Question is what is the easiest way to radicalize an apolitical person from a Republican family?

  • GraydonCarter [he/him]
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    4 years ago

    Politics is just cultural for many people. I met a young christian girl from a southern baptist family who was a really good person and genuinely believed in legitimate christian values and did a lot of good for the community and was not the typical fox news christian. She was drawn to Bernie Sanders and really didn't understand because the Democrats in her mind were the bad guys. If she is a good person she probably just has a lot of cultural identity issues to work on, and making it very clear you absolutely fucking hate the Democrats with few exceptions is a good in to getting some people to listen.

    • darkchapofantasy [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      edit-2
      4 years ago

      Lol no way in fuck would I date a ghoul. I'm kinda thrown for a loop that she even said she voted Republican, but I really think she just does what her family does. She seems pretty apolitical, seems to support lgbt, drug legalization, and is anti-racist.

      My impression is that she is sheltered and lives under a rock at this point

      • hogposting [he/him,comrade/them]
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        edit-2
        4 years ago

        I really think she just does what her family does.

        I remember seeing some article saying the number one predictor of a person's voting habits is their father's voting habits. And I'm sure there are plenty of people who don't vote in line with their folks, but we're talking trends here. Politics for most people is cultural, and people learn culture from their parents.

        And in addition to the other suggestions here: think media criticism. Citations Needed is excellent for that. It's not so in-your-face left that a conservative will reflexively reject it, but once you see what the media covers and what it doesn't you get into the question of why, and that leads very directly to leftist thinking.

        • Ithorian [comrade/them, he/him]
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          4 years ago

          My family always voted republican, first time I voted it was for Bush. At the time I wasn't interested enough in politics to do any real research and I had no dissenting voices to give me ideas. A decade or two can change people a lot.

          • hogposting [he/him,comrade/them]
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            4 years ago

            I would describe it as lib-friendly, but not lib itself. It's a podcast you can recommend to your lib friends because (a) it's extremely high-quality and (b) it's not overtly leftist, but it's certainly anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist.

      • Nakoichi [they/them]
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        edit-2
        4 years ago

        Definitely show her the podcasts I linked then. Yeah Robert has bad takes on foreign policy a lot of times but those two series are the perfect thing to show an empathetic "apolitical" R voter. You can educate her on the other stuff later.

    • darkchapofantasy [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      4 years ago

      If she was able to hide it this long, maybe that repression shows that she isn’t too strongly founded in the party

      What the hell even were yall talking about for 6 dates?

      I really think it's just something she doesn't give a shit about, we talked about other interests. Music, tv, our lives, etc. As others have pointed out it seems like this is something to just explore with her rather than try to argue shit she doesn't seem to care or know about

  • ElGosso [he/him]
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    4 years ago

    Just point out the contradictions - wealth inequality, politicians acting in the interests of the rich against the working class (both sides), etc. They probably see it without even realizing it.

  • grisbajskulor [he/him]
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    4 years ago

    I'm impressed that you had enough discipline to not have let your political brainworms leak.

    But also since it sounds like she generally supports the idea of people's human rights, it shouldn't have to be dealbreaker this early on, especially if she's relatively apolitical. We're conditioned to feel hatred towards people who vote differently than us so that we don't direct hate at politicians & capitalists. Also maybe don't make your #1 priority to radicalize her immediately lol

  • DasRav [none/use name]
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    edit-2
    4 years ago

    I know a trans person who voted Trump in 2016 because she hates Hillary Clinton with a passion that outshines even this whole site. People have their reasons.

    More importantly: would it really have been better if she told you she votes dem? Both parties suck equally. Unless she specifically votes against one of the rare good candidates, there is so little difference that you shouldn't care. I'd use it as a jump-off point to discuss politics and maybe give her some actually good views. Not in a heavy handed way of course, you gotta go slow there, or you might come off as a crazy person to her.

  • ChuckyAirLaw [none/use name]
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    4 years ago

    Go in for a kiss but then at the last second just shout "UP THE RA" into their mouth.

    They'll still be a republican, but the good kind.

  • discontinuuity [he/him]
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    4 years ago

    How old was she the last time she voted Republican? I voted Republican until I was like 23, but I grew out of it.

