Let them fester and drown in their own cesspool of cultish crap
From the “you cannot make this stuff up” department:
According to a Yahoo news poll recently 50% of the people that rely mostly on Fox News for their news believe that Bill Gates is pursuing a Covid-19 vaccine only so the world’s population can be tracked by MicroSoft Corporation.
https://news.yahoo.com/new-yahoo-news-you-gov-poll-shows-coronavirus-conspiracy-theories-spreading-on-the-right-may-hamper-vaccine-efforts-152843610.html
Think about it. Let this sink in.
This is not a fringe group. This is not a small segment of Americans. This is a very large number of US citizens, many who vote.
(What is even more insane is that 37% of the people that voted for Hillary Clinton believe this to be true or are not sure. 75% of the Fox News watchers fall into this category.)
These good folks have chosen to not believe science. These good folks have chosen to disregard the advancement in critical thinking and scientific discoveries of the last centuries. Think flat-earthers. Think moon landing deniers. Think witch burnings fanatics. Think gravity doubters.
These good folks have chosen to get the information that molds their beliefs and forms their opinion from Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones, and a perverse version of Christianity that justifies their bigoted mindsets.
Self-censorship at its very worst.
In most totalitarian governments where State imposed censorship exists people yearn for alternative information sources. In these societies people go out of their way to find fresh source of news. But under the self-censorship of the Cult of Trump it is a personal choice to believe only a certain fountain of information. Under that self-censorship it is a personal choice to disregard information from any source other than their chosen sources as suspect and untrue. Forget NPR, YahooNews, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, the BBC. All suspects; all fake news, these cultish Trumpistas will tell you.
How do you get through to these people? The short answer is you don’t. You let them fester and drown in their own cesspool of cultish crap.
And then you focus on reaching out to the people of good will that are still discerning if they are going to vote and who they are going to vote for.
There are millions of these people of good will that are willing to listen to sensible conversations and reasonable arguments. Reach out to them. And you focus on your friends that are committed to voting, making extra super-duper sure they commit to you personally to go vote no matter what.
If by chance one of these cult members approaches you and engages in an authentic conversation, by all means be there for him or her! Listen carefully and try to understand why they fell into the dilution of their cult. Pray for them if that is your thing to do. Embrace them with a virtual hug in these times of Covid. And empathetically welcome them to a world of diverse opinions where we may disagree greatly and still hold certain truths to be self-evident… And offer them a ride to the polls November 3rd – or offer to take them so they can put their mail-in ballot in the official drop box.
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