Engaging with Trump's die-hard supporters isn't productive

I probably should have put this OP in the Clean Debate Zone. I was kind of looking for sane responses.
Lemme put it this way to Trumpsters: Has arguing with those who don't like Trump been productive for you?
Maybe the time has come for BOTH sides to ignore one another.
It's true though, it's useless engaging with a Cult. Only a mental health professional or a diffusion of their Leader's power can help them. Give it a few news cycles after January 20th.

I certainly don't wish to be a downer for the forum. But one of my New Years resolutions is to post less after 1-20. There will be little left but the opportunity to engage with bitter-clingers and there are so many far more productive things for us to do!
The entire Country needs to detox from the Cult - they're disgusting.
We have tried but then you filled out all the fake leftyvirus mailins.....
 
I probably should have put this OP in the Clean Debate Zone. I was kind of looking for sane responses.
Lemme put it this way to Trumpsters: Has arguing with those who don't like Trump been productive for you?
Maybe the time has come for BOTH sides to ignore one another.
It's true though, it's useless engaging with a Cult. Only a mental health professional or a diffusion of their Leader's power can help them. Give it a few news cycles after January 20th.

I certainly don't wish to be a downer for the forum. But one of my New Years resolutions is to post less after 1-20. There will be little left but the opportunity to engage with bitter-clingers and there are so many far more productive things for us to do!
The entire Country needs to detox from the Cult - they're disgusting.
next year a new cult takes over.....
 
WE haven't even begun to "engage" your kind. After we do . . . well, you'll be dancing to a different tune.

LoL - Are we in armed insurrection mode now? :)

On a slightly different note, we fished in a private lake up north last week and caught some amazing rainbow trout—up to 31". That probably sounds small fish to you West Coast guys. Half the lake was frozen over, but we still did quite well. My niece, ten, had a blast.

A rainbow nearly three feet in length? :oops: You sure those weren't landlocked salmon or steelhead? If it was one of those pay to catch and release private lakes, yep - I've caught a few 2 to 2.5 foot rainbows in Oregon.

And check out the near-record NINETEEN POUND rainbow some dude in Boise caught before I left! See, this is proof we can find common ground at least SOMEWHERE! ;-)


big_trout1.jpg
 
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As if anyone on the left or sane right hasn't learned this lesson already? ;)

<snips>

Ordinary people worn out by the dramas and lies of the past four years have a right to refuse to take Trump’s most enthusiastic supporters seriously. To reject further debate with people whose views are completely incoherent is not only understandable, but sensible.​
I am talking about the people who are giving Trump their full-throated support to the very end, even as he mulls a military coup; the people who buy weird paintings of Trump crossing the Delaware, or who believe that Trump is an agent of Jesus Christ, or who think that Trump is fighting a blood-drinking ring of pedophiles. These supporters have gone far beyond political loyalty and have succumbed to a kind of mass delusion. It is not possible to engage them. Indeed, to argue with them is to legitimize their beliefs, which itself is unhealthy for our democracy.​
I don’t want to treat our fellow citizens with open contempt, or to confront and berate them. Rather, I am arguing for silence. The Trump loyalists who still cling to conspiracy theories and who remain part of a cult of personality should be deprived of the attention they seek, shunned for their antidemocratic lunacy, and then outvoted at the ballot box.​
If we’ve learned one thing about “Trumpism,” it is that there is no such thing as “Trumpism.” No content anchors it; no program or policy comes from it. No motivating ideology stands behind it, unless we think of general grievance and a hatred of cultural and intellectual elites as an “idea.” And when views are incoherent andbeliefs are rooted in fantasies, compromise is impossible. Further engagement is not only unwarranted, but it can also become counterproductive.​
We must go on as a nation, and as families. Of course you still love your uncle, even if he is bellowing about stolen elections at Christmas dinner, just as you love your sister-in-law even while she’s trying to ruin a wedding reception by holding forth on socialist saboteurs. But neither they nor the millions of other diehards deserve our engagement. The sooner we refuse to continue such conversations, the sooner we might return to being a serious nation.​

And yet, we do it anyway. Most of us can learn something from this piece. Sure, it's fun to point fingers and laugh at Trumpettes, but it has become counterproductive.

