Wouldn’t it be nice if these clowns stopped trying to legislate away their hangups and instead sought some fucking therapy?
A mentally unwell population hyped to chase an overblown issue is easier to control. They’ll let themselves be exploited as long as the moral panic is hijacking their attention, which is why there is always a new one.
Can we stop blaming this on being “mentally unwell” and recognize these people are assholes? I was suicidal for 18 years, and I managed to never be “unwell” enought to pull the lever for a Republican or to think that policy should only be made for the interests of people like me, so clearly mental wellness isn’t the deciding factor here. Most Nazi voters weren’t mentally ill, and neither are most of these people. They’re deeply, profoundly selfish, not sick.
There wouldn’t be a massive media aparatus from TV to social media meant to manipulate and indoctrinate people into conservatives if it was just a matter of people being inherently good or bad. Hell, this is as old as organized religion, which is historically constantly intertwined with power.
It is a matter mental unwellness. It might not be the same type of mental unwellness as yours, but many people out of vulnerability, insecurity, loneliness or nihilism end up becoming prey to manipulative groups. How many times have I heard stories of people who struggle with something in their lives and end up joining a church and pretty much changing completely. Have you never seen anything like that?
Some people spent all their lives being told what to believe and have a hard time even imagining anything else. Some people who are today completely rabid fascists used to be decent and just lost themselves in a rabbit hole for one reason or another. I get that right now even trying to talk them out of it is a nigh impossible effort, but this wasn’t an inevitable fate written on their soul. It’s a result of widespread propaganda and disinformation that twisted them.
