2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: White progressive analysis of politics is fundamentally broken. [View all]PotatoChip
(3,186 posts)I too am not sure, actually quite doubtful even, if we can get through to people who have been brainwashed for years to kick down like they do.
However, I recently tried a very simple thing w/a poor-shaming relative (that is who these people beat up on when there are no minorities to kick around). Anyway, she was going on about some neighbor of hers on welfare. During a pause in her rant, I simply said "Why are you blaming people with no money and no power for your problems?" Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but I thought I saw a glimmer of... something in her eyes for a brief moment. I don't dare call it an understanding. But it did seem to make her think about the absurdity of her position because she took a longer then normal pause before answering w/the good ole "But my tax dollars! She (the neighbor) is wasting my tax dollars!!1!"...
I don't know if that simple sentence I used did any good. But I like to think that maybe I planted a seed there.