Such is the power of ideology. I often say here that trying to communicate with people who are consumed by an ideology is like trying to communicate with a wild-eyed teenaged jihadi on the streets of Damascus. It's pointless.

People like this exist on both ends of the spectrum. It's very possible that people like that will never be part of reasonable, honest, constructive conversation. We just have to work around them, somehow.
 
As if anyone on the left or sane right hasn't learned this lesson already? ;)

<snips>

Ordinary people worn out by the dramas and lies of the past four years have a right to refuse to take Trump’s most enthusiastic supporters seriously. To reject further debate with people whose views are completely incoherent is not only understandable, but sensible.​
I am talking about the people who are giving Trump their full-throated support to the very end, even as he mulls a military coup; the people who buy weird paintings of Trump crossing the Delaware, or who believe that Trump is an agent of Jesus Christ, or who think that Trump is fighting a blood-drinking ring of pedophiles. These supporters have gone far beyond political loyalty and have succumbed to a kind of mass delusion. It is not possible to engage them. Indeed, to argue with them is to legitimize their beliefs, which itself is unhealthy for our democracy.​
I don’t want to treat our fellow citizens with open contempt, or to confront and berate them. Rather, I am arguing for silence. The Trump loyalists who still cling to conspiracy theories and who remain part of a cult of personality should be deprived of the attention they seek, shunned for their antidemocratic lunacy, and then outvoted at the ballot box.​
If we’ve learned one thing about “Trumpism,” it is that there is no such thing as “Trumpism.” No content anchors it; no program or policy comes from it. No motivating ideology stands behind it, unless we think of general grievance and a hatred of cultural and intellectual elites as an “idea.” And when views are incoherent andbeliefs are rooted in fantasies, compromise is impossible. Further engagement is not only unwarranted, but it can also become counterproductive.​
We must go on as a nation, and as families. Of course you still love your uncle, even if he is bellowing about stolen elections at Christmas dinner, just as you love your sister-in-law even while she’s trying to ruin a wedding reception by holding forth on socialist saboteurs. But neither they nor the millions of other diehards deserve our engagement. The sooner we refuse to continue such conversations, the sooner we might return to being a serious nation.​

And yet, we do it anyway. Most of us can learn something from this piece. Sure, it's fun to point fingers and laugh at Trumpettes, but it has become counterproductive.



Oh look, the Himmlerites are declaring those who support Trump as sub-human.

Wonder where these Nazi fucks learned that little trick?
 
As if anyone on the left or sane right hasn't learned this lesson already? ;)

<snips>

Ordinary people worn out by the dramas and lies of the past four years have a right to refuse to take Trump’s most enthusiastic supporters seriously. To reject further debate with people whose views are completely incoherent is not only understandable, but sensible.​
I am talking about the people who are giving Trump their full-throated support to the very end, even as he mulls a military coup; the people who buy weird paintings of Trump crossing the Delaware, or who believe that Trump is an agent of Jesus Christ, or who think that Trump is fighting a blood-drinking ring of pedophiles. These supporters have gone far beyond political loyalty and have succumbed to a kind of mass delusion. It is not possible to engage them. Indeed, to argue with them is to legitimize their beliefs, which itself is unhealthy for our democracy.​
I don’t want to treat our fellow citizens with open contempt, or to confront and berate them. Rather, I am arguing for silence. The Trump loyalists who still cling to conspiracy theories and who remain part of a cult of personality should be deprived of the attention they seek, shunned for their antidemocratic lunacy, and then outvoted at the ballot box.​
If we’ve learned one thing about “Trumpism,” it is that there is no such thing as “Trumpism.” No content anchors it; no program or policy comes from it. No motivating ideology stands behind it, unless we think of general grievance and a hatred of cultural and intellectual elites as an “idea.” And when views are incoherent andbeliefs are rooted in fantasies, compromise is impossible. Further engagement is not only unwarranted, but it can also become counterproductive.​
We must go on as a nation, and as families. Of course you still love your uncle, even if he is bellowing about stolen elections at Christmas dinner, just as you love your sister-in-law even while she’s trying to ruin a wedding reception by holding forth on socialist saboteurs. But neither they nor the millions of other diehards deserve our engagement. The sooner we refuse to continue such conversations, the sooner we might return to being a serious nation.​

And yet, we do it anyway. Most of us can learn something from this piece. Sure, it's fun to point fingers and laugh at Trumpettes, but it has become counterproductive.

