I got a friend who’s MAGA and I’ve been talking to her about her politics for a bit and she’s willing to hear me out on my concerns. It’s also black history month, and she knows nothing about black history.
I wanna watch a movie with her or a documentary that dives into modern-day racism without explicitly putting down MAGA/conservatives. My goal is not to insult her or make her feel bad, it’s to educate her, hence why I’m asking.
(Please let me know if something I’ve said is problematic or offensive in some kinda way? Sometimes I word things badly or I will ask things that arent okay and I dont realize it until I hit post, lemme know so I can correct myself for the future thankyuuuu ;w;)
Before you try to educate someone else, I suggest you educate yourself first (because this is a really hairy terrain to navigate).
https://youarenotsosmart.com/2022/06/27/yanss-236-how-minds-change/
Oooo yummy links
That one on Youtube about the dad. I can’t think of the name. Racism will only if they have a personal connection with a minority (intimacy, blood relations, friends, community, etc.).
The Brainwashing Of My Dad?
Yeah, that’s a good one.
The problem is the recipient has to be receptive to their bias and intolerance. And most either aren’t or actively revel in it.
OP mentioned his friend is willing to be receptive so that’s why I mentioned that one. And thanks for the name.
Good point. Hopefully it works for his friend.
I was talking in more general terms. Most of the time people don’t want to open their mind to a different perspective. That’s awesome that OP’s friend is bucking that trend!
Oh yea she’s super cool when not spewing stuff about the border. Ive got her to change her opinion on Book bannings and LGBT books being in schools.
She’s very receptive to hearing me out and so is her family it seems. They’re all conservative.
Her, and im also black so im like, the perfect candidate for this 🥴
LoL. Yes you are. Good luck. From an old black dude to a black youngin’.
“Jesus Camp” is just a dive into evangelical child indoctrination camps, in the George W Bush era. One scene has this prayer circle of children praying to a cardboard cutout of W.
It’s arguably not constructive, but I’d say it’s more a mirror to reflect towards a MAGA viewer “Look - this is you now.”
The preacher in that doc, screaming about the gays? Got caught smoking meth in a cheap motel room with a couple of gay prostitutes.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that…
I wouldn’t condone meth use or hypocrisy. But the rest is fine.
That looks like a good one too
Related: Marjoe, is a 1970s Oscar winner for best documentary about a child preacher, Baptist preaching, the money involved in the preaching/god industry, and to a degree clearly exposed the raw core of manipulation inherent. It’s a documentary so doesn’t come straight out and say it, so it could be interpreted differently perhaps by a strong religious conservative. It’s a fantastic exposé.
Honestly some of the Michael moore movies; Roger and me might hit different for some of those folks now that they’re suffering the continued effects of wealth concentration that is so flagrantly and unashamedly happening. Sicko will probaby hit many folks across the aisle as the issue is universal. Bowling for Columbine might be interesting depending on if they are a gun nut.
The atomic cafe is in my top 5 movies of any genre. It’s not just about arms proliferation, it pulls together a ton of cultural pieces and shows how naive, propagandized, and horrible a nascent fascist nation began post WWII.
Not trying to dissuade you, but have you considered talking to her about class politics and the economy?
I believe I have and she’s brought up some conspiracy theories to try and dissuade my points. Im gonna prolly educate her tonight on the psychology if Conspiracy theories and see what she thinks after that
Will you keep us posted?
Have you ever heard of the Socratic method?
So i finally got to watch 13th with her and she took it well up until the end when they started showing clips n shit of trump speaking like a racist. She is open to every other thing except changing her mind about Trump. if I try to discuss anything in relation to him with her she gets extremely frustrated and I’m not sure how to get around that <:/
I think I’m just gonna stop mentioning politics to her and just- let her come to her own conclusions from now on and stop trying to spoonfeed stuff about trump to her. At this point I feel greasy doing it, like I’m going out of my way to try and get her to think like me and I should really not do that. She doesn’t push her opinions onto me so it’s just not right for me to push mine onto her. I should listen to what one other person said and just enjoy the friendship I have with her
I have not actually, and yeah ima keep yall posted ^^
Hell ya, best of luck.
The Socratic involves (but if not limited to), asking the person youre conversing with a lot of follow up questions. Continuing to drill down until you get to the root of the issue. Then, you can work backwards to change their thinking to be more grounded in reality.
This is a really bad explanation but it works wonders for Consevatives. Ill give you a real-world example i had with my parents:
Them: “we dont like immigrants”
Me: why?
Them: they take our jobs
Me: how do they do that?
Them: by working for subpar wages
Me: ya, it sucks because it does take jobs away from people in this country. I wish employers were willing to pay fair wages
(Cut short for brevity)
American History X might be a good movie.
