Exactly!! They think that DEI also is the new affirmative action, when in fact merit and qualifications play a definitive role in DEI hires.

They just don't see that anyone who is not white can be substantial. It's flawed thinking.

They really don't. The fear of the Other, the seeing the other is lesser in fundamentsl ways is pretty deeply ingrained and their leaders reinforce it

From a young age this rhetoric never made sense to me. I don't understand why anyone would choose to think this way. I cannot identify or relate in any way. With every fiber of my soul I despise and oppose it, and will continue to do so.

It doesn’t make any sense to me either. Let’s just say you’re a woman of color who’s a pilot. MAGA sees you as lesser than and hence unqualified, but I can guarantee you that woman had to work a minimum of three times as hard to get to where she is.

MAGA types have a zero sum view of the world. They see limited opportunities and to them every time a person of color has some success, they feel it was taken from a more qualified white person. But you're right- all too often it means that person worked 3x as hard and put up with 19x the bullshit

And... this bothers me too. Why do they think someone's success means it subtracts from theirs? I do not see it this way. I see the big picture. We all win. However now, in 2025, I see a maga win as a WE ALL LOSE.

Absolutely. Their fear is incompetence in themselves, so they mask it with tactics of oppression and lies.

A lot don't really choose it. Children believe what the adults in their lives tell them is true, especially if their actions back it up. If they live in a bubble where all their friends & neighbors believe it, too, it can be hard for reality to break through

Exposure is so important to help dispel the stereotypes or remove fear.

YES! People have a harder time hating people they know

Yep. That back before they learned "socialist" which they thought - and still think - is a fancy way to say "communist"

Not sure where it goes exactly but 'political correctness' is in there somewhere.

Woke is the largest tent under which all of these things come, ‘political correctness’ for sure included. Empathy also = yuck.