This must be the 2 or 3 hundredth reincarnation of Josef Goebbels on this forum alone!
 
I probably should have put this OP in the Clean Debate Zone. I was kind of looking for sane responses.
Lemme put it this way to Trumpsters: Has arguing with those who don't like Trump been productive for you?
Maybe the time has come for BOTH sides to ignore one another.
It's true though, it's useless engaging with a Cult. Only a mental health professional or a diffusion of their Leader's power can help them. Give it a few news cycles after January 20th.

I certainly don't wish to be a downer for the forum. But one of my New Years resolutions is to post less after 1-20. There will be little left but the opportunity to engage with bitter-clingers and there are so many far more productive things for us to do!
The entire Country needs to detox from the Cult - they're disgusting.
next year a new cult takes over.....
:itsok:
 
I probably should have put this OP in the Clean Debate Zone. I was kind of looking for sane responses.
Lemme put it this way to Trumpsters: Has arguing with those who don't like Trump been productive for you?
Maybe the time has come for BOTH sides to ignore one another.
It's true though, it's useless engaging with a Cult. Only a mental health professional or a diffusion of their Leader's power can help them. Give it a few news cycles after January 20th.

I certainly don't wish to be a downer for the forum. But one of my New Years resolutions is to post less after 1-20. There will be little left but the opportunity to engage with bitter-clingers and there are so many far more productive things for us to do!
The entire Country needs to detox from the Cult - they're disgusting.
next year a new cult takes over.....
:itsok:
reach down a little further gt and scratch my ass if you will....thanks...
 
As if anyone on the left or sane right hasn't learned this lesson already? ;)

<snips>

Ordinary people worn out by the dramas and lies of the past four years have a right to refuse to take Trump’s most enthusiastic supporters seriously. To reject further debate with people whose views are completely incoherent is not only understandable, but sensible.​
I am talking about the people who are giving Trump their full-throated support to the very end, even as he mulls a military coup; the people who buy weird paintings of Trump crossing the Delaware, or who believe that Trump is an agent of Jesus Christ, or who think that Trump is fighting a blood-drinking ring of pedophiles. These supporters have gone far beyond political loyalty and have succumbed to a kind of mass delusion. It is not possible to engage them. Indeed, to argue with them is to legitimize their beliefs, which itself is unhealthy for our democracy.​
I don’t want to treat our fellow citizens with open contempt, or to confront and berate them. Rather, I am arguing for silence. The Trump loyalists who still cling to conspiracy theories and who remain part of a cult of personality should be deprived of the attention they seek, shunned for their antidemocratic lunacy, and then outvoted at the ballot box.​
If we’ve learned one thing about “Trumpism,” it is that there is no such thing as “Trumpism.” No content anchors it; no program or policy comes from it. No motivating ideology stands behind it, unless we think of general grievance and a hatred of cultural and intellectual elites as an “idea.” And when views are incoherent andbeliefs are rooted in fantasies, compromise is impossible. Further engagement is not only unwarranted, but it can also become counterproductive.​
We must go on as a nation, and as families. Of course you still love your uncle, even if he is bellowing about stolen elections at Christmas dinner, just as you love your sister-in-law even while she’s trying to ruin a wedding reception by holding forth on socialist saboteurs. But neither they nor the millions of other diehards deserve our engagement. The sooner we refuse to continue such conversations, the sooner we might return to being a serious nation.​

And yet, we do it anyway. Most of us can learn something from this piece. Sure, it's fun to point fingers and laugh at Trumpettes, but it has become counterproductive.

Such is the power of ideology. I often say here that trying to communicate with people who are consumed by an ideology is like trying to communicate with a wild-eyed teenaged jihadi on the streets of Damascus. It's pointless.

