CFordUNC
Inconceivable Member
- Messages
- 4,378
I've thought about this a topic a lot. The overwhelming vast majority of my extended family are MAGA supporters. But almost every single one of them are so because they haven't gotten out of Robeson, Scotland, and Bladen Counties, haven't had very diverse life experiences, and haven't been college educated. I disagree with them politically but find it hard to fault them for what I personally consider to be political ignorance (and, shoot, they'd probably say the same of me!) because they simply haven't had the same lived experiences that I have, the same exposures to tons of different places and people that I have, or the fortune of having been able to be educated at a place like the University of North Carolina. In other words, their political views are likely more due to a lack of exposure rather than a lack of humanity or decency. I'm not making excuses for them or anything- just acknowledging that I've had the luxury of being able to change my mind and my beliefs based on lived experience and they haven't.
The MAGA supporters for whom I hold contempt are the ones who *have* been educated, who *have been exposed to lots of different people and places and experiences, who *do* have the learned ability to think critically, yet who still choose enmity voluntarily. These are the folks who have no excuse. I'm not talking about simple disagreements on conservative vs. liberal policy or ideology. I'm talking about the total lack of decency and humanity required to do things like cheer on the marginalization of LGBTQ people, or cheer on the mistreatment of immigrants, or cheer on the firing of federal workers, or cheer on our #1 geopolitical enemy.
The MAGA supporters for whom I hold contempt are the ones who *have* been educated, who *have been exposed to lots of different people and places and experiences, who *do* have the learned ability to think critically, yet who still choose enmity voluntarily. These are the folks who have no excuse. I'm not talking about simple disagreements on conservative vs. liberal policy or ideology. I'm talking about the total lack of decency and humanity required to do things like cheer on the marginalization of LGBTQ people, or cheer on the mistreatment of immigrants, or cheer on the firing of federal workers, or cheer on our #1 geopolitical enemy.