I understand feeling angry— trust me.

But there’s a reason for not shutting them out. It can push them further down the rabbit hole. https://twitter.com/petebuttigieg/status/1325506992056770560
Put yourself in their shoes.

Bc of repetition of disinfo & propaganda & isolation from opposing fam/frens, many in DT’s base, feel like a part of something. It may not make sense to you but it’s the same in cults, extremists.
To use @cpicciolini’s words,
they seek ICP -
Identity Community & Purpose

DT (manipulatively) fills those voids:

Identity: ‘MAGA! I’m a Trump supporter’
Community: rallies, online groups
Purpose: He plays to their need for a purpose. Just look at his fundraising emails.
So between all the bs they’ve been fed and DT losing, they’re probably feeling really down.

As stated in first tweet, if you also shut them out, you risk them falling further down the 🐇 🕳 or worse.

Those who deradicalize extremists do a lot of listening.

Start there.
Please don’t mistake listening to them, showing compassion or having empathy with accepting their beliefs or excusing their behavior. It’s not the same thing.

You need not forgive or excuse anything. That stuff needs to get worked through later.
The danger in all of these ppl losing DT rallies/presidency which fulfilled their senses of Identity Community & Purpose is:

They will seek out something else to replace it & they are now a target for recruitment into even worse things
To be clear this is *just* about ppl you care for. Reaching out to see if they’re ok shows them you care.

Orgs like @FreeRadicalsOrg & @handsofeir help extremists deradicalize & disengage from hate groups

If you see something, say something still stands for dangerous situations https://twitter.com/lululemew/status/1325595672075243525
Also, if their beliefs and actions have personally hurt you, you have every right to be angry & they should be held accountable. None of what I’ve said above excuses that.

Anything combative now, will make them go on defense. If you want to help them, listening is the 1st step
I’ll leave you with this exchange from @cpicciolini’s book Breaking Hate between a white supremacist who was at Charlottesville & Heather Heyer’s mom, @SusanBro7
You can follow @LuluLemew.
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