This is not the answer you’re looking for, but I remember watching Green Mile as a child and that movie struck with me for life, and likely attributed early on to me being one of the few non-racist folks around here somewhere in East Europe
The villain on that movie is particularly scary to me because of how many people would do the same thing.
The first thing that comes to mind is that documentary that I think was on Netflix about the 13th amendment. It’s just called “13th”.
I would highly recommend Blue Bayou, it’s about a Korean-American man in Louisiana raised by adoptive parents, but never got the proper paperwork to be considered a citizen. Amazing film, had me tearing up.
I cannot imagine having a maga friend at this point. I could not look at them without thinking how insane they are.
Make sure she is actually interested in watching or learning more. It can come off as very preachy and grandiose what you’re doing.
Like those MAGA priests? /s
Mmmm true… How do I not sound preachy?
Honestly? I would back out of this entirely and just enjoy the friendship. Personally, I would feel manipulated regardless, I dont like the idea of friends with an agenda for me. What I believe is my business.
If she starts it? Sure, that’s a different matter. That’s how you avoid sounding preachy. By not preaching.
Hey man, after watching on the documentaries with her. She took it well up until it started mentioning stuff about trump and then she got frustrated.
I think I’m gonna listen to your advice, I said this in another thread but its just not my place to try and get her to “change her mind” I’m like- no better than the nutjob conservatives that will fight tooth and nail just to get someone to think the way they do.
She did enjoy the documentary up until the end, and at this point I just… feel bad.
I apologized to her after the vid, she had made a comment during our discussion that “I only watched this with you cus I wanted you to feel comfy and cus it was Black history month, but I feel like you lead me into this wanting to talk about Trump again” and that’s when i realized I’m crossing a line I shouldn’t. That comment made me realize that I was being a bit of a bitch… Even if I was coming from a place of good intentions.
I have a tendency to get like this, I’ll get frustrated or upset when I cant change someone’s mind on something, I’ll become obsessed with trying to prove my point until nothing else seems to matter anymore… I gotta stop that, its just not a good trait to have. Like sure its nice to talk about stuff and get my point across but at some point I gotta let it go and accept her as she is. I gotta start accepting people as they are, I had the same issue with my mom (she’s not MAGA whatsoever, just stubborn lol) and learn to live with that.
I mean… I just worry for her dude… Her dad already gog laid off just 2 nights after they were talking to me about how “Trump was gonna make more jobs n fix all the layoffs” or whatever tf. and the company her dad works for LOBBIED WITH TRUMP to get him elected.
Shes super sheltered and just knows absolutely nothing about black history which I feel is a problem. At the very least I just her educated about black issues n shit cus her and her mom mentioned some shit about being “Colorblind” and just- as a darkie myself im just not about that 😭
It is up to them to learn from their mistakes. That’s how learning works.
Not a movie but a youtube playlist: The Alt-Right Playbook
I think you should start with Nixon. Start with the war on the drugs. Some people like to believe that racism “stopped” after the civil rights movement, but we just changed the way we described the targeting.
is there a good movie for that?
Honestly, I don’t have such a movie to suggest, I don’t think such a movie can exist, due to the Backfire Effect. Changing people’s minds takes time, and the impetus to change has to come from within. The handful of times that I’ve managed to do it involved sharing an idea or observation that doesn’t immediately trigger their defenses, but metaphorically is like dropping a grain of sand in the gears of their mind, and then letting it do the work of grinding away at the teeth, until one day their old thought process breaks down. It can take months.
Ive also been at it for a few months. this is the first movie night I’m gonna have with her. So far it’s just been us discussing things and ive made some decent progress ngl :0 My main goal is for her to detach herself from Trump above all else. And whatever conspiracy theories she’s into at the moment
The Perfect Neighbor on Netflix had me in tears. About a black mother who was killed in Florida by someone trying to claim Stand Your Ground laws
I’ll ask my wife, because she’s been consuming a lot of racism lately. (Lots of civil war era books, with a strong focus on the injustices against black people.)
Off the top of my head there’s of course, Roots.
We also watched the Free State of Jones. It’s based on a true story that puts you in the shoes of a Rebel soldier who goes AWOL, and befriends a group of runaway slaves.
Since you know your friend better than any of us, you might want to watch any suggestions alone, and possibly even search online for an in depth analysis of it before presenting it to your friend. That way you can be prepared to intelligently discuss any topics that might come up.
EDIT: My wife reminded me of American History X, which is more anti KKK than pro-black, but it’s also much more modern and VERY graphic.
Good luck!
If you’re going there, then 12 Years A Slave is the best take on pre-Civil War slavery. It’s a true story, and the book is great, too.
