Well, a few things…

First and foremost, all authority is derived from a threat of force. Let’s just get that out of the way.

Second, the “agreement” not to use that force on our own citizens has been steadily blurred by an increasingly militarized police force. What we’ve been seeing in terms of civil unrest in this country is the inevitable result of that. The police in this country have turned themselves into an occupying force.

Third, conservative media has been gradually instilling a desire for violence in conservative culture. They’ve been doing this for decades. They’ve been playing the same familiar tropes that enable cultures to engage in the practice of othering, which makes them ambivalent to the idea of violence being inflicted on people outside of their cultural identity.

Lastly, Trump doesn’t give a shit about this, and neither do conservative representatives. Outright flagrant dishonesty is a pillar of cultural conservatism. Never believe what they are saying. They have a set of rules and protections that they apply to others, and an entirely different set that they apply to everyone else.

I wish these shitbricks were actually fleeing to Russia at the levels this article is trying to portray.

Right or wrong is rarely as binary as you seem to be imagining. It’s a spectrum. Alignment with reality is contingent upon a habit of seeking better information. If better information comes along, any intellectually healthy person should be willing to accept it and integrate it into their understanding of the world.

Also - cultivate a habit of knowing that it’s ok to be wrong. Your beliefs don’t define you as much as HOW you choose to shape your beliefs.

We have pattern-seeking brains that instinctually crave a sense of certainty that rarely exists in reality. We always have to be aware of that. We also live in a society that unfortunately reinforces this tendency.

Don’t strive to be “right.” Strive to be well-informed.

They’re about as fetishized as cuckolding is in right wing circles. The way those dorks toss that term around tells me enough to know that a lot of them are harboring a deep-seated desire to watch some dude rail their wives like they never could.

Congrats on her being pathetic, I guess.

If you’re really going to sit here and pretend that none of the things I mentioned play a clear and obvious role in our current situation, I don’t even know where to start with you.

Just ignored the entire first part of that, didn’t you champ?

The average American voter is hilariously unengaged. Many of them read at an 8th grade level at best. We’re suffering the consequences of an education system that has been tragically underfunded for generations, and our media institutions are thoroughly compromised. Because of this, media literacy may as well be non-existent. The worst actors in our public institutions know this and have chosen to capitalize on it. Foreign interests recognize the obvious weakness in our social fabric, and they have been taking advantage of it to great success.

We are completely lacking the most crucial part of any functional democracy - an informed electorate. We have the least qualified people making the most important decisions.

The United States is effectively a failed state. Many of us recognize this, but our options for addressing the problem are limited. We not only have to dislodge the largest defense structure the world has ever seen, but we have to somehow fix the plague of weaponized stupidity that is conservative culture in order to ensure the worst humans don’t end up in powerful positions.

If you have any suggestions on how to start fixing that, I’m all ears.