I don't disagree with "Your friends need to ask themselves why they listen to sources who are deliberately misleading them." It's just the reality that they do not believe they are being deliberately misled. So the point of my original comment is that we need to understand that this autocratic movement is so much more than stupid, racist, radical, extreme, low-income rubes. It's too easy to dismiss it as such, and it leads us away from coming up with a successful strategy (that I can't yet conceive of), to counter it.
Many understand the movement and its range.. but the media has fallen in love with the tropes and stereotypes they have. We have seen people like the Koch's and Thiel, and the Mercers (no relation) throwing money at this for years. Seen highly educated and non-working class media people (and media corps) pushing it for years.
None of this is particularly a secret. I remember reading analyses of the Rightist/GoP rhetoric back in grad school in the early 90s that was pointing a lot of this stuff out.. about how it worked and why and about who was pushing it.
I mean they need to ask themselves this question after being presented with the facts. I am not dismissing anything. Your friends are probably more dangerous to democracy than the rubes who dominate news cycles.
I don't disagree with "Your friends need to ask themselves why they listen to sources who are deliberately misleading them." It's just the reality that they do not believe they are being deliberately misled. So the point of my original comment is that we need to understand that this autocratic movement is so much more than stupid, racist, radical, extreme, low-income rubes. It's too easy to dismiss it as such, and it leads us away from coming up with a successful strategy (that I can't yet conceive of), to counter it.
Many understand the movement and its range.. but the media has fallen in love with the tropes and stereotypes they have. We have seen people like the Koch's and Thiel, and the Mercers (no relation) throwing money at this for years. Seen highly educated and non-working class media people (and media corps) pushing it for years.
None of this is particularly a secret. I remember reading analyses of the Rightist/GoP rhetoric back in grad school in the early 90s that was pointing a lot of this stuff out.. about how it worked and why and about who was pushing it.
I mean they need to ask themselves this question after being presented with the facts. I am not dismissing anything. Your friends are probably more dangerous to democracy than the rubes who dominate news cycles.