandy Hook denier, "you can't stop doubling down because inside you fear this justifies gun restrictions" it makes them pause.