4/ Otherwise sympathetic whites, then, who might have been engaged and empathetic, felt personally attacked. Most people can't recognize their own biases. Most people don't want to do the work.
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5/ So then the worst people in the world are on the other side, saying, 'No, white people didn't do anything wrong. You're just fine the way you are'. And now you've just given them a gateway to radicalization.
6/ The same problem happened with #MeToo. It was a necessary and important movement, but at the height of it, there was a lot of (again, justifiable) anger against men.
When something like "All men are rapists" or even something less strong like "All men disrespect women" is amplified online...
7/ Your average American man, a product of the American education system, by the way, doesn't think of himself as disrespecting women. He certainly doesn't think of himself as a rapist. So when he bristles at that, no one comes to his defense.
8/ Instead of someone helping him get to where he needs to be, to helping him find empathy, which takes a lot of work on his part (and Americans are lazy and don't want to do the work), he's met with scorn. And then the worst people in the world say #NotAllMen and he thinks, maybe they have a point.
9/ Most people with privilege don't recognize their own privilege. Especially if they're underprivileged in other areas (especially income or mobility). The left, at least online, has lost empathy for the privileged. And Gen Z lives online.
10/ I don't want to advocate for the coddling of clueless white men, I really don't. But those assholes with hurt fee-fees may have just destroyed the country because the left can't communicate, and because the right tells them what they want to hear.
Psychology plays SUCH a crucial role in all of this. When Trump started first becoming popular, I at first was guilty of laughing at the ridiculousness until I noticed that it activated people's shame, and therefore ego and self-defenses, and therefore backfired...
and rooted them further in their stance. Since then I've tried to advocate for listening and reasoning with people - and I think a key thing is doing this outside of the scope of politics. Take it back to the basics.
It's the same thing that therapists try to stay disciplined with and aware of when treating clients. They understand the importance of not activating someone's self-defenses because no growth happens then.
This is exactly why I'm advocating for taking it back to the basics and unifying under *values* over things that divide us - party / identity politics, spreading ourselves too thin between issues that are being affected by the same root issue, etc etc..
The Democrats have been doing good work in that area but have been doing TERRIBLY at selling the work they've done. Meanwhile the Republicans have been running almost entirely on identity politics and vibes. Just like...evil ones.
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When something like "All men are rapists" or even something less strong like "All men disrespect women" is amplified online...