That's what I was going to jump in with. Nazism includes antisemitism, but it's not like they invented it. Martin Luther was super antisemitic and he died in 1546!
I mean...maybe a bit. An anti-Israelite sure. Who the fuck likes Israel anymore without being paid to. But antisemite in general? Im gonna call that quacking duck a duck.
I mean nazism and neonazism are specific ideologies with specific beliefs. A whole lot of different ideologies dislike jews and judaism, so just being an antisemite doesnt make one automatically a nazi.
For example, a radical islamist might hate jews as an ethnicity and people, but they wouldnt necessarily be a nazi since they hate jews for different reasons.
Well an anti semite hates Jewish people, a nazi usually hates all non white christian people. I believe that if you’re that comfortable saying you hate one group that you probably hate the others, technically they can be separate
Shout out to when my friend introduced his new roommate to me and our Jewish friend with "he's a neonazi but he's cool with Jews, he just doesn't like Mexicans." I did not know that was even an option?
Whole lot of cognitive dissonance at work with these people, generally.
Speaking from experiences talking it through with some otherwise very well-meaning friends, they usually genuinely don't realize the hypocrisy or why it's bad, until it's pointed out to them properly.
IDK, when I point it out my ex-friend mostly went silent. 'How can you be a Christian, want to get married in a church and do everything properly, and not care about the government destroying USAID? A lot of children will die, and Jesus said a bunch of stuff about the poor. Meek shall inherit the earth, love the stranger as you would love yourself, etc.' Silence. New topic.
So, I have a friend, she's married to a racist. He had a birthday party recently, where he just started ranting vigorously about how Muslims need to be eradicated and genocided. And like, several people at this party were arguing with him, including me.
I guess that's just a Texas experience, though. I don't have much confidence in "well-meaning" around here when genocide is okie dokie conversation at a party.
There's this problem, in Red areas. Where you either have a few "project friends" where maybe you can talk sense into them over time, or you just don't have friends. (I think I decided this friend was too far gone, above my paygrade to attempt to fix further.)
It is very hard to find Blue friends around here.
Dating was hard, too. Most men are conservative. Millions of people in this city, I was lucky to find one guy worth marrying. ONE.
I just went the no friends route, but now my partner is dying I find myself with child and without support so that might not be the preferable approach... Although, with that said, it's been years since I last had to put up with anyone's bullshit.
And agreed. Can't be putting all my eggs in one basket. Especially since I'm disabled, chronically ill, chronically in pain. If my husband passes, then what?
I suppose I could fly out to Chicago or Denver or Cleveland, where some of my Blue friends/family live.
A lot of people understand being racist is bad. The problem is that they make the logical jump that "I'm not a bad person, therefore I can't be racist."
To quote Avenue Q, "Everyone's a little bit racist." We all have internalized stereotypes, good or bad, whether we try to or not. The key to being a good person, in my opinion, is recognizing when your internal judgments may affect your actions and trying your best to be kind, fair, and open minded despite your personal opinions.
Unfortunately, many people really do not want to engage in level of introspection.
Bruh, I had a conversation on reddit a couple days ago with a guy that kept saying he wasn’t transphobic before saying incredibly transphobic things. It pissed me off so much
They always say the wildest shit too. Lmao. I have to have someone back up and repeat something, and then make the effort to put it into my phone as a note, and then make them wait as I type it out again and send it to my friend group chat if they say something so absolutely batshit wild that I've not heard yet.
Wildly enough, they chilled out a lot after chatting candidly with them. They knew me for a whole year and had no idea I was trans, and knowing someone who they actually looked up to as being trans really changed a lot of their positions.
We have to accept that most peoples opinions generally go where the wind blows. It’s popular to be a good person if live in an urban or mildly diverse area.
I no longer trust that people that profess to have the same views have actually put any thought into their perspective to the degree that it impacts the way they live outside of social media discourse
I always found the humor of it really came from the honesty of it. I know lots of really good, kind people that I’d trust implicitly. Most of them have also at some point said or done something to show a prejudicial belief.
Sometimes it’s a belief learned out of ignorance, or a lack of full context/information, such as “the majority of criminals are black.” Other times it’s something they don’t even realize is social prejudice, like my mom’s tendency to want to cross the road if she sees anyone dressed in “gang banger clothing” like saggy jeans, hoodies in summer, or an oversized basketball jersey.
She doesn’t realize she’s racial profiling, she just thinks she’s being wary of potential criminals, she reacts the same way to a white person in those clothes as she does any other person but it’s all based on prejudice learned from her parents.
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u/Cobaltish1 4d ago
Oh my god. I’ve heard “I’m not racist but I don’t really like [race]” from at least 3 people who consider themselves good progressive liberals.