As for why I was listening to conservative talk radio (🤢) in the first place, that’s all the play at my job. I usually tune it out but can’t use earbuds for safety reasons and I’m not high enough on the totem pole to change the station. I won’t specifiy the exact program because I believe it’s regional.
I’ve been excited for Alex Garland’s Civil War for months now. A24’s been killing their drama films recently and it’s been refreshing having what I thought was an unapologetically left-leaning major media studio who’s found success through authentic, grassroots support. After hearing what felt like four ad reads for the movie in an hour and knowing that means A24 paid money - gave direct financial support - to a show that, amongst other things, spends hours a day promoting bigotry, Russian propaganda, and J6 apologetism, has ruined it for me.
Am I just overreacting here?
Genuine question, is this what you actually think will happen, or just a fantasy about what you want? Those types are so galvanized from a decade plus of online echo chambers that I doubt any of that shock would get through to them. Meanwhile, the harm A24 is doing by funding (through ad placements) conservative commentators is very real and very immediate.
Of course it’s a fantasy about what I want. Everything that ever happens in the world starts out as a fantasy of what some people want.
I think there are more cracks in that galvanizing than you think. Overturning Roe is not turning out to be the grand success they’d hoped. Yes, it’s because people who vote conservative require the truth to impact them personally and emotionally before they get the point. Yes, that’s fucked. But it’s the sad reality we’re dealing with here.
I don’t expect people to flip full socialist LGBT ally overnight. But if someone starts suggesting we take up arms against our fellow residents of the US, a depiction of reality might cause enough people to pause and think, “You know, maybe let’s not.”
Don’t act like fictional depictions have no impact on real opinions.
As a former conservative republican turned socialist, I’ll say that it can happen. Certainly some will never change their minds or see the world any other way.
But some of us will. And some of us only will if we are exposed to thoughts and viewpoints outside our usual echo chamber.
I agree that I’d rather A24 wasn’t offering any financial boost to extreme conservative viewpoints. But I am hopeful that at least a few people in those audiences will be drawn to watch and that it will make them ask questions they never thought about before.
Do you remember some things that got you to move from a conservative Republican to a socialist?