this post was submitted on 30 Nov 2023
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I mostly agree with you.
But I also think it's important to think of the neighbors we disagree with very differently than how we view right wing politicians and corporate executives. Our neighbors may have some shitty opinions and ignorant positions, but they might be decent people at heart. No right wing politician or billionaire CEO is going to be decent at heart.
I'm not sure where you live, but living/growing up in the south.... I can tell you that those beliefs run deep. Deep deep deep. Deeper than you can fix by just being pleasant to your neighbor.
If you try to talk to them with kindness and openness, they dig in their heels and start spewing fox news talking points like it's the most obvious thing in the world (I'm pretty sure they like it so much because it confirms every awful belief they already had). Try to present different sources, they're rejected as fake news. I've tried everything with people around here since before 2016 and nothing seems to help. Mostly I just keep to myself.
Living in the south, if you're not indoctrinated, is very isolating. Even living in the cities doesn't really help. You still need to dig deep and look carefully for people who don't think you deserve fewer rights.
Edit: thinking about it more, I think the isolation is the point, and it's how so many people in my state believe some of the same basic things when it comes to religion and politics. You learn pretty young around here that if you don't get with the program, you're not going to have many friends. If you didn't go to church, especially, you lost out on most of the community's socializing for the week. It feels very cliquey in the smaller towns especially, almost by design.