Young people have GOT to stop talking about conservatives like they're scary menacing monsters. Yes the policies they back are horrifically destructive but that's entirely because of how individually stupid, fearful, emotionally stunted, weak willed and catastrophically gullible they are. That all is what made them become right wing to begin with. Just the most easily manipulated zombie sheep on earth.

People I have encountered in the past month who voted for Tr*mp include:

- Homeless girl who asked for my pronouns immediately and used them correctly every time

- Hispanic woman with a large family who just got her citizenship and is still working on her English

Neither of these women understood what they were supporting, they mostly saw ads that he was going to reduce grocery prices and voted based on that. Neither of them have consistent access to information or any relevant political education, nor the time, money, or energy to seek it out because they are focused on surviving.

A vast amount of republican voters are exactly the same, and it's a direct result of the GOP strategically denying them resources. We cannot move forward if you throw people to the curb for not knowing any better.

I need to emphasize that these people are "stupid, fearful, emotionally stunted, weak willed and catastrophically gullible" because they have been forcefully kept in poverty without access to proper education, therapy, or community support and fed fearmongering propaganda their entire lives without anyone ever showing them life can be better. They are traumatized and exhausted and a lot of them are trapped in religious cults.

They are like this because the GOP has meticulously engineered huge swaths of the country to be that way. It is not an inherent personal failing and it is very likely you would be the same had you grown up in the same circumstances.

You do not have to shake hands with bigots, but you need to have compassion and understanding for people who have not yet been given the resources and political understanding you have.

I'm not done here actually. Dehumanization like "zombie sheep" is in direct opposition to the kinds of strategies we are going to need to survive after January 6th. Yes, these people voted for something horrific, but they are still people and as things get bad most of them are going to be negatively impacted– and when that happens we need to be there to support them because that is how we get them to join us and fight back. Everything that makes them susceptible to right-wing propaganda will work in our favor in the right circumstances.

We simply will not get anywhere if we are determined to not see people we hate as people. Humans can learn and grow, zombie sheep cannot.

ETA: Since people are misconstruing my meaning here, we punch fascists on sight. But if someone says "I didn't realize this would happen when I voted for the fascists" or there's even a single crack in their loyalty you scoop them up ASAP no matter how much you want to toss them off a cliff because with a bit of compassion you can get them to turn against the fascists, and that is how we win.

I was going to be done with this post, but just came across something I want to add because it's a lens anyone who primarily interacts with politics online is completely missing:

This is the heart of what I was trying to get across. People are not black-or-white, they're messy and diverse and a lot more malleable than you might think. If you gauge party politics by what you see online and in the media you do not understand the average American at all.

If you see right-wing voters as a distinct class of people it just shows that you exist in a bubble. Only people with a certain level of education and access to information talk about politics the way it's discussed on the internet, and if you refuse to exit that bubble out of fear, hatred, and classism you will not be able to successfully organize resistance to the coming administration.

Hii

I won't admit how long it took me to realize that an angry squinty vulture was NOT photobombing the boy

she touch my yippee till i yay

Yeah that tracks

Olmec Penis Man

800-1200 BCE

Mexico

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Today's Seal Is: The Third Wheel

Alternatively phrased question: would you rather be a baker or a security guard? Because those are who these hours represent

Normalize toys during sex. Roll that hot wheels over them titties. Skurt.🏎

Car dependency is so deeply engrained in the United States that we don’t dare to imagine rolling a z-scale Amtrak ALC-42 over them titties. Choo. 🚊

Common Loon in Buckhorn Lake, Ontario Photographed by Dave Sandford

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