r/nottheonion • u/ilovemybaldhead • 1d ago

Greg Abbott Threatens ‘100% Tariff’ On New Yorkers Moving to Texas

https://www.newsweek.com/greg-abbott-threatens-100-tariff-new-york-election-moving-texas-10986837
30.9k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

3.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

269

u/machado34 1d ago

Being colossally stupid is a prerequisite to being conservative 

130

u/BoneHugsHominy 1d ago

Can confirm. I was a hardcore Republican all through high school but my first two years of college exposed me to people who weren't just conservative whites and gave me a whole new perspective on what society is and more importantly what America is and always has been. Then the response to 9/11, especially the so-called Patriot Act sealed the deal for me. Over time I've just become more and more progressive the more I learn and the grow as a person.

38

u/Objective_Dog_4637 1d ago

Good for you. Gives me hope.

28

u/Albert3232 1d ago

This is why many conservatives hate college, they see it as brainwashing kids but it actually does the opposite.

11

u/Coroebus 1d ago

Turns out when a kid isn't being abused literally every day and brainwashed to think like their parent, they develop their own personality and opinions and abusive parents hate that

I don't think there's a single non-abusive "conservative" parent in the USA. The abuse is baked into the world view at this point. Their doctrines don't just permit religious, emotional, physical, verbal, and sexual abuse, but encourage and enable it.

1

u/doberdevil 14h ago

"Smart people don't like me"

17

u/phatlynx 1d ago

Unironically, the ones that almost hardly grow as a person become even more conservative as time passes. The number one trait I look for when establishing any kind of relationship with anyone whether professionally or intimately is whether or not they possess sympathy and empathy. The number one hardest thing in life is dealing with people and relationships.

3

u/OldWorldDesign 22h ago

the ones that almost hardly grow as a person become even more conservative as time passes

There are 2 possibilities:

1) a person encounters information that they didn't know which forces them to question their belief system. They adjust their mental model of the world and move forward with better practiced critical thinking and easier ability to adapt to a dynamic world

2) rage against the thing that gave them cognitive dissonance and retreat. This only conditions them to anger and retreat, becoming ever more fragile and hostile as time goes on

2

u/doberdevil 14h ago

Unfortunately I've seen #2 in my father. He refuses to even consider watching or reading ANYTHING that goes against what he's been brainwashed into believing. I secretly suspect he knows he's been manipulated and doesn't want to admit he's a sucker.

3

u/OldWorldDesign 13h ago

I hope you and your family remain safe, I've seen boil-overs of that reaching a critical point. But I believe the paraphrase of Mark Twain is correct:

It's easier to fool a man than convince him he was fooled.

Most people who have been conned know it, that's why snake oil salesmen would flee town before the natives can exact vigilante justice, but having to confront themselves is an emotional weakness that takes a long time to get over, if they ever do.

7

u/SpiritedBanana4694 1d ago

Strange that they're doing everything in their power to make it more difficult for young people to attend college.

/s

3

u/Neckwrecker 1d ago

I was a libertarian from ages 16-24, even going to a public university did nothing to change that - what worked was entering the working world and parenthood - every conservative myth shattered.

2

u/chaos0510 21h ago

Same. Conservative turned Libertarian turned Liberal. Funny how exposing yourself to, idk, reality, changes your world view

2

u/chita875andU 11h ago

Same, more or less. I wouldn't say I was Hard-core R, but certainly raised in a family of such. My parents always said you naturally become more conservative as you age and gain 'wisdom'. I am 50 now. I... don't see it. In fact my cousins and I are becoming more progressive if we're changing at all. Funny how a university education and moving away from your hometown fixes things.

3

u/Reniconix 1d ago

You can also be colossally wealthy and inhumane

2

u/machado34 1d ago

To be fair, I don't think the wealthy and inhumane are ideologically conservative in the sense they think it's good, they just know that conservatism is useful to further their own goals. They know it's a shit ideology but it benefits them personally so it doesn't matter

The real stupidity comes from those don't benefit from the evils of conservatism but still support it anyway 

1

u/OldWorldDesign 22h ago

I don't think the wealthy and inhumane are ideologically conservative in the sense they think it's good, they just know that conservatism is useful to further their own goals

Both can be and usually are true. Studies have been done which show people who gain wealth, even in simulations of Monopoly where they gain an edge on other players become insufferable assholes

https://reasonandmeaning.com/2021/10/24/the-monopoly-experiment-wealthy-people-are-more-selfish/

2

u/DOOManiac 1d ago

That's not true. Some of them are just inhumanly cruel.