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This. My point here is that the research shows the key emotion is precarity, not actual disenfranchisment. People ate more vulnerable to radicalization when they feel like something is being taken away from them-
this is the heart of white grievance in white supremacist 1/ https://twitter.com/mudwomon/status/1348329495174868992
this is the heart of white grievance in white supremacist 1/ https://twitter.com/mudwomon/status/1348329495174868992
extremism & it’s also at the heart of the Stop the Steal extremist mobilization. You don’t see people who have actually lost out economically mobilizing at large scale- it’s people who feel they are entitled to something & it’s being taken from them by people who don’t deserve 2/
it. That’s (part of) radicalization. What makes people mobilize to violence from there is complicated but involves moving from feeling empowered & entitled to *compelled* to act. These people have the fervent believe that they are called upon (by the President, by other 3/
elected officials) to defend democracy itself. They think they are being heroics They think they are protecting the freedoms they are entitled to. They think they are preserving and warding off a loss to an evil agenda that is manipulating results to steal the election. It’s 4/
this kind of “precarity” that radicalized and mobilizes. This is not the poor, uneducated backwoods militia & Aryan brotherhood prison gangs that ppl think of when they think of the far right. These are employed, middle class professionals, stay at home parents, veterans & law 5/
enforcement, elected representatives.
This is mainstreaming, normalization & mobilization to violence all wrapped into one. If you haven’t read Daniel Goldhagen’s book Hitler’s Willing Executioners, about how ordinary Germans were 6/ https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/68841/hitlers-willing-executioners-by-daniel-jonah-goldhagen/
This is mainstreaming, normalization & mobilization to violence all wrapped into one. If you haven’t read Daniel Goldhagen’s book Hitler’s Willing Executioners, about how ordinary Germans were 6/ https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/68841/hitlers-willing-executioners-by-daniel-jonah-goldhagen/
mobilized to participate in the Holocaust, now would be a good time to read it. The work ahead of us is immense. I am worried and I’ve been studying prevention & intervention for decades. Sorry to end on such a downer but that’s all I’ve got for now. /END
