Good Film to Watch
Here’s a good movie to watch, in between our various Getting Out the Vote activities.
A lot of people don’t understand how Trump supporters could get conned by him. However, getting conned is a pretty universal human experience — including getting conned by propaganda.
Right Wing propaganda — in this case in mainstream media conned the voters of the Bluest city in the Bluest state into recalling their Democratic District Attorney. Here are a couple of threadreaders of Twitter threads about this.
So don’t think liberals are immune to being conned by propaganda. We have more in common with conned Trump supporters than most of us would like to admit.
The film I’m recommending is about Trump supporters who figured out that they had been conned. This film affords a chance for everyone to learn about what attracted some of these people to Trump and what it took for them to realize Trump wasn’t who they’d thought he was.
It’s touching to watch them describe their having gotten fooled, as well as their transition back to reality and to a sense of compassion for everyone in the nation.
It’s important for people to become aware of how Trump supporters get their minds manipulated — by Trump, by Right Wing media and by ministers in Christian fundamentalist churches.
Too many people think that Trump supporters just believe what they want to believe, or that they like Trump to lie to them. That may be true of some. But there are plenty of people who are being conned. We’ve all been conned before — if only by buying merchandise that was falsely advertised.
One problem with people being conned politically is that it’s really hard for people to admit — to themselves or others — that they’ve been conned. Maria Konnikova’s excellent history of con artistry, The Confidence Game, discusses this.
It’s embarrassing to admit being conned. People feel like fools. Our overall culture tends to be pretty unforgiving also. So not only are people shunned and shamed by the Trump supporters who used to be their friends. Others sometimes shame them for having been so mistaken as to have voted for Trump in the first place.
Good luck to all in your Getting Out the Vote activities. And I hope you all find this film as eye opening and heart warming as I did.
If you rent or buy the film and watch it, please consider writing a review, to let others know about it. I already wrote one myself, but Amazon said it will take several days for them to review it and publish it.
Also, please tell your friends about it. The more people who watch this film, the better, as so many people don’t understand Trump supporters and can take this chance to learn and to empathize with their stories.
If you can get any of your Trump supporter friends or relatives to watch it with you, or on their own, that would be great too.
