Note: I’m not casting all Republicans as a “skin of evil” here; I feel many of them are just people trying to make their way in the world whose daily struggles and fears have been amplified manipulated by the “skin of evil”, an administration that constantly denies human rights and demonizes (as well as convinces its followers to partake in the demonization of) people who, for the most part, are also just trying to make their way in the world. I’ve known Republicans, and while the people they give their support to frighten me, most of the ones I’ve know aren’t demons.

EDIT: To be clear, I’m not saying Republican voters did nothing wrong, that they don’t deserve consequences, or that we should avoid making them feel bad. In many ways, the “skin of evil” is their collective wrongs and the way they enabled the current horrors. The evil, however, is a subset of a person (sometimes almost the whole set, though), while the “skin of evil” is the set of evil. Also, I admit I feel a bit on the availability heuristic and that “most of the ones I know” isn’t the strongest evidence.

  • data1701d (He/Him)@startrek.websiteOPEnglish
    2·
    23 hours ago

    When I say, “It is difficult to think of how they could coexist”, I mean if they refuse to be kind and coexist with others, meaning that they’ve truly refused to coexist and thus renounced that right.

    I agree there need to be consequences for being horrid, I just think human rights need to be considered in those consequences as not to become horrid.

    Also, I sort of view human civilization as a whole through the lens of Kohlberg’s theory of moral development. In many ways, we’re still in the pre-conventional stage where we still behave based on punishment and reward, and for humanity to survive long term (if we can), we need to strive as a society towards the post-conventional stage where we are largely beyond pain and punishment. We will likely never attain the post-conventional stage much like a circle can never be perfectly round, but we must approach it the best we can.