Home Again, Home Again

Got home yesterday around 2PM and jumped right back into my usual routine – cats, work and reading the damn news.

While I would’ve guessed this, it’s nice to see it laid out in a respectable research report:

Backers of President Donald Trump are sharing more “junk” political news – ideologically extreme, conspiratorial, sensationalist and phony information – over Twitter and Facebook than all other groups combined, significantly magnifying the polarization in the American electorate, according to an analysis by British researchers. (source)

More than a few solid, reality based, pragmatic writers have stated that 45’s rabid supporters are now so far down the Republican fueled, fun-house mirror lined rabbit hole of lies and utter delusions that they are unreachable. That is, there’s no finding common ground, no possibility of fact based discussion – they are gone, baby gone from Realityville.

I wish they were all wrong but I fear they’re not.

Here in blue, blue Massachusetts, I rarely run into people who support Spanky the Bizarro Universe prez. Thank Bast!

Back when we first moved in, another neighbor was giving us the 411 about our fellow Valhallians – she pointed to the house kitty kornered across the street, put a hand up to the side of her mouth and whispered “they’re Republicans.” That struck me as a little dramatic BUT at least I understood that, around Sally and Jeff,  my ravings about the crimes and horrors of the Bush Jr. reign of error would be *cough* unwelcome.

The other day, while sharing a cuppa Chianti, Jen pointed out a pick up truck across the street – on the bumper was a big Rah Rah Trump sticker. It was this neighbor’s son. *sigh*

I carry an optimistic hope that the children of Republicans will grow up, smarten up, rebel and embrace sanity. Does that ever really happen though?

A study recently published in the British Journal of Political Science, based on data from the U.S. and U.K., found that parents who are insistent that their children adopt their political views inadvertently influence their children to abandon the belief once they become adults. The mechanism is perhaps surprising: Children who come from homes where politics is a frequent topic of discussion are more likely to talk about politics once they leave home, exposing them to new viewpoints—which they then adopt with surprising frequency. (source)

Yes, sometimes growth happens. There's hope!

How will the children of the rancid brained Trumpsters fair? Their parents belong to a cult. They're being raised in a cult.

Psychologist and cult survivor Jill Mytton notes that:

...survivors of high-demand groups face particular difficulties, not only during their childhood, but also upon leaving the group, because they face assimilation into a culture that is not just alien to them but also one that they have been taught is wicked and to be hated. (source)

Will the kiddles escape? Will they thrive?

That’d be nice, huh?