  • Nagarjuna [he/him]
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    4 years ago

    Be yourself, be hot, be an open socialist, make her say "labor's entitled to all it creates" before you let her cum.

  • chiefecula [none/use name]
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    edit-2
    4 years ago

    Converting a normie is infinitely easier than changing the mind of a zealot. If a normie doesn't follow politics, then they probably never really thought about any of this stuff and don't really have any opinions they deeply care about. The normie will be quoting stuff they've heard, but if they didn't invest any time in politics they won't be married to those ideas. Chances are you can relatively easily make her agree to at least some of your points if you present them in a calm manner and pick your battles. The secret is let her speak her mind and agree to as much as you can. I'm sure she has some idiotic opinions (especially about minorities and poor people), but don't focus on fighting, focus on things you agree on, like hating shitlibs and the corrupt swamp. Find as many common things you hate, and shit all over them all the time. But stop talking if she's tired of politics. Don't push. The more she thinks of you as an ally the better. Try to lump the things she hates (shitlibs) with the things you hate (I'm assuming American political system in general). Say generic shit like "the whole system is corrupt", don't attack directly republicans, it will only drive her away. Under no circumstances are you to attack normies, even if they voted for Trump. That's absolutely haram. If she's super patriotic you should probably avoid saying death to America and badmouthing troops. Basically, hide your power level and start with the stuff you can hear from non-political folks. Go watch All Gas No Breaks if you forgot how they talk.

    The best thing you can do is presenting a new idea she's never thought about before. Chances are, she has no understanding of what socialism is and why people like it, so if you can describe the idea of socialism without actually saying the word, she'll probably agree to it. You can't just spew cnn talking points she's heard before, use your own words. In my experience, trying to change someone's mind by saying they're wrong doesn't work, but adding something new might make an impact. Your goal is to have her go "oh, I guess I've never thought about this before". Don't make her actually say that out loud, of course, you goal is expanding her believes, not proving you're the smartest boy in the world. Don't be an annoying and patronizing shitlib, it's the worst thing you can do. You can't quote people or studies, you can't send her to read theory, focus on the basics. If you have to use a study then you're probably fighting about something specific, try not to do that. If you got sucked into fighting the best thing you can do is disengage, it's probably not worth it. Even if it is, chances are you will have better luck at a later point. The more she agrees with you on other stuff the easier it will be to convert her, but never focus on that, let her come to her own conclusions. If you absolutely have to tell her she's wrong, only do that with stuff you can prove with a 100% guarantee, like if she says the internet was made in America, let it slide because who gives a shit where the internet was made, it doesn't fucking matter.

    The best thing you can do is ask her to explain how the world works, and if she can't, offer your version. It's tricky, obviously, you can't just open the conversation with the stuff like that. If you yourself can't explain the basic stuff like how money work or what politics are then you shouldn't start anything. You need to be able to explain this stuff in a way a five year old can understand, no terminology.

    If you're a Mark nerd, forget about the word commodity forever, the people of 21st century use the word product instead. And even the word product is too much and you should try to boil it down even further.

    I'm guessing one of the biggest hurdles will be the popular belief that CEOs are super special and actually deserve the money and they took all risks and shit. Again, arguing with that is pointless, but what you can do is point out how Bill Gates' mother was on the board of directors of IBM and landed him his first big contract. How Amazon was started with Jeff Bezos' parents investing 100,000 bucks into Amazon and a year later they had to give him another quarter of a million dollars. Talk about how Elon Musk didn't even create PayPal or Tesla and he just bought those companies with his daddy's money. You know, something she might not know. Try not to make it look like an argument, though.

    If she has student loans, try asking her something like "Have you ever noticed how every "this is how I paid off my student load debt before hitting 30" article always has rich parents doing their kids massive favors?". If she hates shitlibs, point out how having an ivy league diploma is meaningless because they can be a legacy degenerate crackhead failson who only got there because of their rich parents.

    Okay, I'll stop now, you get the idea.

    Oh, and I think the best way to radicalize people is to point out how the rich literally don't pay any taxes.

  • Moosegender [he/him]
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    4 years ago

    Makes sense. If she was a liberal than you would’ve spotted her instantly. But just like Tulsi Gabbard, some leftist types have problems seeing through a blatant reactionary.