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[deleted] wrote

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AgitatedStatesOfAmazement wrote

I mean, the title does say "drifting towards". Arguing with nazis is usually pointless, but warning curious reactionaries of what they're becoming is worth it in some cases.

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[deleted] wrote (edited )

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edmund_the_destroyer wrote

I disagree, I have some friends that are former neo-nazis and relatives that were drifting on that path and then stopped. On their own, separate from the hate groups, they came to understand that the alienation and helplessness they felt were real but women, non-whites, and immigrants were not the cause.

"My life sucks, I have no career prospects, I'm lonely, and I have no romantic prospects!" All true.

"And I didn't do anything wrong!" Mostly true - we can talk about the work most girls are taught to do to maintain their real life social connections that most boys are not taught, and how it makes it harder for you to avoid loneliness and find romantic prospect.

"And it's all the fault of the feminists, blacks, Jews, Mexicans, people mooching social services, and liberals!" All false. The people causing your real problems want you to hate the feminists, blacks, and so forth because it keeps your attention off them. The real problem is abuse of power by the rich. Global wealth is at record highs - the money to pay you a decent income with benefits with a woman working to your right and a Mexican working to your left exists, they just don't want to share. In the 19th century people used to say "I sold my soul to the company store." Today we have the same system, it's just nationalized - a collection of banks somewhere owns most of us.

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[deleted] wrote

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edmund_the_destroyer wrote

I disagree with "To drift toward the alt-right you need to already be an asshole so I don't have high hope.". The people I knew that drifted that way became assholes along the way, but didn't start as assholes first.

I guess the distinction isn't that important, but I'm defending two of my brothers who started as political conservatives, dove into alt-right crap, and then jumped back a few years later and have anarchist leanings now.

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[deleted] wrote

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edmund_the_destroyer wrote

What's the old saying? "Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by ignorance." A lot of conservatives are not willfully evil, just - to be generous - uninformed.

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