• LovingHippieCat@lemmy.world
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    11 days ago

    I get what you’re saying. And agree somewhat. But I think you don’t have to be mentally ill or an idiot or whatever to be brainwashed. But being brainwashed is 100% what a lot of people on the right are and refusing to use that term might make sense in some regard, but it also doesn’t properly address how we could go about fixing things. While I don’t fully know how to fix this, treating it like brainwashing is the only way we can address it, as long as we also approach these people with patience and compassion and try to show them why what they spout is brainwashed.

    It’s a cult ya know? And cults are brainwashed. And calling people mentally ill or idiots for falling for it will definitely just make them double down. But it’s still brainwashing.

    • jrs100000@lemmy.world
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      11 days ago

      If half the population is actually susceptible to brainwashing over Facebook then democracy itself is unworkable. These people clearly have preferences and are making choices, including the choice to know very little about what they vote for. Im afraid that patience and compassion will only encourage this behavior.

      • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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        11 days ago

        If half the population is actually susceptible to brainwashing over Facebook then democracy itself is unworkable.

        It’s a bit like how the divine right of kings couldn’t survive the invention of the printing press

    • XNX@slrpnk.net
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      11 days ago

      We’re all brainwashed in the US though. We’re all in the USA cult here while our taxes bomb and starve millions of people. We still vote for blue even when they continue the embargo on Cuba and we bomb the poorest countries in the world.