Crabman7
@crabman7.bsky.social
A man of many habits, most of them bad. Hobbies include reading history, DnD and martial arts
People only rarely want their minds changed, but research shows they hardly have a say in that. I've seen a lot of people do a 180 on things they "strongly" believed. I am reminded of Eric Hoffer (who I'm paraphrasing) when he said that someone is certain right before right they change their minds.
September 30, 2025 at 3:23 AM
People only rarely want their minds changed, but research shows they hardly have a say in that. I've seen a lot of people do a 180 on things they "strongly" believed. I am reminded of Eric Hoffer (who I'm paraphrasing) when he said that someone is certain right before right they change their minds.
Morale is crucial, which a lot of people always seem to forget. When you're in a siege, the most addressable threat isn't the army in the field, but what that pressure encourages you to do to one another. The purity tests, the backbiting and anger...MAGA doesn't do this to us: we do it to ourselves.
September 30, 2025 at 3:19 AM
Morale is crucial, which a lot of people always seem to forget. When you're in a siege, the most addressable threat isn't the army in the field, but what that pressure encourages you to do to one another. The purity tests, the backbiting and anger...MAGA doesn't do this to us: we do it to ourselves.
I never start talking about Trump, though. I find that they always start talking about him, or something going wrong in this Administration. I admit that being a straight white male, I have an easier time helping MAGA open up. But even as an open Liberal, they don't tend to see me as a proselytizer.
September 30, 2025 at 3:08 AM
I never start talking about Trump, though. I find that they always start talking about him, or something going wrong in this Administration. I admit that being a straight white male, I have an easier time helping MAGA open up. But even as an open Liberal, they don't tend to see me as a proselytizer.
I lost faith years ago in persuading people with the facts. I think it's more effective to help them realize their own inconsistencies by letting them talk, and forcing them to recognize they hadn't thought things through that well, which usually turns their anger inward instead of against me.
September 30, 2025 at 2:46 AM
I lost faith years ago in persuading people with the facts. I think it's more effective to help them realize their own inconsistencies by letting them talk, and forcing them to recognize they hadn't thought things through that well, which usually turns their anger inward instead of against me.
Not at all :)
Have you ever looked into "Deep Canvassing"? I've been using some of its concepts and principles in discussions and it's amazing how many people open up to you regarding their doubts about Trump.
Have you ever looked into "Deep Canvassing"? I've been using some of its concepts and principles in discussions and it's amazing how many people open up to you regarding their doubts about Trump.
September 30, 2025 at 2:25 AM
Not at all :)
Have you ever looked into "Deep Canvassing"? I've been using some of its concepts and principles in discussions and it's amazing how many people open up to you regarding their doubts about Trump.
Have you ever looked into "Deep Canvassing"? I've been using some of its concepts and principles in discussions and it's amazing how many people open up to you regarding their doubts about Trump.
I don't expect that many will ever come to reason, but it's enough to show them a path away from error. This won't end with MAGA. These mentalities are with us for the long haul, but how we address them may prevent the rot from setting in. Vigilance is the price we pay to live in a healthy society.
September 30, 2025 at 2:12 AM
I don't expect that many will ever come to reason, but it's enough to show them a path away from error. This won't end with MAGA. These mentalities are with us for the long haul, but how we address them may prevent the rot from setting in. Vigilance is the price we pay to live in a healthy society.
I wish more people did this. Thank you. MAGA is a movement, and movements can lose momentum, fizzle out or even do a 180. Trump's panicked reactions the Epstein files, his failure to bring down prices, and the wars he seems to try to daily start are genuinely beginning to dissolution MAGA.
September 30, 2025 at 2:08 AM
I wish more people did this. Thank you. MAGA is a movement, and movements can lose momentum, fizzle out or even do a 180. Trump's panicked reactions the Epstein files, his failure to bring down prices, and the wars he seems to try to daily start are genuinely beginning to dissolution MAGA.
I grew up with, work with, and am surrounded by the very type of men who join things like ICE. From over 40 years of experience, mockery WORKS on them, as it does any man with a fragile masculinity. They respect "strength" and competence, with the denial of either rapidly demoralizing them.
September 30, 2025 at 2:02 AM
I grew up with, work with, and am surrounded by the very type of men who join things like ICE. From over 40 years of experience, mockery WORKS on them, as it does any man with a fragile masculinity. They respect "strength" and competence, with the denial of either rapidly demoralizing them.
If we DON'T laugh at them, we very quickly get depressed, which doesn't help anyone. Morale is always crucial, and it just so happens that mocking them ALSO puts them on the defense. You have to get out of a "we're doomed" mindset or you will be. Dictators want you hopeless and depressed. I don't.
September 30, 2025 at 1:52 AM
If we DON'T laugh at them, we very quickly get depressed, which doesn't help anyone. Morale is always crucial, and it just so happens that mocking them ALSO puts them on the defense. You have to get out of a "we're doomed" mindset or you will be. Dictators want you hopeless and depressed. I don't.
