I hate the fun thing liberals do where they make up pretty bad labels for reasonable ideas then—instead of explaining what they actually mean—they just sit with all their liberal friends and mock how “dumb and unreasonable” conservatives are.

I KNOW that a lot of conservatives are hateful and choose to be ignorant, but tbh I think that we make it so much harder, in part, so we can feel superior that we get it when they don’t.

SURE people should do their own research and try to understand different perspectives, but most of us aren’t either. We claim to “get” what the hang-ups people have are but from what I see people saying, most people have no clue.

If we actually care about making the country/world better we have GOT to get over the “I don’t owe people explanations” thing because it’s ridiculous to expect people to change when all you do is hate on them without ever talking things through.

OBVIOUSLY I don’t expect everyone to be patient teachers all the time. I don’t think BIPOC should have to explain kindly why racism is bad, BUT I SHOULD. LGBTQ+ people should have to kindly explain why homophobia is bad but I SHOULD. Do the work for people that shouldn’t have to.

I know that some people won’t change or don’t want to change or don’t seem to deserve redemption from their bad views, but most people can and will change if you ACTUALLY give them the chance to. And it might be slower than it should be, but SO WHAT???

They are going to still exist. They are going to still have some power. We can do everything to fix structural inequality but the only way to eliminate bigotry is by actually engaging with people and helping them more than they deserve to be helped.

I’m just SO SICK of the “not my problem to teach you” and the “they don’t deserve kindness” allies. IT ISNT ABOUT WHAT THEY DESERVE, ITS ABOUT DOING WORK YOU DONT WANT TO DO TO ACTUALLY CREATE CHANGE SO MARGINALIZED PEOPLE CAN LIVE BETTER LIVES.

You can’t “mean” people away. All you’re doing is radicalizing them more. And I know it isn’t fair to give hateful, awful people a second chance, but what else is there to do?? We either help people change or we choose to allow bigotry to exist.