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Talking politics with right wingers is like trying to teach a pig math. They live in their own little world and then get violently angry when you tell them what’s really going on.
On the flip side, I was talking to day with a truck driver who was Republican. He was complaining about his trucking company, the CEOs and how local food taxes are about to go up due to stadiums being built in the city. I said, “you know, they should really be putting those taxes onto the CEOs and the businesses screwing you over.” Motherfucker said he’d vote for me lmaoooo
I think they might be easier to win over than I once thought.
They’re not all bad, but some of them are just too far gone
For sure. I just think it was pretty eye opening for me; that when it all comes down to it, we’re all united under the same banner of struggle. Some people have just fallen through the cracks in the mess of it all.
The culture war has broken a lot of brains but the key to undoing that is to appeal to people’s class interests. They may not consciously understand those interests but they instinctively feel them. They are looking for validation and explanation, but unfortunately oftentimes they will turn to conspiracy theories, identity politics and other forms of magical thinking for answers. Our task is to provide them a real, materialist explanation, but do so not in a condescending way (the most ineffectual way to do class consciousness raising propaganda is to talk to people in the kind of smug, accusatory, “better-than-you” way that liberals do) but in a way that makes them feel seen and feel that their material woes are being taken seriously.
talking to > 60yo right wingers is a wonderful experience