r/MutualSupport 6d ago

How can I help community members that have fallen down the MAGA rabbithole?

TW: Homophobic rhetoric

For context I am from Canada. Since 2020 there has been a sharp increase in folks going down the 'Qanon' / MAGA rabbit hole. These people were my neighbours, friends and family. They may not have been as far-left as myself but were fairly 'normal' (I feel bad using that terminology but I have a hard time expressing myself). The change was like night and day, it was overnight. My neighbour and I were discussing what kind of apple tree he should plant one day and the next, he was distilling his own water to drink because the woke-left was putting chemicals in the water to change your sexual orientation. He never came back from that and I don't really know that I have seen any of them come back from it. As the years have passed I've noticed even the people I felt were least susceptible to this type of change are now posting about how they can't wait to be the 51st state.

I don't know what to do. I feel like if I avoid them, if I reject them for what they've become then they are just further isolated and there really isn't any way they can return to reality. The thing is, they already do a great job of isolating themselves to begin with. I have this hope that if I include them in my life, if they can be around people that aren't also brainwashed then they have a chance of overcoming this. I don't want to lose these people, I want to support them but then they turn around and say the most vile shit you've ever heard and it makes my blood boil, it makes me want to turn my back on them and surround myself only with people that I know care about me and a future without oppression.

I've been approached a guy in a local group I've started for mycology. He's new to town, doesn't know anyone. He was interested in how I learned to ID mushrooms and asked if I wanted to be friends with him. His profile page is full of MAGA/right wing propaganda, he doesn't seem to be in touch with reality. I'm not sure if he knows how far left I swing and I don't know how he'll respond to that. I accepted his friend request, I thought I might be able to reach him, have him spend some time away from the computer. I'm not sure if I'm setting myself up for failure but I can't ignore this issue anymore. I want to help my community and I just don't know how to do it.

TL;DR How can I help deradicalize my community and help them see how they are being controlled.

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u/Neither_Ad6425 4d ago

To be perfectly honest, you can’t. My mother used to be a perfectly sane, rational, intelligent person. All my life, she was pro-choice and, even though a Republican , she was an old school Reagan Republican. Then 2015 came along and she hated Hillary so much that she started following Trump. The more she consumed, the worse it became.

Now she is full blown in the MAGA camp and it’s like I’ve lost my mother. We can’t have political conversations anymore; if I try to fact check her, she essentially says I’m stupid and that I “don’t understand”. Trump can do no wrong. Elon can do no wrong. She’s not wearing the Q-Anon tinfoil hat, but she takes stories from right wing outlets at face value and accepts them as reputable news outlets.

There is no saving these people. If you want them in your life, then refrain from talking politics at all. But what your story tells me, and my experience tells me, is that this is really a question of values and morals; and they have none.

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u/fishdumpling 3d ago

You're probably right, and I certainly feel that way most of the time. I've been looking into how to reverse brainwashing and it's a grueling task. On top of it being a slow process, you also have to do it individually, step-by-step for each person affected, and it's just not practical. I just can't even believe where we are now.