#I am a nuance enjoyer and think even painting those I DESPISE through a 2-D lens is ultimately an act that completely warps your perception

[shadowkat678]

I know there are people here who'll absolutely misconstrue my words, so before I continue, this is NOT a justification for awful actions or choices or beliefs.

HOWEVER! (Yeah I know, always a great start to a post)

It seems very... unhealthy when I stumble across responses or posts in a certain vain talking about groups of bad people in the context, say, of like law enforcement or conservatives or military or whatever where people instantly paint them as "They JUST wanted to do x, y, or z because it lets them feel this or hurt these people or gives them an excuse to give into their darkest impulses".

Like. It's not necessarily always wrong. But I think there's a habit of going "No, they're lying when they say they want to (Insert positive intention here, such as serve their communities, Protect The Children, uphold values they believe help people, whatever), and that is an excuse to hide behind." and turning it into...I don't know.

Cardboard cutouts to put all our grievances and anger and pain on that simplify bad people into things we don't have to have any relation to. Something simple and straightforward and easy to dismiss without being hurt as much by their choices more than you have to already be.

But people often do fall into harmful ideologies and groups fully buying, still even to the end buying, the reasons they give. That's what justification is! People want to feel like they're backing something or doing something that matters! That makes them feel good or vindicated or heroic!

The road to hell IS paved with good intentions, and that's one reason people double down so much! Even with facts shoved right in your face, how do you reconcile everything you built around yourself being a lie? That you hurt people? That you're not even the story's villain often, but a pawn of lackey of a greater evil?

That's why we praise those who escape that, right? It's hard. It hurts. Your entire perceived reality crumbles around you. To face that and accept it anyway, then strive to be better, and find ways to undo the harm is an enormous life altering choice that could lose you so much. And it's terrifying.

And added on to that, you have to do so facing people who may rightfully hate you. It'd be so much easier to continue falling further in, with people who justify your actions and offer you compassion and kindness while everyone else is calling you a monster, but YOU know you're not a monster, right? You're just trying to do what's best. Your beliefs are justified. They have to be.

Of course you're a good cop, you bought that mother who couldn't afford a booster seat one instead of ticketing her, right? I mean maybe you couldn't let everyone off, and some people unfortunately get hurt or can't afford rent because you didn't let them off when you caught them going 10mph over the speed limit but they could control that more so why is that your fault? Yeah you defended the cop that got accused of shooting something wrongly, but it was a mistake. People make mistakes don't they? And you know his family. He's been on patrol with you.

He's a good guy, it was just a mistake. You're a good guy. If you hold him to his mistakes, what about yours?

This isn't, AGAIN, saying not to hold people to their choices. This is not a justification post. But there's a very real fear I have, that if you go too far in forgetting those in the wrong are complex, people who have love, redeeming qualities, and humanity...well, how do we recognize ourselves when we fall down our own holes?

When we justify our own actions. Because we're good people, right? Isn't that how exclusionists happen, leaning so hard into doing this to PROTECT other vulnerable populations from infiltration and abuse, for example? How The Good Feminists justify turning their pain and honing it as a weapon against sex workers, men as a whole always being a dangerous force to constantly guard against (specifically referencing the harm done by ignoring intersectional struggles and the way the patriarchy hurts literally everyone, which by the way I fell into for a while too), etc etc etc etc etc

It's easy to other those who've hurt us and paint them as monsters. But in forgetting the complexity of those who hurt us, we open ourselves to blindspots, and also further push away those who might be on the fence to turn away from these harmful choices and beliefs.

I think we do ourselves a disservice in not understanding the more scary evil of those we fight against. That they're just people, and we could very well fall into our own traps. That evil is often not that of cackling villains fooling everyone around them while enjoying the harm they cause, but individuals justifying their actions through their own fear, anger, distrust, misplaced intent, or prideful arrogance.

You can hate them just as much! Their actions are just as reprehensible!

You don't need to flatten the complexity of your enemies as fully fledged people to oppose them and what they've done!