People like this exist on both ends of the spectrum. It's very possible that people like that will never be part of reasonable, honest, constructive conversation. We just have to work around them, somehow.
So we America lovers are compared to the jihad by you America haters......telling isn't it?
 
As if anyone on the left or sane right hasn't learned this lesson already? ;)

<snips>

Ordinary people worn out by the dramas and lies of the past four years have a right to refuse to take Trump’s most enthusiastic supporters seriously. To reject further debate with people whose views are completely incoherent is not only understandable, but sensible.​
I am talking about the people who are giving Trump their full-throated support to the very end, even as he mulls a military coup; the people who buy weird paintings of Trump crossing the Delaware, or who believe that Trump is an agent of Jesus Christ, or who think that Trump is fighting a blood-drinking ring of pedophiles. These supporters have gone far beyond political loyalty and have succumbed to a kind of mass delusion. It is not possible to engage them. Indeed, to argue with them is to legitimize their beliefs, which itself is unhealthy for our democracy.​
I don’t want to treat our fellow citizens with open contempt, or to confront and berate them. Rather, I am arguing for silence. The Trump loyalists who still cling to conspiracy theories and who remain part of a cult of personality should be deprived of the attention they seek, shunned for their antidemocratic lunacy, and then outvoted at the ballot box.​
If we’ve learned one thing about “Trumpism,” it is that there is no such thing as “Trumpism.” No content anchors it; no program or policy comes from it. No motivating ideology stands behind it, unless we think of general grievance and a hatred of cultural and intellectual elites as an “idea.” And when views are incoherent andbeliefs are rooted in fantasies, compromise is impossible. Further engagement is not only unwarranted, but it can also become counterproductive.​
We must go on as a nation, and as families. Of course you still love your uncle, even if he is bellowing about stolen elections at Christmas dinner, just as you love your sister-in-law even while she’s trying to ruin a wedding reception by holding forth on socialist saboteurs. But neither they nor the millions of other diehards deserve our engagement. The sooner we refuse to continue such conversations, the sooner we might return to being a serious nation.​

And yet, we do it anyway. Most of us can learn something from this piece. Sure, it's fun to point fingers and laugh at Trumpettes, but it has become counterproductive.

Such is the power of ideology. I often say here that trying to communicate with people who are consumed by an ideology is like trying to communicate with a wild-eyed teenaged jihadi on the streets of Damascus. It's pointless.

People like this exist on both ends of the spectrum. It's very possible that people like that will never be part of reasonable, honest, constructive conversation. We just have to work around them, somehow.
So we America lovers are compared to the jihad by you America haters......telling isn't it?
Yes, your behaviors are similar.
 
As if anyone on the left or sane right hasn't learned this lesson already? ;)

<snips>

Ordinary people worn out by the dramas and lies of the past four years have a right to refuse to take Trump’s most enthusiastic supporters seriously. To reject further debate with people whose views are completely incoherent is not only understandable, but sensible.​
I am talking about the people who are giving Trump their full-throated support to the very end, even as he mulls a military coup; the people who buy weird paintings of Trump crossing the Delaware, or who believe that Trump is an agent of Jesus Christ, or who think that Trump is fighting a blood-drinking ring of pedophiles. These supporters have gone far beyond political loyalty and have succumbed to a kind of mass delusion. It is not possible to engage them. Indeed, to argue with them is to legitimize their beliefs, which itself is unhealthy for our democracy.​
I don’t want to treat our fellow citizens with open contempt, or to confront and berate them. Rather, I am arguing for silence. The Trump loyalists who still cling to conspiracy theories and who remain part of a cult of personality should be deprived of the attention they seek, shunned for their antidemocratic lunacy, and then outvoted at the ballot box.​
If we’ve learned one thing about “Trumpism,” it is that there is no such thing as “Trumpism.” No content anchors it; no program or policy comes from it. No motivating ideology stands behind it, unless we think of general grievance and a hatred of cultural and intellectual elites as an “idea.” And when views are incoherent andbeliefs are rooted in fantasies, compromise is impossible. Further engagement is not only unwarranted, but it can also become counterproductive.​
We must go on as a nation, and as families. Of course you still love your uncle, even if he is bellowing about stolen elections at Christmas dinner, just as you love your sister-in-law even while she’s trying to ruin a wedding reception by holding forth on socialist saboteurs. But neither they nor the millions of other diehards deserve our engagement. The sooner we refuse to continue such conversations, the sooner we might return to being a serious nation.​

And yet, we do it anyway. Most of us can learn something from this piece. Sure, it's fun to point fingers and laugh at Trumpettes, but it has become counterproductive.

