My husband is a casualty of Trump and Fox news so I try to avoid all subjects relating to politics. If he keeps begs me to tell him why I dislike Trump so much, I try to use something obvious like Jan 6. I am always shocked to see the brainwashed response he gives and I inevitably come away feeling frustrated and angry. It seems like these days it is not just identity, but even the facts that have been altered to fit the identity.
However, these days we have found some peace. He finally sees that my thinking cannot be changed and no longer asks me to talk about it. I am very happy to oblige.
Hannah Arendt spoke all about how people become unmoored from reality in authoritarian regimes. I believe Ruth spoke about it too. In my entire lifetime I have not seen this until recently in the US. Psychologically, it is the result of many things. It is not simply just propaganda and gullibility. It gets into the realm of post truth, where people are so tribal that lies from those of authority within their tribe, supersede facts from those outside their tribe. It creates postmodernist thinking, where established truths are now disputed. Motivated reasoning and confirmation bias are on the rise as well, where people want to believe something so badly that it jades their ability to sort fact from fiction. Far right news outlets are cheerleading these concepts and breeding authoritarianism.
It is the message of a dictator. He does whatever the hell he wants, but no one else is permitted to do so.
My husband is a casualty of Trump and Fox news so I try to avoid all subjects relating to politics. If he keeps begs me to tell him why I dislike Trump so much, I try to use something obvious like Jan 6. I am always shocked to see the brainwashed response he gives and I inevitably come away feeling frustrated and angry. It seems like these days it is not just identity, but even the facts that have been altered to fit the identity.
However, these days we have found some peace. He finally sees that my thinking cannot be changed and no longer asks me to talk about it. I am very happy to oblige.
Carolyn
Hannah Arendt spoke all about how people become unmoored from reality in authoritarian regimes. I believe Ruth spoke about it too. In my entire lifetime I have not seen this until recently in the US. Psychologically, it is the result of many things. It is not simply just propaganda and gullibility. It gets into the realm of post truth, where people are so tribal that lies from those of authority within their tribe, supersede facts from those outside their tribe. It creates postmodernist thinking, where established truths are now disputed. Motivated reasoning and confirmation bias are on the rise as well, where people want to believe something so badly that it jades their ability to sort fact from fiction. Far right news outlets are cheerleading these concepts and breeding authoritarianism.