Yep. One of the biggest blind spots people have is assuming that underneath, others share the same basic values as them. They have trouble imagining an ideology that is completely misaligned with theirs.
I can understand it and itâs what terrifies me about them
ManwĂŤ and Melkor what
Last sentence reminds me of something Hannah Arendt wrote that I MUST find again: that totalitarianism can only be *fully* understood by autopsy, and that those who aren't mobilized by what is already known won't be when even more is known. (obviously NOT how she put it, she did put it well).
Yea, they are sadists. The moral things we care about like fairness and alleviating suffering do not move them.
Works the other way too; hence the phrase "every conservative accusation is a confession". We all think others think mostly like us. Many do! Many don't.
It took me decades to realize this
No, fascism arises when a population senses the way to remedy chaos or aggrievement is a "strong hand." It never works but that's how it starts. No ordinary citizen WANTS fascism and its consequences. But the final step seems like the best, possibly drastic, option.
It doesnât seem particularly complicated but people seem particularly unwilling to believe in the idea of bad people
I confess that I struggle with this constantly.
This is a helpful thought for me, who very much assumes everyone thinks like me. đ One concern: I worry that folx might go from "I can't understand their toxic views" to "they're irredeemable". Not everybody can change (my father died a monster), but some people do.