A friend's dad is the archetypal boomer. Started a small sports equipment store in the 70s, got bought out in the 80s for an outlandish sum of money, lived off of investment income until very recently. Constantly jumping into our conversations to berate us for being slackers for not working full-time while in high school, kicked my buddy out on his 18th birthday (he was fine, had money in something similar to but not actually a trust fund), divorced his wife to date much younger women, owned a boat that he rarely used, etc. Well, around 2015 he decides that he's not going to be able to buy a new car every two years if he doesn't do something, so he opens another small business. After all, he's a business genius, and he's done it before!
He ate total shit, wiped through all his savings in less than a year, and now has to work for a living (sort of, he's a car salesman). :stalin-feels-good:
He looked like Julian from Trailer Park boys, but more skinnyfat and with a more receded hairline.
im having a hard time trying to imagine that look being unattractive and i cant, am i a weirdo? the dude is definitely a grade A shithead though and from what youve said it sounds like hes one of those people who will watch some blatantly anti imperialist movie with a strong “going overseas just to slaughter a bunch of people in the name of jingoism and capitalism isnt good nor patriotic actually” messaging going on and still what he takes home will be “wow look at these cool snipers slaughtering all of these afghan children, god i hope i can be as strong and manly and proud of my country as them one day”
One about the gun culture->chud pipeline. It's safer to be into military or gun culture (I don't know if culture is really the right word) from a right-wing standpoint than from the left. Kids play cops and robbers, not revolutionaries and landlords.
And now I'm sad that I couldn't play that growing up.
I knew a guy in high school who was huge on airsoft, military paraphernalia, and Russian but died from suicide. I wonder if he'd be a chud or not otherwise.
I think he was gonna join the US military, so he'd probably end up with a Dodge Challenger and getting married at 20.
I have a Chud friend from High School, 15+ year relationship at this point -- I used to hang out with him nearly every day after high school for 5+ years.
He was a-political our whole relationship, comes from a single mother household, his mom is pretty racist when she is drunk (she is drunk most days) but she takes in and lets people of different ethnicities couch surf (I'm a PoC and she loves me) -- she is amazing and a dirtbag depending on the day. She is a former Punker.
His brother passed in a car crash nearly a decade ago, his brother was a year older than him.
He is in construction, holds a HS diploma only.
Once Trump got elected, he changed massively. Started repeatedly using the n-word, hates Mexicans/Latin and South Americans that are here illegally (I don't think he holds a good opinion of legal ones either), has made a statement when we were drunk stating, "I would pour out jugs of water in the desert near the border if I saw them" -- he just completely changed when Trump got elected. He saw it as a "fuck you I'll be belligerent and racist if I want, I'm a white hard-working American" card and ran with it. He has multiple Trump and Confederate flags in his garage -- him and his mom have gone to gatherings at corners of intersections promoting Trump. He does not know anything about politics or history -- he is just indoctrinated by these old, fat, racist, sexist and born rich white guys who give him work that he looks up too. He doesn't admit it, but I know that is where he gets all his political talking points and views from.
He was the sweetest guy in HS and afterwards, he is still a caring person ... but definitely not like he used to be. I live in Los Angeles, so seeing him transform like this ... I can only imagine how bad it is in the fly-over states and other predominantly white parts of the country.
He is like my case-study at this point, I hang out with him and talk politics to get his take on things. It usually ends up with him just yelling and talking over me but it's a lot of fun. I confuse him because I shit on Republicans and Democrats -- I always give him shit for dick-riding Trump just to piss him off. I try to plant seeds in his head to get him out of the Trump Cult, to get him to see things from a class perspective, but I don't think I will ever get through to him unless there is a massive shift in the political consciousness of the country.
Life just took a massive shit on him, and I feel like the Trump Cult is his only way to really vent about it. It's hard to hate him or dislike him because he is a longtime friend -- and I know underneath it all he is a sweetheart, it's just ... demoralizing I guess seeing him like that ... I'm not sure how to describe my feelings towards it. I definitely wish I had my non-Trump Cult friend back though, that's for sure.
Heavy story, comrade. Probably played out all over the country.
Almost all attributable to the MSM’s laser focus in stoking hyper-partisanship more than in any other previous era. Add in the toxicity of social media and it’s a giant identity politics fuckfest, drawing in everyone including the most apolitical people to take sides. So glad I completely ignored the dopey electoral coverage once Bernie was cheated for a second time.
