• JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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    6 months ago

    The far right has a way of infiltrating people’s minds when they are already mentally weak. They lurk around certain communities and poach people out of them.

    This is how reddit was staunchly pro Ron Paul in 2008. Myself included. I still contend that that experience was a training ground for future internet-based astroturfing.

    They wind up the 20 year old virgins and turn them into incels, and from there and turn them into misogynists. As an example. Remember when /r/conspiracy was an interesting place full of lively theorizing about UFOs and Bigfoot?

    They dip into the source of your emotion…whether that be depression or desire, and widen it into a giant chasm ready to take in all your hate as if that will fix everything in the world. They blame your x on y, and to fix y you gotta vote for R.

    The funny thing is…this is the exact same story we are told after some idiot starts shooting up a mall. That they were targeted by extremists online. Same book, different protagonist.

    Should we just admit that the rise of the far right is just a symptom of a long unaddressed mental health crisis in the US, and certain people exploiting that for their own gain, or is it too soon for that?

    • coronach@lemmy.sdf.org
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      6 months ago

      Should we just admit that the rise of the far right is just a symptom of a long unaddressed mental health crisis in the US, and certain people exploiting that for their own gain, or is it too soon for that?

      100%. The sickness of the system comes from inequalities and gutted education. Thanks, Reagan!