The worst kind of doomerism is the idea that we cannot change people's minds who have fallen prey to propaganda & that we're wasting efforts trying. Yes many people fail trying but clearly - Russians & misinfo ops are great at it. It would be super smart for the pro-democracy side to master this - ThreadSky

rebeccajtiffany.bsky.social • 3 days ago

The worst kind of doomerism is the idea that we cannot change people's minds who have fallen prey to propaganda & that we're wasting efforts trying. Yes many people fail trying but clearly - Russians & misinfo ops are great at it. It would be super smart for the pro-democracy side to master this

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m154n7hr0p3.bsky.social•3 days ago

we need re-education centers for that

nataliekit.bsky.social•2 days ago

Yes, they've made a master study of this, providing'educational' programs in their higher institutions of learning &'western countries are openly mocked for their gullibility. Using our principles against us. Lies/propoganda become freedom of speech issues as an example. Destroy us from within.

rebeccajtiffany.bsky.social•3 days ago

I grew up on the far right. I know LOTS of people who have left that world & are now leftists. Note that the propagandists who have won these people over put in a LOT of effort over time to change their minds. We have to be willing to out work the propagandists if we want to save democracy.

rebeccajtiffany.bsky.social•3 days ago

Many people who now live under the influence of propagandists have little to no awareness of real leftist beliefs/policies. Only caricatures/misinfo. This is often due to extremely low volumes of leftist messages reaching them & high volume conservative + propaganda + local in-person reinforcement.

rebeccajtiffany.bsky.social•3 days ago

There is no shortcut to reaching people who have fallen into propaganda. If you trigger shame feelings /dunk on them usually you'll push them further right. It takes a lot of self control, asking questions, making them feel cared for, heard & bringing in facts/data in a non-triggering form over time

rebeccajtiffany.bsky.social•3 days ago

Ppl who have fallen prey to propaganda aren't usually reachable in a single conversation. You can't think you'll just 'present facts' & change minds. They believed propaganda in part because of things like the conservative local churches do all the community service around them & leftists don't, etc

terraistrying.bsky.social•3 days ago

I too was raised on the far right & have spent a life trying to change my parents. They refuse to see their grandkids bc of “woke.” I’ve engaged them in every way imaginable for decades but had to stop for my sanity. Some people aren’t reachable, we need to admit this & focus those ppl who are

rebeccajtiffany.bsky.social•3 days ago

I think in general - family is often unreachable on this stuff. There's a conservative thing where parents always know better than their kids & they are extra resistant. I think people who have been brainwashed for decades are different than the recent converts - much harder to convince.

rebeccajtiffany.bsky.social•3 days ago

Ppl who fall prey to conservative propaganda often have very little contact with the left. They might click over to a little CNN/MSNBC from Fox occasionally but that's about it. No in-person conversations, no postcards from leftist politicians, nothing in their Youtube feed - for years on end

barrhavenist.bsky.social•3 days ago

This describes basically everyone in North America. We’ve all been targets and perpetrators of a 70-year US-led anti-communism disinformation campaign

fullmetalmoons.bsky.social•2 days ago

The issue is that it is very, very difficult to have a further reach than these propaganda bots. That's just the literal truth.
You have to get these people to take a step away from their devices long enough for reality to start making sense.
Human connection is one of the answers.

Bots can't do it

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