Funny thing is if you stripped away all the MSM parameters of talking about policies in black and white party affiliations and instead took it by issues that effect all of us in our daily lives you can make inroads. For instance, ask if he things public utilities should be owned by private companies instead of by the public, since everyone relies on electric, water, the internet, etc. Does he he know corporate CEO’a sometimes make $10mil a year? What about asking where he’s like his tax money to go, more military drones and bombers, or towards free healthcare? There’s so many way of taking about issues outside of the Duopoly bullshit.
When I try to convince him or plant seeds all I do is talk about policy, I don't talk about Democrats or Republican (unless he makes some outlandish comments) -- but those talking points just don't stick. He will agree with them, then the next day he will go straight back to his own talking points. His conviction behind his political beliefs are not cemented in facts or reality, and I'm fairly certain he is aware of that. He is just so emotionally charged by Trump and his rhetoric that he will not be swayed from it. I will tell him how Trump contradicts himself on certain issues or try to show him videos (he will not read articles) where Trump does not agree with his beliefs but he will just push it aside or not acknowledge it. His indoctrination to the Trump Cult is cathartic in the sense that it gives him an identity, a venue to vent and a way to rationalize life's woes -- it is like a religion to him at this point. I keep trying every time I meet him to at the very least plant seeds and not argue, but it really seems to get nowhere. As I stated in my original post, I don't think I will ever be able to convince him unless there is a significant shift in the political conscious in the US -- or maybe if Trump does something to accidently snap the trance he has put his followers in.
Unfortunately there are chuds who are in it just to hate-fuck the others. They don't care about facts or who's doing the most harm. They want to see the opposition hurt so they can feel justified and/or vindicated.
And truth be told, it's not even about winning; it's literally about inflicting pain and as much as possible. There is no end game. Some may even admit Trump is a moron. They love him because he lands punches, even if they're sometimes few and far between. And when Trump totally strikes out (which happens all the fucking time), libs shit themselves just thinking about the orange menace - which is yet another victory.
I know multiple people in the Trump camp. Many of them aren't interested in their side winning as much as they're keyed into opposition losing. Yes, it does involve a lot of circular thinking but it also sets the bar really fucking low to put yourself in a position of being a "winner."
Good luck. Its hard when friends go down the wrong rabbit hole and being there for them is the best thing you can do. I had some friends go all anti-vax 5G qanon but luckily it was just a short phase.
You've described my actual brother. Watching him devolve into a chud, while not totally unexpected, is totally heartbreaking.
Super chill Jewish hippie kid that became a Christian nationalist after getting radicalized by the history channel and militia chuds in the PNW.
Ooof. The History Channel to Fascism Pipeline is real, cringe, and real cringe.
How difficult would it really be to redefine the word "tankie" as someone who only focuses on the War bits of history? The rad-lib usage already nearly runs parallel - "you just love the red army!!" Plus history-channel guys already have the fixation on "precision German engineered" tanks.
Panzerchen? I'm not sure how the '-ie' suffix would translate exactly, I think "panzerchen" would basically just be "little tank" which I'm not sure exactly fits
panzerchen
To me that sounds like the name of an adorable tank in an anime: Google Translate.
Again this is why it's important to have an education that includes art analysis/criticism
One of my best friends from high school fell down the chud pipeline after graduating. Got really into Crowder and said he hated how being a man was looked down upon these days. He got a blue line Punisher tattoo on his chest despite never being a cop.
He got a blue line Punisher tattoo on his chest despite never being a cop.
Lmao :bootlicker:
I'm just waiting for the pioneering chud to get a surgery to replace their taste buds and salivary glands with bristles and polish dispensers.
All my chud stories are depressing, dumb or both lol.
These are the same person for now
My best friend’s cousin has Liberty Prime gifs and quotes in his Discord profile picture. He is a lolbertarian.
He spams any and all meme channels with really shitty right wing memes 24/7. Nobody comments on them or replies with anything, it’s just a lonely stream of bad memes.
When he joins voice channels, he does the whole “just asking questions” things right off the bat.
“Is it racist to call Japanese people ***?”
“That character reminds me of ****** you know who that is?” (dead naming a trans celebrity).
He’s really obsessed with the Freikorps in 40k and I’m assuming the real ones.
He’s 37
there's the Krieg Korps who have a WW1 trench warfare aesthetic, but I'm not sure they necessarily fit in with the Freikorps beyond that, they're not really former veterans employed as paramiltiaries (although they are obsessed with dying in battle, so they at least have the fascist death drive going for them, but that's just most people in 40k)
I just assumed that everything and everyone is trying to die in 40k
They're also a hodge-podge of ww1 factions mixed together, like French trench coat, British boot thingies, American entrenching tool, etc.
