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[-] Rhaedas@fedia.io 40 points 2 years ago

Something President Obama said in his speech the other night - instead of making it about us and them, you try and find some common ground. And there's always something to agree on, even totally opposing sides. We're still people living our lives.

"That sense of mutual respect has to be part of our message. Our politics have become so polarized these days that all of us across the political spectrum seem so quick to assume the worst in others unless they agree with us on every single issue. We start thinking that the only way to win is to scold and shame and out-yell the other side. And after a while, regular folks just tune out, or they don’t bother to vote.

Now that approach may work for the politicians who just want attention and thrive on division, but it won’t work for us. To make progress on the things we care about, the things that really affect people’s lives, we need to remember that we’ve all got our blind spots and contradictions and prejudices. And that if we want to win over those who aren’t yet ready to support our candidates, we need to listen to their concerns and maybe learn something in the process. "

None of that is easy, and not everyone is going to change. But the other choice is to be like them, and that helps no one.

[-] snooggums@midwest.social 38 points 2 years ago

And that if we want to win over those who aren’t yet ready to support our candidates, we need to listen to their concerns and maybe learn something in the process. "

This take the high road attitude can fuck right off when the other side's concerns are irrational racist hatemongering bullshit.

[-] Adderbox76@lemmy.ca 22 points 2 years ago

The high road only works when your opponent as a sense of shame and the capacity to self-reflect, even a little bit.

MAGA has neither. The few republicans that still do, the few who are still the adults in the room, have already pledged for Harris. Any of them who haven't by now are lost causes addicted to Trumps tit milk.

[-] Rhaedas@fedia.io 2 points 2 years ago

I totally agree with both of you that once you see the person's true colors, there's no point in continuing. The point was, how can you know what the person is thinking without actually interacting and finding out their real problems? And perhaps introducing some solutions or directions that, without the labels of socialism or communism, are appealing to them.

If we paint all conservatives with the same brush, we alienate the few (or maybe not as few as we think) to never consider something different. How many times is it said that much of their information comes from just a single source like Fox News? Let's give them something else to consider before we blast them all as hopeless. As shown, there are those who have heard the message and seen the true Trump in reality who have flipped, but they only did so because someone helped them realize their echo chamber was just that and all lies. They'd still be Trump supporters if someone didn't open their eyes.

[-] Adderbox76@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

If we paint all conservatives with the same brush, we alienate the few (or maybe not as few as we think) to never consider something different.

You're preaching to the choir on that point. In fact I got positively roasted a while back for saying essentially the same thing.

The only thing I would say is that I was referring specifically to voters themselves; those conservative leaning non-voters that may not see themselves in the current republican party.

Incidentally, its a belief that was validated by the addition of Tim Walz to the ticket since that's exactly what his presence is meant to do.

But once those conservatives identify as not just conservatives, but as republicans, there is very little hope in changing their mind unless they're already predisposed to having it changed.

[-] eestileib@sh.itjust.works 15 points 2 years ago

Obama was, and remains, shockingly naive in this way.

The entire republican mindset is being trained to abuse this kind of attempt at good faith engagement. Fascism thrives on that kind of naiveté.

[-] someguy3@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I think he knows, he's just playing for the centrist vote.

[-] jaggedrobotpubes@lemmy.world 14 points 2 years ago

These are beautiful and healing words and also we're dealing with the white Taliban whose very identity is not to play along with that.

Obama's approach is more preventative, whereas we're in the cancer-killing phase of things. We're trying to get back to where we can do things that way safely, if we're doing things right.

And even the preventative approach has to be fucking ballsy and loud about not letting rich cocksuckers hijack civil conversations to justify robbing everybody blind while calling it "business as usual", which is what set the stage for all this in the first place.

[-] fluxion@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago

The sentiment only goes so far when right wing media is constantly going on about the communist antifa radical terrorist pedophile deep state Soros millennial immigrant rapist woke mob that comprises the Democratic voting base.

this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2024
597 points (99.3% liked)

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