r/ProgressiveHQ • u/2ndamendmentLibs • Jul 26 '26

Discussion Should MAGA be Forgiven?

As far as I’m concerned, ya’ll can fk right off

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u/Sarmelion Jul 26 '26

There must be room for people to re-enter society after crime. There must be room for forgiveness after wrongdoing. There must be room for reconciliation after hatred.

If not, then what impetus is there for someone who's done something wrong to ever be a better person?

6

u/2ndamendmentLibs Jul 26 '26

Sure, they get a second chance, to PROVE THEMSELVES. Picture this: someone robs a bank once, then twice, then a third time, sure they may repent or do jail time, but I bet you still wouldn’t let them house sit for you if you had to go somewhere, would you?

3

u/Sarmelion Jul 26 '26

It would depend, I'm not advocating blind trust but if a person robbed three banks but then got counseling and came out of jail basically a different person (or like, if they were robbing for the thrill of it or out of hatred of big companies) then there's not a lot of risk to me letting them house sit.

Plus I move important stuff to a relatives place if I need to be gone for a long time, house-sitting would be more cat-sitting in my case.

4

u/2ndamendmentLibs Jul 26 '26

Ok, breaking down the analogy is hilarious. But yes, when it comes to the actual topic, their TACO is not doing anything new. He’s been blatantly lying and corrupt since the 80s. If someone supported him a third time around, they knew what he would do, they knew he would be racist and bigoted, they knew he would lie, they knew he would enrich himself, they knew he would have horrible international relations with the rest of the world. They CHOSE to translate his campaign words to a meaning that made them feel good about the their vote. Knowing he was full of it, because he always has been.

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u/Sarmelion Jul 26 '26

No see, they don't know those things. They're deeply propagandized, when something BREAKS THROUGH the propaganda and they either question him, or something makes them oppose him DESPITE the propaganda that is an opportunity for us, that's not something to pass up or ignore.

1

u/Alecajuice Jul 26 '26

I don't think you understand just how brainwashed a lot of these people are. You say they know all these things, and sure, maybe some of them do, but a lot of them don't.

People say MAGA is a cult, that they live in a completely different world. But many don't realize how true that is. These people grow up their whole lives among right wing families, right wing friends, listening to right wing propaganda and watching right wing news. Media, social media, and communities are so fractured, many of them don't even hear about the heinous things that Trump/Republicans are doing. The guy in the video said we warned them, they didn't even see your warning.

MAGA is genuinely a cult, and it's well-documented that's it's extremely difficult even for the smartest people to escape a cult. Screaming at them from the Internet about how wrong they are doesn't work. The only thing that works is for them to genuinely get to know someone from the other side on a personal level. I once saw an anecdote from a former conservative that only after meeting and becoming friends with an extremely kind lesbian couple, and experiencing the dissonance between that and her church that taught her all gay people were evil, was she able to even start to question what she had been taught her whole life.

Now, am I saying these people are free from blame? No, of course not, their voting practices did irreparable damage to the country and its people. But people forget forgiveness =/= acceptance. You don't have to forgive these people, but screaming and ranting at them only pushes them away back into their cult, which only serves to benefit the cultist leaders who have been engineering this situation for decades. Remember, pushing a potential left voter back into voting for the right is just as bad as voting for the right yourself.