Such is the power of ideology. I often say here that trying to communicate with people who are consumed by an ideology is like trying to communicate with a wild-eyed teenaged jihadi on the streets of Damascus. It's pointless.

People like this exist on both ends of the spectrum. It's very possible that people like that will never be part of reasonable, honest, constructive conversation. We just have to work around them, somehow.
So we America lovers are compared to the jihad by you America haters......telling isn't it?
Yes, your behaviors are similar.
Considering the source I would say it is very telling. Backwardsworld libbers are a very confused lot.
 
As if anyone on the left or sane right hasn't learned this lesson already? ;)

<snips>

Ordinary people worn out by the dramas and lies of the past four years have a right to refuse to take Trump’s most enthusiastic supporters seriously. To reject further debate with people whose views are completely incoherent is not only understandable, but sensible.​
I am talking about the people who are giving Trump their full-throated support to the very end, even as he mulls a military coup; the people who buy weird paintings of Trump crossing the Delaware, or who believe that Trump is an agent of Jesus Christ, or who think that Trump is fighting a blood-drinking ring of pedophiles. These supporters have gone far beyond political loyalty and have succumbed to a kind of mass delusion. It is not possible to engage them. Indeed, to argue with them is to legitimize their beliefs, which itself is unhealthy for our democracy.​
I don’t want to treat our fellow citizens with open contempt, or to confront and berate them. Rather, I am arguing for silence. The Trump loyalists who still cling to conspiracy theories and who remain part of a cult of personality should be deprived of the attention they seek, shunned for their antidemocratic lunacy, and then outvoted at the ballot box.​
If we’ve learned one thing about “Trumpism,” it is that there is no such thing as “Trumpism.” No content anchors it; no program or policy comes from it. No motivating ideology stands behind it, unless we think of general grievance and a hatred of cultural and intellectual elites as an “idea.” And when views are incoherent andbeliefs are rooted in fantasies, compromise is impossible. Further engagement is not only unwarranted, but it can also become counterproductive.​
We must go on as a nation, and as families. Of course you still love your uncle, even if he is bellowing about stolen elections at Christmas dinner, just as you love your sister-in-law even while she’s trying to ruin a wedding reception by holding forth on socialist saboteurs. But neither they nor the millions of other diehards deserve our engagement. The sooner we refuse to continue such conversations, the sooner we might return to being a serious nation.​

And yet, we do it anyway. Most of us can learn something from this piece. Sure, it's fun to point fingers and laugh at Trumpettes, but it has become counterproductive.

Such is the power of ideology. I often say here that trying to communicate with people who are consumed by an ideology is like trying to communicate with a wild-eyed teenaged jihadi on the streets of Damascus. It's pointless.

People like this exist on both ends of the spectrum. It's very possible that people like that will never be part of reasonable, honest, constructive conversation. We just have to work around them, somehow.
So we America lovers are compared to the jihad by you America haters......telling isn't it?
Yes, your behaviors are similar.
Considering the source I would say it is very telling. Backwardsworld libbers are a very confused lot.
Yes, I certainly know that you obedient Trumpsters are much smarter than the rest of us 'n stuff.

No doubt.
 
The entire Country needs to detox from the Cult - they're disgusting.

"Toxic" is a good way to describe the Trump presidency and his cult.
Totally. They will do anything he commands. That shit ain't right, it's a pathos. Akin to Religion, but that's a different topic. Anyhoo, yeah you can't argue with an emotional fixation that's that deep. Trump is Daddy, to them.
 
Such is the power of ideology. I often say here that trying to communicate with people who are consumed by an ideology is like trying to communicate with a wild-eyed teenaged jihadi on the streets of Damascus. It's pointless.

