A lot of Republicans seem to be recovering from their delusional

[Jackpine Radical]

disorders recently, and are writing about it. Typically, they wake up to the excesses of Bushco, but still cling to the old faith in re: "free" markets, RayGun as God, Bush I as Moses, etc. Their failure to see the whole picture tends to provoke derision and revulsion among some of us who believe that we see reality more clearly.

Let's be a little bit charitable and a whole lot smart in how we deal with these newcomers. I remember my own awakening from the somnambulism of Republicanism that happened as a result of seeing Vietnam. The awakening does not happen all at once. It is in some ways like a grief process, the giving up of a cherished set of beliefs. First there is a little crack, and you ignore it. The crack widens, and you become alarmed, frantically trying to heal it with rationalizations. Then comes the moment when the crack becomes so wide that you can no longer avoid seeing through it, and realizing that you have been in a shell of illusion. But at first you don't know how much of your old worldview was illusion and how much was based in reality. Only with time and courageous, honest questioning of both the old illusions and the new revelations are you able to step firmly into a new worldview. Once the initial crack gets large enough, the change is inevitable, but it is not instantaneous. The rest will follow. We need to meet these new hatchlings with friendly encouragement and praise for discovering the world of light, not rebuke for remaining partly in the dark.

[whistle]

1. It must have been GOP-LSD

[LiberalEsto]

4. GOP-LSD?

That must cause some pretty bad trips.

[havocmom]

2. Hear hear! Rubbing their noses in shit does not make us any friends.

Nor will it help us to influence their deepening understanding.

Gotta learn to crawl before they can sprint to the finish line.

[Warpy]

3. It's hard to admit you've been bamboozled by sharp dealers

and sold a rotten bill of goods. Democrats who believe the DLC are moderates also need an awakening process, to realize that their own party has been taken over by corporatists who would rather see tax cutting pubbies in power than their own party.

The awakening process involves a great deal of defensiveness at the beginning, and that's why we're seeing such a dramatic increase in anger out there. The anger gradually becomes focused away from the knee jerk defense of delusion and toward the deluders, but it's a slow process.

The reachable ones will eventually get there. There is medication available for the unreachable ones.

[confludemocrat]

5. Yes!! I heard a couple of instances of this awakening on talk radio lately

The callers started off like Bush-loving bots, spouting the stuff you usually hear, but upon being talked through the litany of lies, contradictions and just plain nonsense that Bush has put us through, they ended with a subdued conciliatory tone. I can hear the sound of a slow awakening to the reality that is the Bush/Cheney/Rove way and maybe a realization of all this that will properly turn into revulsion to the level heard here in DU so rightly and often.

And because the hosts are liberals these people were not beaten over the head for their delusions, but were told the door is open if you want to get this country right again.

[gratuitous]

6. A little grace, a little space

You never regret extending a kindness; if it's accepted, you have gained a friend and ally. If it's rejected, you may have been premature, or you may be dealing with a True Believer for whom empirical reality doesn't matter.

It's good advice to grant folks who are becoming disillusion with the Republican lies a little space. They're figuring out some pretty disturbing truths, and you can hinder the process by loading them up with too much too soon. The more folks figure out on their own, the more likely they are to retain it. Help it along, listen to the disillusion spill out, add a little information to wedge open a crack or two in the dam. The inevitable will happen.

[iconoclastic cat]

7. Our biggest mistake was ever being charitable with these bastards.

Conservatives consider themselves at war with us. Me, you, everyone who doesn't bend to their will is their enemy. I will never give them a charitable thought again. I will meet them with a hungry chainsaw.

Why the hell should I be kind to someone who curses me out and is actively trying to destroy me, my planet, and my country?

Die, die, die, die.

[Jackpine Radical]

8. Now, that's what I was hoping for.

A well-reasoned, calm and dispassionate analysis of how to facilitate attitude change and convert our hapless, confused opponents to the side of righteousness.

[iconoclastic cat]

10. I'll draft a calm and well-reasoned rebuttal at a later date.

[Arugula Latte]

9. I remember when I started learning more about U.S. history.

'Til then I'd been given a steady diet of propaganda, U.S.-stands-for-freedom, we're always the good guys, etc. etc. and Bicentennial pageantry. Then a friend from Iran started educating me about SAVAK and the Shah and how we'd supported him, etc. I was about 14, and it was during the hostage crisis. My first reaction was anger at the messenger because it rained on my rah-rah USA view. But, after the grieving, you cannot be fooled so easily, and you start to open your eyes.

[dragonkeep]

11. I so agree...

They will go through anger and denial along the way, feel they are a betrayer at times, alone and frightened. But the rational ones will arrive at the truth eventually. The fanatics...well, I heard once that fanatics can only be converted, never convinced. Those are the scary ones.