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Your argument would hold more weight if you could show us how to deescalate one person down from "Hang Mike Pence" to "ok yeah I was wrong actually Biden won";

by ridaj 6y ago

Your argument would hold more weight if you could show us how to deescalate one person down from "Hang Mike Pence" to "ok yeah I was wrong actually Biden won"; until then, the question is back on you - how do you even deescalate with folks in that "never concede" mindset? You also have to ask yourself, even if deescalation was possible, at what point do you stop reasoning with people and lay down boundaries? Had the insurrectionists managed to, as some of them were ostensibly prepared for, physically harm elected representatives or the VP, then would you say, I understand this might even radicalize you, but I have to stop you? Or even in the face of exactions would you say, ooh, no, we better not antagonize these people, tech should continue giving them support to organize a violent uprising, etc.? If your answer is "do nothing" then ask yourself what would cause you to act...

gwright 6y ago
What is particularly difficult here is that the election is not the source of the problem, it was just the straw that broke the camels back (so to speak). Even if the election results were accepted as 100% correct by everyone, the grievances pre-date the election and even Trump's entire term in office. Trump used those grievances to get elected in the first place. They aren't going away because Trump goes away. I wish I had some good words of wisdom at this point but the only thing I'm sure of is that if Congress goes ahead and attempts to impeach Trump things will get worse not better, it will make him a figurative martyr. The best thing that could happen would be for Biden and Trump to somehow suck it up and come out and jointly make a speech urging everyone to take a deep-f*ing breath and perhaps add a joint to go along with everyone's stimulus check.
FFRefresh 6y ago
The answer for de-escalation is not simple. It starts with empathy, and recognizing our common humanity. These are human beings. Genetically, we are all very very similar. We all have similar drives. We need water, food, security. We desire belonging, love. We aspire to have sufficient social status within our communities. I'm generalizing here, but the purveyors of a lot of this are not society's winners. In mainstream society, they have low social status. They're financially not well off. They are uneducated. They are mocked in mainstream culture, and called 'trash'. They are targeted by urban/educated/white people as the true racists and causes of our problems in this country. Many of these people were not born with the deck in their favor, and society just keeps crapping on them. The answer isn't to accept or condone anti-social behavior from society's losers. The answer is to empathize with their situation, and figure out how to create a more inclusive society that creates an easier path for those born in the lower classes to find purpose/value/love/status within the communities. To not mock them because it's funny/entertaining to pick on the losers of society to make ourselves feel better.

by ridaj 6y ago

gwright 6y ago

What is particularly difficult here is that the election is not the source of the problem, it was just the straw that broke the camels back (so to speak). Even if the election results were accepted as 100% correct by everyone, the grievances pre-date the election and even Trump's entire term in office. Trump used those grievances to get elected in the first place. They aren't going away because Trump goes away. I wish I had some good words of wisdom at this point but the only thing I'm sure of is that if Congress goes ahead and attempts to impeach Trump things will get worse not better, it will make him a figurative martyr. The best thing that could happen would be for Biden and Trump to somehow suck it up and come out and jointly make a speech urging everyone to take a deep-f*ing breath and perhaps add a joint to go along with everyone's stimulus check.

FFRefresh 6y ago

The answer for de-escalation is not simple. It starts with empathy, and recognizing our common humanity. These are human beings. Genetically, we are all very very similar. We all have similar drives. We need water, food, security. We desire belonging, love. We aspire to have sufficient social status within our communities. I'm generalizing here, but the purveyors of a lot of this are not society's winners. In mainstream society, they have low social status. They're financially not well off. They are uneducated. They are mocked in mainstream culture, and called 'trash'. They are targeted by urban/educated/white people as the true racists and causes of our problems in this country. Many of these people were not born with the deck in their favor, and society just keeps crapping on them. The answer isn't to accept or condone anti-social behavior from society's losers. The answer is to empathize with their situation, and figure out how to create a more inclusive society that creates an easier path for those born in the lower classes to find purpose/value/love/status within the communities. To not mock them because it's funny/entertaining to pick on the losers of society to make ourselves feel better.