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   Joan Westenberg (daojoan@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 23:09:11 JST Joan Westenberg

   Conservatives today aren’t really about policies, ideas, or even pretending to solve problems anymore. They’ve stripped all that away, peeled it down to a raw, snarling essence: hatred. 🧵

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     Joan Westenberg (daojoan@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 23:09:09 JST Joan Westenberg

     in reply to

     It’s tragic in the same way that watching someone fall into a pit they’ve spent their entire life digging is tragic. But pity? Empathy? No, they haven’t earned that.

     Rich Felker repeated this.
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     Joan Westenberg (daojoan@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 23:09:09 JST Joan Westenberg

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     This isn’t a matter of being harsh. It’s about understanding the game. Pity is what they weaponize, what they demand when someone pushes back against their hatred.

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     Joan Westenberg (daojoan@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 23:09:10 JST Joan Westenberg

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     And sure, that’s bleak as hell, but here’s the thing: you don’t owe them pity for it.

     Robert Link repeated this.
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     Joan Westenberg (daojoan@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 23:09:10 JST Joan Westenberg

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     The sad truth is that hating everything isn’t much of a life. It’s hollow. It’s a treadmill of grievance, constantly finding new enemies and inventing new threats to get angry about because without them, there’s nothing left.

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     Joan Westenberg (daojoan@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 23:09:10 JST Joan Westenberg

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     If they aren’t railing against the “woke agenda” or the next bogeyman cooked up by talk radio, there’s just a void where their purpose should be. And yeah, maybe on some level, that’s tragic.

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     Joan Westenberg (daojoan@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 23:09:11 JST Joan Westenberg

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     Their entire worldview is a rejection—of people, of change, of the terrifying notion that the world isn’t built to serve their comfort. They define themselves by what and who they despise, and they wear that hatred like a badge, like a personality.

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     Joan Westenberg (daojoan@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 23:09:41 JST Joan Westenberg

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     And look, it’s tempting to say, “Well, they’re victims too.” Maybe that’s true in the abstract, but let’s be real: you don’t owe them absolution for the misery they’ve decided to inflict on the rest of us. Misery isn’t a free pass. Hatred isn’t a cry for help.

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     Joan Westenberg (daojoan@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 23:09:42 JST Joan Westenberg

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     They’ve chosen this—chosen to define themselves not by love, or creation, or even simple self-interest, but by what they reject. It’s all agency, twisted and inverted, but agency nonetheless.

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     Joan Westenberg (daojoan@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 23:09:42 JST Joan Westenberg

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     To pity them is to misunderstand what they’re doing. It’s not passive. It’s not an accident. The hatred is the point. It fuels their sense of superiority, their belief that the world owes them something.

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     Joan Westenberg (daojoan@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 23:09:42 JST Joan Westenberg

     in reply to

     It’s a balm for the gnawing fear that they’re being left behind, that the world is changing, and it doesn’t care what they think about it. So they lash out at the people they’ve decided are to blame. Immigrants. Queer people.

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     Joan Westenberg (daojoan@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 23:09:42 JST Joan Westenberg

     in reply to

     Anyone who looks, thinks, or lives differently than they do. They keep swinging because swinging is easier than self-reflection, than admitting they might be wrong.

     Rich Felker repeated this.
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     Joan Westenberg (daojoan@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 23:09:43 JST Joan Westenberg

     in reply to

     They’ll cry foul, claim victimhood, say they’re being “silenced” the second the consequences of their ideology come knocking. Pity lets them off the hook, makes their choices seem like the inevitable result of outside forces. But they aren’t.