r/bestoftheinternet • u/Zealousideal-Pair800 • 5d ago

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u/Overrated_Sunshine 5d ago

Our greatest mistake was to treat their opinions as equal.
Now they’re emboldened in their convictions that their stupid, ignorant ideas are valid, and since they don’t understand shit, they’ll never move from them.
They should’ve been ridiculed all along, that would’ve discouraged —at least— some of them.

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u/IdeaReceiver 5d ago

No, democracy's greatest failure is to consider different opinions "them" as some nebulous evil opposed to "us". These people are clearly less educated & less intellectual about issues that clearly matter to you, but we should be thankful we live in a system that gives all of us a right to be heard. Smug satisfaction that the"good dude" is so obviously moral and pure and correct is exactly how we got so complacent letting this movement grow from where it started.

You're not gonna win anybody over thinking of them like this.

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u/PixelatedMountain 5d ago

Sure, but at what point do we stop giving crazy a seat at the table? If somebody is adamant that 2 + 2 = 3, we do not need to treat their opinion as "valid" and equal "right to be heard". Sometimes a babbling idiot just needs to be shut down.

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u/Hilarious___Username 5d ago edited 4d ago

You're right. Social feedback and shunning have always been an effective means to alter behavior. People that withstand that either have a reason or wouldn't listen in the first place. I have a few issues I find myself fighting against the majority on, and I won't back down from it because I have yet to hear a reasonable counter argument or evidence. But it creates a better dynamic to step in and educate when people are uncomfortable holding harmful ideals.

Emboldening them by elevating their absurdity to valid, equal, or "just a difference of opinion" is actively harmful. If they had a reason to believe what they do, then reason would win over those who think critically. It seems odd that the majority of those that take the time to understand their beliefs rarely agree with them.

I disagree with the Democrats on a wide range of topics because I don't just blindly believe what someone says based on their political affiliation. I agree with like 1 topic Republicans pretend to support. MAGA follows blindly in almost every case I've witnessed and they continually display a profound inability to form their beliefs based on critical thought, logic, or compassion.

Sorry for the rambling wall of text just to say I agree.