I suppose a better title would be Rehabilitation and how to teach

Reposting because it got no engagement last time and I worked hard on it, please upbear uwu

Rehabilitation is not out of the question for many in our current time, but for a great number we can’t hope to do so (or even feel inclined to do so) until after we achieve global communism. We just don’t have the resources to spare for most hard chuds or nazis, let alone war criminals, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t still try: I’m sure there are many among us who found the left in such a way

The point isn’t to punish people for making the mistake, but to correct it so no further harm is done, I’m pretty sure we all believe this (talking exclusively of passive participants or hateful people, not war criminals and ruling class ghouls) as I’m pretty sure we all support restorative justice here.

I’m a firm believer that there are no evil people, only evil ideas and the consequences of the history, culture, and material conditions in which you’re raised. I sometimes find it hard to blame a kid who grew up in America for being reactionary sometimes as an adult, because often they’re not aware of it’s harm or even aware of the reactionary thought process at all, it’s insidious in it’s invisibility.

Rehabilitation isn’t the same as forgiveness, it’s reclaiming a valuable human life that was contorted into a monster through indoctrination, isolation, and fear. Restoring them to the person they always could have been were it not for hellworld

Discussions of rehabilitating truly terrible people is both too large and too far removed from the kind of rehabilitation I want to discuss, the kind we see most often in our everyday lives, I’m sure many of us have reactionary or neoliberal family and friends, and if you plan on organizing your workplace or community you can be damn sure you’re going to need this there too.

Our current culture often tries to essentialize both virtue and flaw, as in “I can’t be racist, I’m a good person!” As such, to a lot of people, being told something you approve of, participate in, or believe, is racist -such as supporting racist imperialist systems like capitalism or means testing- their immediate reaction is an emotional one. Rather than hearing that the idea is bad, they hear that they are bad, this is similar to the reaction to preemptively get mad at a vegan when they say they are one, because “if this person thinks eating meat is bad, then that means I’m bad, and I’m not bad, so fuck this person for saying I’m bad!”

Yeah, it’s a really garbage thought process, but hey so are most emotional reactions, especially ingrained coping strategies instilled in you from birth to keep you from noticing the contradictions inherent to the hellworld surrounding us.

I unoriginally call this manifestation of cope “The Firewall”

It’s a delicate balance to inform the person of the evil thoughts and beliefs they hold without making them feel attacked or accused, without triggering their Firewall. An important part of the process is walking them through how it’s not their fault for being indoctrinated or tricked or lied to, and to do it before the firewall goes up. Then you can teach them that since they know now the error of their thinking they should do their best to overcome it and grow as a person.

Yeah, easier said than done for absolute sure, but like everything this is a skill you can work at improving, with practice. Don’t go into any interaction with the intent to tear down someone’s worldview, you just need to get your foot in the door, find a place to stick your crowbar and give it some elbow grease. Overcoming brainworms is a daunting task at first, but over time it become a motivating force in and of itself, it lightens the load and makes accepting mistakes and growing because of them easier. It replaces the shame of not being better than you are with the energizing realization that you can keep getting better.

Freeing people from capitalism is the ultimate goal, but first we have to free them from the delusion that it’s good and that they want it