Death Korps of Krieg specifically, a close to discontinued army units. Not really official discontinuation but they hard to find through GW official vendors.
I did exaggerate a little calling the units freikorps, I’ll admit. They have a WWI trench warfare uniform with gas masks+helmet look. There’s a lot of French and German influence in the uniform.
But since chuds don’t know shit about shit, they latch onto a discontinued unit list and think it’s theirs or whatever. People that know 40k know what the units are but those dorks who get into it and jump right into these specific units are immediately sus.
He got into 40k and went straight to that shit lol
It's even more sus because Krieg only ever had super-expensive (think about 2x-3x the cost of the already outlandish 40k prices) Forgeworld-only models, so someone who dives in and goes straight for that is doing it for a reason. As for why chuds get into them, it's literally because they have a german-sounding name. Doesn't matter that their pointless dying in trench warfare is a reference to the wrong world war, doesn't matter that the uniform is inspired by a variety of countries, nope, they sound german so time to paint them up with swastikas.
They did recently get a plastic Kill Team release, which is still $60 for 10 guys.
Ahh I had no idea I am really not up to date with 40k stuff at all lol
Why the hell does your best friend let his weird cousin fuck up your discord server?
My friend is a coward. Simple as that really.
It pained me so much typing that out because I think I’ve been in denial up until this point lol. I would be dishonest if I said it doesn’t hurt. Feels like a nearly 13 year friendship circling down the toilet.
I don’t hang out with that group anymore tho so it’s all good.
That's rough. We expect our friends to have a line that an asshole will cross and hope they'll shut that shit down when it matters.
My friend in my original post seemed to be okay with me coming out, but then sat by and let her (closeted) boyfriend say horrendous shit around me. I won't say how you should feel about your friend, but you deserve people in your life who respect your values.
Hey I just wanted to thank you for your kind words at the end there. I really needed to hear that.
I tend to lose sight of the fact that there are so many people in the world who can relate to nearly everything in some fashion. It gives me hope every time I remember that.
Of course. You deserve people who have your back just because you're a human being, but you're a comrade too and I hope you feel that at least while you're here. :heart-sickle:
Friend story...I mean, I have a chud dad who literally yesterday told me, verbatim "Capitalism causes problems unless it's properly restrained" with no prompting, in the context of corporations price gouging. He also realizes inflation fucks poor people the hardest (and realizes wages need to be raised drastically for all, specifically minimum wage), thinks billionaires are assholes, believes public transit (specifically trains) and walk ability are what should be emphasized over electric cars, and believes in nuclear/renewables over coal
But he's a boomer who has more worms than brain when it comes to politics, and his father was a career military guy who probably was part of a CIA kill squad in the 70's so he's hardwired to think anything politically left of Reagan is socialist and bad
Basically like many programmed but somewhat enlightened RWers:
“Socialism bad. Socialist policies good.”
Yes. It's infuriating because outside of my spouse, nobody else in my family is as close to 'getting it' as him, but he is also the absolute furthest from 'getting it'
The metaphorical horse is standing in the water, but it believes the water is poisonous
the funniest one i can think of is.... so i have a friend from high school that is like a boiler plate lib. watches cable news. thinks bill maher is hilarious. anyway, he's not the chud. let's call him B. this girl who he was a complete fool over in high school, let's call her L.
so B has always been just a big lib. in high school, he was for reasons that escape me to this day, just over the moon for this girl L. in his words, she was the hottest girl ever. i didn't see it, but OK. what i guess made it weirder is that, personality wise, she was total furniture. quiet doesn't cover it. like straight up non-reactive. i did not understand. anyway, he took her to prom and i think they made out, but it didn't go anywhere and they went on to different schools. i don't understand how it could have even if they did. seriously: furniture.
he always thought of her as this one who got away, so of course they were pals on facebook. he didn't really participate much, because he's kinda dumb and lazy at computers, but every few years would look her up i guess. anyway, back in like fuckin' ~2012, he was massively crestfallen to discover she had gotten married to some guy, had a kid, and was super republican. but not just republican, he explained. like Level 99, Stat-capped Government Conspiracy Republican. she was posting daily about Operation Jade Helm and sharing conspiracy memes about Obama. the one he showed me was like Obama with glowing red eyes, wearing a turban, and basically saying something like, "Obama Knows ISIS is in the US, preparing to attack. Because he is leading them!" Super dramatic and insane, back before it became a recognizable social phenomenon under Trump.
