Someone posted a comment on another blog about the strong reaction some people have against Trump supporters. The commenter related how her own daughter who is an ER doctor called the mother a racist. The daughter also said she can’t believe the mother was supporting Trump who puts her the daughter’s life at risk because of inadequate personal protective equipment. The mother feels that it’s the responsibility of the state governor, not the president. As a result the mother and daughter haven’t talked in months.
Her story reminds me of an encounter I had when Romney was running against Obama. I was at a get together at a friend’s house where the daughter of a friend proclaimed that she wouldn't vote for Mitt Romney because "he wants to kill me." When I asked what she meant by that she explained that she has a condition that was life-threatening if she got pregnant. She wanted the government to provide contraceptives for people like her. Romney was against government-provided contraceptives. Ergo, he wants to kill people like her. Makes perfect sense, doesn't it? There is no arguing with that, literally.
In her mind her need became a right and there is no honest disagreement with her position. If you don't agree with her that means you want to kill her. That probably helps explain why people like this hate Trump (and conservatives) so viscerally and viciously. They're literally threatened by the existence of people who disagree. I'm speculating here but I think the people who hate Trump and conservatives see them as evil, not wrong, so this justifies the whole cancel culture agenda. Actually I'm not speculating or mind reading so much. I've heard people explicitly say Trump and his supporters are evil. And, yes, you can find similar examples of people on the right calling Obama or Biden supporters evil.
I suppose this reaction typifies what it means to be an ideologue. They see everything as either-or with no shades of grey. If you say you support Trump that means you agree with everything he says or does. Every. Single. Thing. Or if you’re an Obama supporter he never did anything wrong. Never. As I said above there is no arguing with an ideologue. You either agree 100% with an ideologue or you’re no longer human. Unfortunately that mentality justifies a lot of what is playing out in front of our eyes today. Cancel culture. Tearing down statues. Rioting. And so on. The centrifugal forces of fear and hatred fueled by ideology tear us apart.
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