fwiw, as someone raised in a very different kind of fascist ideology, the details are remarkably similar to my own experiences - I totally get people thinking their experience with one religious fascist group translates into experience with another. as much as we need to be careful of generalizing our personal experiences too far, we should also be careful of pre-supposing that our experiences - or those of the people close to us - are exceedingly unique, awful in a way that transcends others abilities to understand without some kind of direct experience. this latter view, that only direct experience can possibly give any true knowledge of a struggle, is supremely isolating. it denies the human capacity for empathy towards others with experiences unlike our own.
in the end, we're all remembering our own traumas, or those of the people closest to us. and to laugh at those experiences is to build a kind of power over them. we don't laugh at the NOI or any other group of reactionaries to minimize the harm they cause but because they deserve to be laughed at. their behavior is ludicrous and ludicrously harmful to the people around them. humor provides that frame of mind and shields us from the dark memories that would otherwise leave us in tears.
and to remember the people around or just inside one of these groups as merely kooky isn't minimizing the whole cult. most of the people inside these theocratic groups really are merely kinda weird. the danger these groups represent is that they hide and shield the truly dangerous people, make them out to be normal and upstanding members of society. the rest... they're people caught up in something dangerous, that makes them toxic to others. but if we're to dismantle these cults, those people have to be brought out and deprogrammed. ultimately, they are merely kind of kooky people, with an asterisk that if you get too close, they may be able to suck you into a dark and violent group.
fwiw, as someone raised in a very different kind of fascist ideology, the details are remarkably similar to my own experiences - I totally get people thinking their experience with one religious fascist group translates into experience with another. as much as we need to be careful of generalizing our personal experiences too far, we should also be careful of pre-supposing that our experiences - or those of the people close to us - are exceedingly unique, awful in a way that transcends others abilities to understand without some kind of direct experience. this latter view, that only direct experience can possibly give any true knowledge of a struggle, is supremely isolating. it denies the human capacity for empathy towards others with experiences unlike our own.
in the end, we're all remembering our own traumas, or those of the people closest to us. and to laugh at those experiences is to build a kind of power over them. we don't laugh at the NOI or any other group of reactionaries to minimize the harm they cause but because they deserve to be laughed at. their behavior is ludicrous and ludicrously harmful to the people around them. humor provides that frame of mind and shields us from the dark memories that would otherwise leave us in tears.
and to remember the people around or just inside one of these groups as merely kooky isn't minimizing the whole cult. most of the people inside these theocratic groups really are merely kinda weird. the danger these groups represent is that they hide and shield the truly dangerous people, make them out to be normal and upstanding members of society. the rest... they're people caught up in something dangerous, that makes them toxic to others. but if we're to dismantle these cults, those people have to be brought out and deprogrammed. ultimately, they are merely kind of kooky people, with an asterisk that if you get too close, they may be able to suck you into a dark and violent group.
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