Having strong opinions about how people should behave that doesn’t align with everyone else’s is a natural path to authoritarianism, regardless of political alignment.
The best defence is accepting multiple ways to live, some hippies are open minded that way and I’d I expect them to be immune, but of course there’s always been the “oh you must not ever put unnatural chemicals in your body” or “we need to return to hunter gatherer dynamics which definitely existed in exactly the way I dream of” nutters, who are ripe for radicalising.
i think the core part is why someone has the beliefs they do, does it stem from wanting a better world or is it just “thing bad because it bad”.
If someone just wants the world to be better then they’re probably willing to change their mind and accept other beliefs provided it’s explained to them, and willing to mix and match stuff.
Like “artificial chemicals haven’t been tested for thousands of years so i’m skeptical, but if it has been tested a lot then nomnomnom”
Having strong opinions about how people should behave that doesn’t align with everyone else’s is a natural path to authoritarianism, regardless of political alignment.
The best defence is accepting multiple ways to live, some hippies are open minded that way and I’d I expect them to be immune, but of course there’s always been the “oh you must not ever put unnatural chemicals in your body” or “we need to return to hunter gatherer dynamics which definitely existed in exactly the way I dream of” nutters, who are ripe for radicalising.
i think the core part is why someone has the beliefs they do, does it stem from wanting a better world or is it just “thing bad because it bad”.
If someone just wants the world to be better then they’re probably willing to change their mind and accept other beliefs provided it’s explained to them, and willing to mix and match stuff.
Like “artificial chemicals haven’t been tested for thousands of years so i’m skeptical, but if it has been tested a lot then nomnomnom”