‘Finally. Someone who thinks like me.’
This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by In_The_Wind (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).
Source: Washington Post
She was a 52-year-old woman who had worked 20 years for the railroad, had once been a Democrat and was now a Republican, and counted herself among the growing swath of people who occupied the fringes of American politics but were increasingly becoming part of the mainstream. Like millions of others, she believed that President Obama was a Muslim. And like so many she had gotten to know online through social media, she also believed that he was likely gay, that Michelle Obama could be a man, and that the Obama children were possibly kidnapped from a family now searching for them.
Read more: http://wapo.st/2dhgcdL
Yes, she is deplorable. She is also mentally ill, and being exploited by a manipulative demagogue .
MANative
(4,105 posts)All rooted in evangelical adoration of TV preachers of the '80s and '90s. Faux religion - the root of all evil.
bluedigger
(17,077 posts)Recursion
(56,582 posts)The woman is clearly mentally ill (no, not because she's a Trump supporter; I say that because she's being given injections of an anti-psychotic). But this may be the first election where the mentally ill vote could be decisive (and, no, I'm not kidding).
What is not being more deeply explored is the culture of social media that has created online communities where the mentally disturbed, the angry, the disaffected, the white supremacists, the sociopaths and psychopaths can create safe havens wherein they are free to create their own reality and choose their own version of the truth, fact free, and then spread those delusions far and wide.
In the past these people would get help, or be shut down by their families and communities. They would be shunned as social pariahs because did not have the tools to enable them link up with a global pool of individuals who were malformed in a similar way, and who reinforce their delusions. They would have been blocked by the lack of easy technology from finding strength in numbers and being able to flourish in a fact free environment.
This is the environment that has given rise to Trump... and this is his most fertile ground. It is also why no matter how vile his tweets... they reach the intended audience.
Even if we escape Trump, this does not bode well for the future of American politics. This is exactly... btw, the same condition that produced the BREXIT.
In political science or science in general, when facts become debatable, we are in trouble.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)Even DU has some aspects of that; echo chambers are bad for mental health.
bora13
(860 posts)I say that in addition to the remaining presidential and vp debates, a debate
with 5 deplorables and 5 sane supporters get up in front of national tv and have it out.
It would be UGE!
LiberalFighter
(50,491 posts)Botany
(70,289 posts).... told me once after the 2012 election Obama was going to use
the U.N. to bring in Hamas fighters to take control over America so he
can stay in power. This story is a window into the mind of a Fox News
viewer.
BTW Brownsville, PA is a living nightmare now. Or it was everytime I went
through it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownsville,_Pennsylvania#/media/File:BrownsvilleNeck.JPG
ScubaSteve
(82 posts)For her mental state that is and yet the sentiment, for those without mental issues, is the same. Obama is a Kenyan, Communist, Muslim
and Hillary must be too with all the added misogynistic remarks; shes sick, no stamina, husband cheated on her, and doesnt look presidential.
These are the folks who hang their sheets out to dry on Saturday and wear them on Sunday.
TNNurse
(6,911 posts)and has no one who cares about her enough to keep her from being used.
There are others who share some of her "beliefs" who are not mentally ill, they are bigoted, scared of losing that white power and ignorant. She is extreme. However, the assault of the Clintons has been so prolonged and so vicious, it has been quite effective.
In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)Statement of Purpose
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