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   Matthew Sheffield (mattsheffield@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 28-Oct-2024 14:27:56 JST Matthew Sheffield

   🧵 The unique danger of fascism is that its irrationality cannot be defeated rationally.

   Fact checks and policy comparisons are useless because accuracy and sound thinking are secondary goods to most people

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     Matthew Sheffield (mattsheffield@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 28-Oct-2024 14:27:54 JST Matthew Sheffield

     in reply to

     Feelings are powerful. They protect our mind in a world that is often cruel and unfair. Fascism is about identifying core emotions and using them to establish irrational authority.

     Irrational authorities can then determine truth. They don't prove truth. They decree it. https://plus.flux.community/p/trump-supporters-are-almost-impossible?utm_source=publication-search

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     Matthew Sheffield (mattsheffield@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 28-Oct-2024 14:27:55 JST Matthew Sheffield

     in reply to

     Fascism is pure emotional negativity so to argue against it or to call the great leader fascist to someone who is in the thrall of fascism sounds like complete nonsense to them. It's as rational as proving a negative.

     Most people are not able to process that argument. Which is why a positive message of what you or your candidate will do is more effective.

     You cannot be more negative than Trump. But he cannot be more positive.

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     Matthew Sheffield (mattsheffield@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 28-Oct-2024 14:27:55 JST Matthew Sheffield

     in reply to

     You can attack the underlings successfully, but mostly only about how they rip off the supporters.

     Skepticism about criminal Trump underlings like Steve Bannon can then be used to develop empathy for others similarly disadvantaged.

     Fascism's core appeal is fear for the self and seeing oneself as alone in the world with only the great leader to protect.

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     Matthew Sheffield (mattsheffield@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 28-Oct-2024 14:27:55 JST Matthew Sheffield

     in reply to

     To defeat irrational arguments, you have to use reason to think irrationally.

     You have to identify the underlying value or concern and address it. The argument you see from fascist supporters is not what they actually believe.

     They feel and then think. It's an inverted epistemology. Which is why it's so maddening to argue against.

     GreenSkyOverMe (Monika) repeated this.
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     Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Monday, 28-Oct-2024 18:41:49 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • Bob Mottram :debian:

     @mattsheffield @bob Ah, thank goodness we haven’t built our societies to respect irrationality, teach it in schools, and, in some places, even legally protect it from criticism … oh, wait.

     “Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” – Voltaire