ID: Bold multicoloured text “Be the reason why a fascist feels excluded, shunned, discarded, unsafe, and worthless.”
Reference: https://sh.itjust.works/post/27787958
I’ve recently made this decision with my lifelong closest friend. I’ve known about his changing views for a while but its really hard to let go of a friend I’ve had for 15 years. I justified it to myself because I wanted to make sure he had my perspective around and I thought he was starting to mellow out. Turns out he was just learning to avoid politics around his friends.
It came to a head when I moved to a new city and he stayed with me for 2 weeks. After hanging with my local friends for a year, I realized I was always avoiding the elephant in the room with him. When I introduced him to my friends, I realized I was really hoping he wouldn’t say anything crazy. I was really hoping my trans friend wouldn’t show up in case he decided to make that a focal point. He’s been “getting more religious” (dominionist, christo-fascist). And I can tell he’s still disguising himself even when we talk openly about politics and religion.
More recently, two other friends stayed with me for a week. They’re also long-time friends with the first guy. We all collectively realized that we were much more comfortable around each other than we were around him. I was excited to introduce them to my local friends. I never had to pick my words or hold my tongue. So I’m going low contact with him. It sucks but I can’t call someone a friend that has such fundamentally opposed values to my own. If it were just a difference in how much taxation is the right amount or how healthcare should be administered, I could look past it. But he’s gone pretty authoritarian and believes some of my other friends shouldn’t exist. I can’t reconcile that.
I’m getting emotional whiplash from the amount my emotions go from “fuck them all violence is the only answer” to “you should keep an open door for when their faces are undoubtedly eaten by leopards and need help”
Let them know they’ll be welcome once they stop being fascists. The only good fascist is a dead one, but killing fascists isn’t the only way to get rid of them.
This 100%.
Sometimes you can be the hug they never got when they were a little kid and their fuckhead dad beat them instead of letting them be gay (or whatever authentic self got crushed).
I’m not saying you should put a huge amount of work into this but sometimes being kind and meeting someone where they’re at even if they’re super wrong does more to break the mold than to be a dickhead back. These people have a lot of experience doubling down to resistance, and if you surprise them with kindness it can shake up the whole setting.
That said, if you’re kind and try to teach them, and they’re still bastards/non-receptive, then move on and change the minds you can. Don’t waste your time on people that don’t want it.
Excluded?
Bro they have all the power in USA.
Someone who has to push others down to raise themselves up has no power at all
Be the reason why a fascist feels unsafe.
