The vast majority of the Republican party has “unbiased” for decades. It is (has been) the brand. It is my one quibble with Never Trump crowd. Many of them still refuse to accept that they knowingly tolerated the racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia etc…..ya know because lower taxes and such.
One thing that I've experienced, having been raised in a rural area, is that there are lots of people who are not racist/sexist/transphobic themselves, but who do not feel comfortable/interested in standing up for those who belong to other groups. The left isn't so great at messaging, it's always very black and white; and the reason is that if you're a part of those groups, it doesn't really matter if you're the person who says the thing or says nothing when it's said.
To put it another way, if someone is being mugged, and everyone just watches it happen, then it's hard not to think that other people are permitting it to happen if you're the one being mugged.
There are a lot of 'moderates' who fundamentally disagree with the stance much of the right has taken. But the problem is that they are not uncomfortable with the idea of being around these people. This is somewhat natural; if you're around people you work with or associate with out of need or self interest, correcting them might actually have consequences for you personally. And lots of people don't want that. So they excuse it. They become the 'adults' in the room in the Trump Administration, essentially.
So basically, if you're in the GOP or consider yourself conservative right now, and you're sitting in the room with people, say, in Texas who are like 'our position is that trans people are mentally ill and also we should leave the union' and you're like 'well I gotta sit at their table' you're basically no different than they are. You are a part of it.
For a lot of people this is very hard. But reality is, at some point you need to decide what you're not okay with anymore. If people on your 'side' who you meet with, associate with, and get along with are advocating for very harmful things, and you're like 'well, it's not THAT bad' you might as well be them, even if you don't participate.
Or, to use a very blunt analogy, it doesn't matter if you're in the klan and don't actually lynch anyone. If you're wearing the hood and attending the meetings, you're one of them. You can't be like 'well, I didn't kill anyone, I just burned crosses and wore the uniform.' That's not a rational position.
But there are a lot of people on the right at the moment who are doing that for all intents and purposes. They're at the meetings where people are advocating very harmful and violent things, and they're funding them, and giving them a platform, and then going 'well, I didn't personally advocate for it.'
They're a part of the group. It's the same with Trump people, who are like 'well, I didn't personally do a coup.' Well great, but you built him up and helped him pave the way for four years. That's on you too. See the Mattis' and Pence's of the world, who end up in that position, and then want to be seen like they weren't a part of all the things that happened.
I did an internship in a rural community with ZERO black residents. The year before a black family moved to the community for the father's job, but the community ran them out within a couple months. One of my friends said she will always regret she did not do anything to stand up for the family.
It is the same dynamic we see among Trump supporters. If any one of them shows a bit of integrity, they are ostracized as "RINOs." Right after Uvalde and right after evidence of Trump's stochastic violence, one Republican is even proudly running on "RINO hunting." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r156NzlHmJ4 Then they'll offer thoughts and prayers when somebody RSVP's his invitation.
Great comment, Shawn. I remember having a talk with my grandson, then about nine, about an anti-bullying program at his school. He said he learned that there are the bullies, the persons being bullied, and the passive onlookers. He was self-aware enough to identify himself as an onlooker who witnessed the bullying and knew it was wrong, but didn't do anything to stop it. My theory is that part of the reason for that, in his case, and in general, is that people don't quite know what to do, and need to be taught how they can intervene and stand up for the rights of others. So we talked about a few things he could do until we hit on one he felt comfortable he could do.
I know this might be pie-in-the-sky optimistic, that there are people who just don't care about anything unless it personally affects them, but I do think there are a certain number of people like the ones you describe who, if given some scripts of what to say or specific actions they could do, might be able to gather their courage and stand up to bigots and bullies.
And for sure we should be teaching kids these strategies if we hope to have a future citizenry that is less bigoted and more other-oriented.
Great explanation!!
The vast majority of the Republican party has “unbiased” for decades. It is (has been) the brand. It is my one quibble with Never Trump crowd. Many of them still refuse to accept that they knowingly tolerated the racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia etc…..ya know because lower taxes and such.
One thing that I've experienced, having been raised in a rural area, is that there are lots of people who are not racist/sexist/transphobic themselves, but who do not feel comfortable/interested in standing up for those who belong to other groups. The left isn't so great at messaging, it's always very black and white; and the reason is that if you're a part of those groups, it doesn't really matter if you're the person who says the thing or says nothing when it's said.
To put it another way, if someone is being mugged, and everyone just watches it happen, then it's hard not to think that other people are permitting it to happen if you're the one being mugged.
There are a lot of 'moderates' who fundamentally disagree with the stance much of the right has taken. But the problem is that they are not uncomfortable with the idea of being around these people. This is somewhat natural; if you're around people you work with or associate with out of need or self interest, correcting them might actually have consequences for you personally. And lots of people don't want that. So they excuse it. They become the 'adults' in the room in the Trump Administration, essentially.
So basically, if you're in the GOP or consider yourself conservative right now, and you're sitting in the room with people, say, in Texas who are like 'our position is that trans people are mentally ill and also we should leave the union' and you're like 'well I gotta sit at their table' you're basically no different than they are. You are a part of it.
For a lot of people this is very hard. But reality is, at some point you need to decide what you're not okay with anymore. If people on your 'side' who you meet with, associate with, and get along with are advocating for very harmful things, and you're like 'well, it's not THAT bad' you might as well be them, even if you don't participate.
Or, to use a very blunt analogy, it doesn't matter if you're in the klan and don't actually lynch anyone. If you're wearing the hood and attending the meetings, you're one of them. You can't be like 'well, I didn't kill anyone, I just burned crosses and wore the uniform.' That's not a rational position.
But there are a lot of people on the right at the moment who are doing that for all intents and purposes. They're at the meetings where people are advocating very harmful and violent things, and they're funding them, and giving them a platform, and then going 'well, I didn't personally advocate for it.'
They're a part of the group. It's the same with Trump people, who are like 'well, I didn't personally do a coup.' Well great, but you built him up and helped him pave the way for four years. That's on you too. See the Mattis' and Pence's of the world, who end up in that position, and then want to be seen like they weren't a part of all the things that happened.
I did an internship in a rural community with ZERO black residents. The year before a black family moved to the community for the father's job, but the community ran them out within a couple months. One of my friends said she will always regret she did not do anything to stand up for the family.
It is the same dynamic we see among Trump supporters. If any one of them shows a bit of integrity, they are ostracized as "RINOs." Right after Uvalde and right after evidence of Trump's stochastic violence, one Republican is even proudly running on "RINO hunting." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r156NzlHmJ4 Then they'll offer thoughts and prayers when somebody RSVP's his invitation.
Great comment, Shawn. I remember having a talk with my grandson, then about nine, about an anti-bullying program at his school. He said he learned that there are the bullies, the persons being bullied, and the passive onlookers. He was self-aware enough to identify himself as an onlooker who witnessed the bullying and knew it was wrong, but didn't do anything to stop it. My theory is that part of the reason for that, in his case, and in general, is that people don't quite know what to do, and need to be taught how they can intervene and stand up for the rights of others. So we talked about a few things he could do until we hit on one he felt comfortable he could do.
I know this might be pie-in-the-sky optimistic, that there are people who just don't care about anything unless it personally affects them, but I do think there are a certain number of people like the ones you describe who, if given some scripts of what to say or specific actions they could do, might be able to gather their courage and stand up to bigots and bullies.
And for sure we should be teaching kids these strategies if we hope to have a future citizenry that is less bigoted and more other-oriented.