You're under the impression that ALL we're doing is making jokes. It's PART of what we're. We protest, vote, refuse to aid ICE and related goons, expose them where we can and never stop going after Trump and putting him on the defense. Trump overreacts to mockery because it works against him.
September 30, 2025 at 1:49 AM
You're under the impression that ALL we're doing is making jokes. It's PART of what we're. We protest, vote, refuse to aid ICE and related goons, expose them where we can and never stop going after Trump and putting him on the defense. Trump overreacts to mockery because it works against him.
Another danger of highlighting a particular person is that we shift more spotlight onto them, which destroys their privacy and causes the perpetrators to double their attacks on them. The man thankfully escaped. He deserves privacy. So let's focus instead on attacking those who tried to catch him.
September 29, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Another danger of highlighting a particular person is that we shift more spotlight onto them, which destroys their privacy and causes the perpetrators to double their attacks on them. The man thankfully escaped. He deserves privacy. So let's focus instead on attacking those who tried to catch him.
We have to be willing to do what many think impossible. We have to actually talk to MAGA. Right now, they're confused, scared, embarrassed and yes, at times racist and sexist. But isolating ourselves from them allows others the monopoly on defining us, which is no way to save our Democracy.
September 29, 2025 at 8:11 AM
We have to be willing to do what many think impossible. We have to actually talk to MAGA. Right now, they're confused, scared, embarrassed and yes, at times racist and sexist. But isolating ourselves from them allows others the monopoly on defining us, which is no way to save our Democracy.
The feeling of jubilation upon Trump's re-election I saw all around me (I live in Trump Country) is virtually absent. Nobody talks about him anymore. When he comes up in conversation, it's awkward, and I've had many people confide such to me in private, knowing that I'm a blue dot on a sea of red.
September 29, 2025 at 7:57 AM
The feeling of jubilation upon Trump's re-election I saw all around me (I live in Trump Country) is virtually absent. Nobody talks about him anymore. When he comes up in conversation, it's awkward, and I've had many people confide such to me in private, knowing that I'm a blue dot on a sea of red.
There's a reason Trump went after Kimmel and Colbert. Comedy and mockery bypass feelings of despair and powerlessness that would otherwise easily wash a people seeing Democratic backsliding. Trump lost to Kimmel not because our institutions held, but because WE held and never stopped mocking them.
September 29, 2025 at 7:48 AM
There's a reason Trump went after Kimmel and Colbert. Comedy and mockery bypass feelings of despair and powerlessness that would otherwise easily wash a people seeing Democratic backsliding. Trump lost to Kimmel not because our institutions held, but because WE held and never stopped mocking them.
When we fall into despair, we become desperate, and desperation is fertile grounds for doing something very stupid which will be seen as "justification" for a crackdown. Because, while necessity may be the mother of invention, desperation gives us tunnel vision and makes impossible any solidarity.
September 29, 2025 at 6:47 AM
When we fall into despair, we become desperate, and desperation is fertile grounds for doing something very stupid which will be seen as "justification" for a crackdown. Because, while necessity may be the mother of invention, desperation gives us tunnel vision and makes impossible any solidarity.
Letting Trump control the narrative by simply highlighting injustice doesn't work on MAGA because they don't consider this injustice. What DOES work on MAGA is making Trump look pathetic, weak and incompetent. I'm surrounded by MAGA and most of them have expressed regret and embarrassment about him.
September 29, 2025 at 6:41 AM
Letting Trump control the narrative by simply highlighting injustice doesn't work on MAGA because they don't consider this injustice. What DOES work on MAGA is making Trump look pathetic, weak and incompetent. I'm surrounded by MAGA and most of them have expressed regret and embarrassment about him.
Making ICE membership both embarrassing and socially toxic is a better path than falling into the despairing narrative of "ALWAYS BE AFRAID". Trump is a uniquely thin-skinned President who depends on the illusion of strength his followers crave. We won't defeat MAGA by always being on the defense.
September 29, 2025 at 6:38 AM
Making ICE membership both embarrassing and socially toxic is a better path than falling into the despairing narrative of "ALWAYS BE AFRAID". Trump is a uniquely thin-skinned President who depends on the illusion of strength his followers crave. We won't defeat MAGA by always being on the defense.
...Where they just standing around waiting for someone who wasn't white so they could arrest them?
September 29, 2025 at 6:32 AM
...Where they just standing around waiting for someone who wasn't white so they could arrest them?
It's the spider's shed now.
September 24, 2025 at 6:09 AM
It's the spider's shed now.
My favorite part of Spartan history is when the Romans arrived to see a couple middle-aged and out of shape Spartans doing drills in front of a presumably groaning audience, like Al Bundy talking yet again about his high school football days.
September 4, 2025 at 3:09 AM
My favorite part of Spartan history is when the Romans arrived to see a couple middle-aged and out of shape Spartans doing drills in front of a presumably groaning audience, like Al Bundy talking yet again about his high school football days.