I think it was like probably among the last times he even got on facebook. christ only knows what kind of shit she got into during trump. if she's not full blown "JFK Jr is going to resurrect at a Flea Market north of Dallas-Fort Worth on June 6th" Q-brain now, i would be shocked.
honestly, like 80% of my high school became insufferable chuds by their early 30s. the remaining 20% became brain wormed libs. i have been to zero reunions and i'm not on social media. i tried to get a former military lib friend to start a rumor that i was "... killed during the Iraq War. [pause for dramatic effect]. He was fighting for the other side."
Obama Knows ISIS is in the US, preparing to attack. Because he is leading them!
wtf based obama
can't necessarily think of any good stories, but people I know around my age who turned into chuds generally meet all of the following criteria:
- contrarian
- upset about idpol
- rich
- "intellectual" (ivy league education, reads the wsj... that sort)
if they satisfy 2 or 3 of the above, then they're generally neolibs instead.
that said... I arguably fit all of the above--which is part of how I know so many people like that.
I think what allowed me to make the transition to leftism is
- becoming less contrarian
- realizing that the problem isn't idpol; it's idpol without material analysis.
- realizing that intellectualism is kind of masturbatory. it feels good, and there's a time and place for it, but it doesn't accomplish anything on its own. praxis > theory, material conditions > ideology.
Also, preemptive disclaimer that this is very much stream of consciousness.
That's a fascinating look into how one is radicalized and how we can approach deradicalization. Thanks!
aww, thank you! I think it's hard because each of these things kind of feed the others. So breaking through that is tough.
Looking back, I think I was really lucky to have good people close to me. My brother and I have always been really close, and he basically bullied me into being a better person. Like, we'd hang out and he'd just straight up tell me "your opinions are shit. no, shut up. I'm not going to debate you. your opinions suck, quit being a loser. now let's talk about sports." Two of my closest friends are more or less apolitical, but I think they are very "go with the flow" types and that helped me become less rigid and contrarian generally. It got me out of my comfort zone and helped me realize that, for example, even if I don't like weed, my friends can smoke it and it's actually not a problem. And then finally, I think as I was dating, I realized that being nice to people and making them feel good about themselves made for more enjoyable dates than being a contrarian asshole.
Without that though, it's kind of scary to think that I could have become a rather terrible person.
I like to think that maybe innate empathy or compassion would have eventually made me feel bad and brought me back to the right path, but idk... The more right wing you get, the more distanced you become from the harm you're causing and the less you see it.
I read WSJ too. It was either that, NYT, or Washington Post and I figured more of a finance tilt will be less insufferable than more of an electoral politics tilt. I don't touch the opinion section with a ten foot pole though.
How is being a chud contrarian though? Like 30% of the country is straight chud.
Just talking about my own experiences and social circles. I think in young, rich, upper class circles, chuds tend to be people who tend to be contrarian. Kind of that Ben Shapiro / debatebro type mentality. Like "ah, yes, let's put to test in the marketplace of ideas the humanity of [marginalized group]."
indian dude, major trump supporter building up to the election. was against illegal immigration because "they should do it legally like us".
one of our friends was deported the year prior.
would hold the most inane grudges, i accidentally lost his terra blade when the terraria mobile version patched duplication and he wouldn't shut up about it (and was legitimately angry about it) for two years
dude punched me over a cookie. I was def being an asshole, i'll admit, teens be not thinking, but the mf straight up sucker punched me. lip got caught on my braces and shit. he got in-person suspension for a day. never talked to the mf again
I'll never understand people who come to this country just to gatekeep.
Jeez. What a piece of work. Straight up heartless too. I couldn't imagine knowing someone who got deported and holding onto views like that.
Also punching somebody in the face is a really fucked up thing to do.
funnily enough he's coming back this year, according to him. I wouldn't blame him, Modi's india isn't fun (other dude is also from india)
yeah, it hurt like a bitch for the day.
the cookie wasn't even that good, too. it was, constitution-wise, basically a fucking brick.
I know multiple "libertarians but also nationalist" who are also on welfare long-term. Idk why, but there's a certain sort of guy that is really common here
My cousin is a chud, basically like the stereotype of first/second generation immigrants that become super conservative once they get their green cards or US nationalities, kinda like that. Makes me wonder what do people go through during the naturalization process lol. I don't spend that much time with her since she's in New York, but last time she was here, I felt like her pro-trump ideology is paper thin, basically a pro-Trumper out of sheer hatred for democrats or whatever. I guess that's your brain on electoral bipartisanism. Also she's apparently full of these conservative factoids that are easily refutable, I was showing my aunt how to use sci-hub since she's a doctor and probably would get some use out of it, and my cousin was like "yeah but how do the authors get paid" and I was like "lol"