People like this exist on both ends of the spectrum. It's very possible that people like that will never be part of reasonable, honest, constructive conversation. We just have to work around them, somehow.

You make a great point. There is an argument to be made that NOT engaging kray-kray just gives kray-kray wings. And that civil conversation with cultists can (on occasion) get them to look at things slightly differently - with a modicum of sanity.

But for the most part? Meh ... The writer of this piece is correct - It tends to be an exercise in futility.
 
As if anyone on the left or sane right hasn't learned this lesson already? ;)

<snips>

Ordinary people worn out by the dramas and lies of the past four years have a right to refuse to take Trump’s most enthusiastic supporters seriously. To reject further debate with people whose views are completely incoherent is not only understandable, but sensible.​
I am talking about the people who are giving Trump their full-throated support to the very end, even as he mulls a military coup; the people who buy weird paintings of Trump crossing the Delaware, or who believe that Trump is an agent of Jesus Christ, or who think that Trump is fighting a blood-drinking ring of pedophiles. These supporters have gone far beyond political loyalty and have succumbed to a kind of mass delusion. It is not possible to engage them. Indeed, to argue with them is to legitimize their beliefs, which itself is unhealthy for our democracy.​
I don’t want to treat our fellow citizens with open contempt, or to confront and berate them. Rather, I am arguing for silence. The Trump loyalists who still cling to conspiracy theories and who remain part of a cult of personality should be deprived of the attention they seek, shunned for their antidemocratic lunacy, and then outvoted at the ballot box.​
If we’ve learned one thing about “Trumpism,” it is that there is no such thing as “Trumpism.” No content anchors it; no program or policy comes from it. No motivating ideology stands behind it, unless we think of general grievance and a hatred of cultural and intellectual elites as an “idea.” And when views are incoherent andbeliefs are rooted in fantasies, compromise is impossible. Further engagement is not only unwarranted, but it can also become counterproductive.​
We must go on as a nation, and as families. Of course you still love your uncle, even if he is bellowing about stolen elections at Christmas dinner, just as you love your sister-in-law even while she’s trying to ruin a wedding reception by holding forth on socialist saboteurs. But neither they nor the millions of other diehards deserve our engagement. The sooner we refuse to continue such conversations, the sooner we might return to being a serious nation.​

And yet, we do it anyway. Most of us can learn something from this piece. Sure, it's fun to point fingers and laugh at Trumpettes, but it has become counterproductive.

Such is the power of ideology. I often say here that trying to communicate with people who are consumed by an ideology is like trying to communicate with a wild-eyed teenaged jihadi on the streets of Damascus. It's pointless.

People like this exist on both ends of the spectrum. It's very possible that people like that will never be part of reasonable, honest, constructive conversation. We just have to work around them, somehow.
So we America lovers are compared to the jihad by you America haters......telling isn't it?
Yes, your behaviors are similar.
Considering the source I would say it is very telling. Backwardsworld libbers are a very confused lot.
Yes, I certainly know that you obedient Trumpsters are much smarter than the rest of us 'n stuff.

No doubt.
Oh no of course we are not smarter than the uber educated and elitist left. We just support American values where you hate them.
 
The entire Country needs to detox from the Cult - they're disgusting.

"Toxic" is a good way to describe the Trump presidency and his cult.
Totally. They will do anything he commands. That shit ain't right, it's a pathos. Akin to Religion, but that's a different topic. Anyhoo, yeah you can't argue with an emotional fixation that's that deep. Trump is Daddy, to them.
I think the Wizard has a brain for you up in Oz......
 
Such is the power of ideology. I often say here that trying to communicate with people who are consumed by an ideology is like trying to communicate with a wild-eyed teenaged jihadi on the streets of Damascus. It's pointless.

People like this exist on both ends of the spectrum. It's very possible that people like that will never be part of reasonable, honest, constructive conversation. We just have to work around them, somehow.

You make a great point. There is an argument to be made that NOT engaging kray-kray just gives kray-kray wings. And that civil conversation with cultists can (on occasion) get them to look at things slightly differently - with a modicum of sanity.

But for the most part? Meh ... The writer of this piece is correct - It tends to be an exercise in futility.
Wow.....such educated babble from a lefty......
 

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