Excellent post.
The problem with people such as these, at least as I see it, is that they have been lied to, and they believe those lies.
So much so that those lies are in fact their belief system. And if anyone challenges those lies, then they will evoke an angry response.
it reminds me of a hotel maid I once knew when I had evacuated New Orleans for Katrina. She was a simple woman, nice, but simple.
She apparently was victimized by one of those Nigerian scammers who sent her love letters, promised her a castle or whatever if she’ll just empty her bank account and send to him.
She did so, and of course, she was ripped off. And then it happened again, same guy. People told her after she had been ripped off that she was being ripped off again, and she got mad at those people, and then got ripped off again.
This is what happens to those who believe lies, and it becomes a matter of pride that they cannot believe that they were lied to, and then they fall.
And sometimes they take others with them on their fall.
...it becomes a matter of pride that they cannot believe that they were lied to ...
Yes, exactly, you describe it so well! There are several FReepers here who actually argue that a vote has three properties -- 0, +1, and -1. There are FReepers on here who believe the lie, and will argue that lie, that if you stayed at home your vote was MATHEMATICALLY "for Obama," or that if you voted for a third party, your vote was MATHEMATICALLY "for Obama." In 2012, there were people on here posting ludicrous formulas lamely attempting to prove some imaginary mathematical property of a vote.
The vote IS binary. It IS like a light switch. A vote is ONLY EVER the equivalent of turning a light on. PERIOD. If you stay at home, you chose to leave the light switch off on ALL candidates; if you go to the polls and vote, you choose to turn the light switch ON only for the specific candidates who get your vote. Voting "against" is totally, one hundred percent imaginary. Yet there are so many who proudly believe the LIE that they can vote "against."
A vote is either 0, or +1. I engaged in the folly of voting "against" for about the past 30 years, and I accept accountability for my part in voting TO turn the Republican party hard left. I will start voting to turn things RIGHT.