cross-posted from: https://startrek.website/post/30091443
Note: I'm not casting all Republicans as a "skin of evil" here; I feel many of them are just people trying to make their way in the world whose daily struggles and fears have been amplified manipulated by the "skin of evil", an administration that constantly denies human rights and demonizes (as well as convinces its followers to partake in the demonization of) people who, for the most part, are also just trying to make their way in the world. I've known Republicans, and while the people they give their support to frighten me, most of the ones I've know aren't demons.
EDIT: To be clear, I’m not saying Republican voters did nothing wrong, that they don’t deserve consequences, or that we should avoid making them feel bad. In many ways, the “skin of evil” is their collective wrongs and the way they enabled the current horrors. The evil, however, is a subset of a person (sometimes almost the whole set, though), while the “skin of evil” is the set of evil. Also, I admit I feel a bit on the availability heuristic and that “most of the ones I know” isn’t the strongest evidence.
To be fair, your personal experience is woefully insufficient as a data set to draw such a generous summation of "Republicans", and such blithe optimism often borders on complicity —which I strongly urge you to avoid at all costs. 🙇🏼♂️
And another comment, since my other comment is so long: your criticism of the availability heuristic (making conclusions based only on what you’ve seen) is pretty based.
It’s the availability heuristic and the concept of in-group homogeneity that I think have caused a lot of our societal problems; quite honestly, it’s probably the source of almost every human-made problem in history.
Thank you for reminding me not to succumb to that.
When I say “demons”, I mostly mean the kind of people who you wish you could go get a time machine and kill Hitler when he’s 5 or something because his actions are so horrifying (a criteria I think most Republican elected and appointed leaders have been fulfilling for a long time now).
And of course, the kind of Republican voters who kick their kid out of the house because they’re gay or trans are likely on that list (well, except maybe you want to avoid erasing some queer people from the timeline with the aforementioned time travel method, but you get the idea).
I can see what you’re saying, so I want to be clear that I do not absolve Republican voters of their crimes, and my concession is neither a denial that action needs to be taken nor a suggestion that a lot of people don’t deserve consequences. “Not demons” is pretty much the bare minimum for me, of having the minimum shred of decency left in you that allows you to still deserve life.
If my initial words appear to falsely morally equalize both sides, that is not my intent.
I also just view a lot of these people as stuck in a Plato’s cave; they’ve been conditioned by their environment to do what they do, and while it doesn’t make what they do right, it is nonetheless sad to know maybe they never had a chance at doing the right thing and never will.
(Of course, it is incredibly arrogant to assume I’m not in some Plato’s cave of my own; perhaps I am.)