It’s by design. ~~Divide and conquer~~ Combine and conquer has been the playbook since they (anti-labor think tanks like the Progressive Policy Institute and others that seek to keep labor infighting) started studying group psychology.

Like South Park on religion: "you're all so focused on the stupid little differences that you're not seeing the big, stupid similarities."

The major difference is money. We should be banding together against the rich, but instead we distract ourselves with what we look like, what we sound like, where we come from, what team (sports, town, city, state, country, ...) we support, which sex we have, and a bunch of other things that divide us.

I don't see MAGA people as the enemy because they want to pay less in taxes. I see them as the enemy because they don't think my kids should exist in society and are actively passing legislation to make it so.

Delete this shit take.

I only see people as an enemy if they've declared themselves as such. I'm not gonna make the first move, life is too short to make enemies with everyone I meet. That said, if you've got a swastika tattooed on your forehead then I'm gonna take that as a declaration that you're my enemy.

nah.

I can't have empathy for fuckheads that want to kill and imprison people based on their sexual preferences or their identity.

I refuse to subject myself to the torture of "working together" with people with fascist ideologies.

I cannot, and will not, coexist with Nazis.

True. For example we are all made of ~~delicious~~ nutritious meats.

Bro discovered Christianity

This is something we all need to remember

Have empathy and realize that people can have there own views. They aren't dumb because they disagree with you

I have been struggling with this lately. I am staunchly anti violence and anti war, and yet, I am conflicted on how far I truly would be willing to go to cull classism, fascism, racism, transphobia , homophobia, misogyny, and pedophilia from the world.

These things are abhorrent to me, and I wonder how much of my humanity I'd be willing to sacrifice in exchange for even one of these to no longer being in existence amongst the ranks of humanity.

How much good does pacifism give to the world in promoting the better angels of our nature? How much harm does it do when those same principles allow the worst among us to march down our roads and drag away our loved ones in the night?

Two scenes from media I consume have lately continually resurfaced in my mind. One is this scene from Vinland Saga, where the main character's father confronts him when he finds his sword. The father is about to go off to war, and somberly asks his son who he wants to kill with his father's sword. This culminates with the father, who again, is about to go off to war, emphatically declaring to his son that he has no enemies, that there is no such thing as enemies.

The other is this scene from Star Wars Andor, in which a high level spy of a burgeoning Rebellion is asked by a compatriot (who wishes to quit fighting the Empire due to possibly being found out), asks what he sacrifices for the fight against the Empire. The monologue he delivers is chilling, acknowledging he sacrifices all things that make him human, he becomes like his enemy in order to defeat them. When he reflects on the question, and asks, "So what do I sacrifice? Everything!"

That...is what I believe I will have to give up in order for there to be a sunrise for the people I love tomorrow. I'll have to give up my humanity, everything. And I am afraid. I am selfish. I don't want to. But I don't know any other way.

The feelings that scene stir up in me resonate because that is how I feel when I think on the fascist cancer that has once again metastasized in America. Having no enemies... if only. Truly. Having enemies robs me of my humanity, because in fighting them I must bury my humanity. And I know that once I do that, there's no going back. There will be no redemption.

The thing I am struggling with is... am I the one who makes them my enemies? Or are they? And if the only thing we can agree on is that we are enemies...then what choice do we have when they come for me and those I claim as my kin?

I think if you peel back the ego, the "self" is just obligations that we've made to try to create an "identity" like "I have to draw I'm an artist". "Oh, I have to go to school because I'm a smart person and I don't want to XYZ."

It's all just fluff, or an illusion. If we were to truly be free of all obligations we would find out quickly that we are all the same consciousness wearing different masks. I am me, and I am you, and you are me. If you were to be able to switch perspectives with someone else I'd be surprised if it felt any different than being in your own body.

There is an old saying where I live:

वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम् (Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam)

This means, the world is one family.

Every molecule that makes up our entire existence came from the fusion of a hot star, and no matter what it looks like right now, it will once again be both the precursor and the product of many more stars.

In that regard we are all identical and inconsequential.

Yeah, but also people have very different ideas of what good life is, and what stops them from having it.

To paraphrase an old saw, there is nobody as mean as all of us

No. Some people want to control other people because of their various sky daddies or a simple greed. And those are the ones fucking up your life. Everyone else could more or less get along, but fanatics, billionaires and other people hungry for control of others are actively make sure we don't.

Paradox of tolerance