@The757Progressive I'm glad I can be having this dialogue now. a few years ago, I would have never wanted to be anywhere near a Democrat, let alone talk to one. 😞

@The757Progressive Tradition.

Tradition and the lack of discourse/nuance.

Republicans get mailers and calls about what Republican politicians are doing for them, but Democratic politicians rarely ever focus on reaching Republican voters.

Your average middle class Republican is as blind as an absolute bat in regards of policy and politics. They don't know anything because the world isn't affecting them.

@The757Progressive There's a danger in here when saying "all Republicans".

My family are included in the Republican hate machine, I wish I could say they weren't, but they are.

But there are Republicans who are disavowing MAGA. They don't make a show of it, they're not going to stand up or be loud about it or become Democrats. But there is a big schism happening.

But again, they will still vote Republican because they are oblivious to the greater discourse and bad laws trying to be passed.

@The757Progressive There's a huge difference in communication between how Republicans talk to Republicans.

I don't know how to explain this.

With the amount of shit and hate being projected into the world, you'd think all Republicans hate all Democrats. Of course, MAGA does. MAGA is gone in hard.

But, a lot of Republicans don't. There's a lot of emotionally charged content being projected by the algorithm.

But the people who are not hating are not engaging online. You don't see them.

@The757Progressive Oh there are hateful groups in the Republican party, for sure.

But most Republicans are not seeing the hate, they are not presented with it in their day to day lives. What they hear are offhand stories which to them come off as "isolated" stories.

They don't read about the policies their politicians support or vote for. They're not reading it or seeing it.

I don't think they understand how important paying attention is.

I know I didn't, and I'm ashamed of that.

@The757Progressive From an outsider, someone who isn't really leftist. I think everyone lives in a media bubble now. But, I think the Democrat bubble is less harmful than the Republican bubble. Because a lot of the content is about helping people and injustice. So, the algorithm on the left pushes leftists to similar content.

That's not me saying the algorithm is harmless on the left. It's doing what it does there too.

There's still future danger in that if it snowballs to violence.

@The757Progressive Also, a lot of Republicans aren't really crazy people who hate other people, or against gay people, etc.

While my family is ugly hard right, many Republicans I know are not hateful people.

BUT the kicker to this is that they are oblivious to the world because of the algorithm curated bubble. They work long hours, they don't see much social media, so they don't see the hateful stuff as much as you think they would be surrounded by it.

@The757Progressive However, you've got to remember as well.

Republicans are already in a bubble of Republican news.

But, it can suck in non-Republicans too.

I do know former Democrats who fell into the hole and are now in super deep.

@The757Progressive It starts by friends and family who are already in, sharing it and talking about it.

It's really not outlandish stuff at first. It's like Uncle Joe just over having a few bears talking about something that seems crazy.

But not long after someone else shares an article. That's not true. Ridiculous.

Then another article, reinforces the last. And you're like, "Maybe there's something to it?"

By that point, you're already going to have a hard time getting out. It got you.

@The757Progressive But this is looking at it from a way too logical frame of reference.

By the time people have reached the point "Is Biden really president?" they are already in deep.

And a Google search will give them a thousand articles telling them Biden isn't president.

@UmbaSaffire At the very least of it, I think algorithm-directed content should have a huge warning label on it.

Like the poison symbol on bleach. 😂

@The757Progressive It is really hard to reject the machine when it is everything you see.

Have you ever seen what a Google search or Facebook feed looks like from a MAGA perspective?

It would really throw you for a loop.

@Idissent @The757Progressive Can you explain this a little more?

I feel like you're blaming yourself for something that was really out of your hands. You shouldn't.

I'm glad I came here, because I think I'm helping some people understand that because, I know some of you feel like that you've lost family to the current Republican/MAGA machine.

I hope to show people the other side.

How I got in.
How I got out.

And how there is hope for your "lost" friends and family too.

And maybe there's some Republicans or MAGA quietly listening to what I'm saying and recognizing they have experienced what I have, but they can't yet say it out loud.

@Lawless Thank you. 🤗

@The757Progressive No, people do have their own agency.

But it's getting harder and harder for people to be agents of their own identity when you're being directed by the machines telling you more and more what your agency is.

@ExecutiveFunction404 Yes.

I had a friend who I met while traveling who helped me with this immensely a few years ago.

He taught me the things to keep safe while traveling are the same things you should do day to day.

I'm not technic smart, but I have a check list given to me by people who are better than me. 😅

I stay away from Apple and Google, especially.

I know can't escape it all entirely. But I can clean up my own backyard and stay out of the mud.

@The757Progressive Oops, I meant to say that most people are victims, and those are the ones we need to save.

@The757Progressive Of course, I agree there will be true believers.

But I don't think most are victims.

I look at my family like victims, and I want to find a way to heal them.

Maybe it's stupid or naive, but what other choice do I have? Just let them go?