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Comment by asdfasdfa11112 | Hacker News Reader

"Calling people out" is not a technique to help people grow. It's ridiculing them after applying a label from a distance.

The more people insist it was racists and sexists behind the vote, the more they miss the point. Part of the Trump vote was reacting sharply to the labeling + ridicule technique.

There are other options. Learn more about why they feel the way they do, understand them. These are (most of our) countrymen, fellow humans at the very least.

Education, understanding, compassion. Not ridicule.

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No, it was a result of desperate people willing to vote for a guy who said "I'll bring back jobs from overseas" and when asked how his response was "I'll tell companies they can't send jobs overseas.

The fact that the average American knows so little about the political process that they think the president can just tell a corporation where they have to employ people makes my head hurt. Badly.

The message of this election was: just lie to people. Even if there's no factual basis in our known reality to back up your statements, if you tell them what they want to hear they'll believe it. And that's really, really sad. I feel for the people who have lots manufacturing jobs, but the way out of that hole isn't voting for a guy who's going to remove any social safety net you previously had available...

Calling racism racism is NOT labeling and ridicule. It's observation, and there's a big difference. I'm not saying everyone who voted for him is racist, but a lot of them are and frankly it's absurd to say we shouldn't address racism for what it is. If calling out someone for clearly being racist is labeling then I think we need to hash out the definitions of these words.

The point that seems to missed here is that it doesn't matter if you feel or even are justified in your beliefs, because literally everyone feels justified in their beliefs too. Turning it into a name-calling contest is emotionally satisfying to an extent, but that's part of why today we have president elect trump, so is the satisfaction worth it?

Two-thirds of Republicans still believe Obama was born outside the US. What possible justification do they have for that belief? Let's stack up our beliefs and see whose match more closely with "facts."

Here is a possible source for your claim(since you didn't provide one) - http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2015/PPP_Release_Nati...

The poll states that 44% of the queried republicans said "No" to the question.

I've never believed that these polls offer wisdom into the mindset of people - they're too reductive and simplistic.

Here's another from this year. http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2016/05/gop-quickly-...

13% think Obama is a Christian. 77% are not sure if he was born in the US.

I agree the "mindset of the people" is more complex than this, and such a belief about Obama may not be the main driver of their voting behavior.

But they are being truthful about saying they believe what they believe, right? They either believe it or they don't. In my eyes this kind of mass susceptibility to conspiracy theories is a huge sociological phenomenon that should be explored.

Your argument is orthogonal to my point, so I don't really have a response to it. Also I'm not sure if you're calling me out, or some set of abstract Republicans, but I'm not really here to do battle in any case, so I don't have any beliefs for the stack.

>Education, understanding, compassion. Not ridicule.

How much did they try to understand Obama voters? Not at all. We got 8 years of racist attacks, "you lie!", and scorched earth tactics. I appreciate your invitation to be magnanimous but I'm not feeling it yet.

They didn't try at all. Unfortunately, someone has to do it. I'm still working up the strength, too.

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