this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2026
448 points (99.1% liked)
Political Memes
12203 readers
2789 users here now
Welcome to politcal memes!
These are our rules:
1) Be civil
Jokes are okay, but don’t intentionally harass or disturb any member of our community. Sexism, racism and bigotry are not allowed. Good faith argumentation only. No posts discouraging people to vote or shaming people for voting.
2) No misinformation
Don’t post any intentional misinformation. When asked by mods, provide sources for any claims you make.
3) Posts should be memes
Random pictures do not qualify as memes. Relevance to politics is required.
4) No bots, spam or self-promotion
Follow instance rules, ask for your bot to be allowed on this community.
5) No AI generated content.
Content posted must not be created by AI with the intent to mimic the style of existing images
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
At times, it does seem like there's only a single amendment - The Second Amendment -- in some peoples' little bubble. For me, I'm a lover not a fighter, so I'd much rather use my speech and not my guns. But that's just me.
I literally had a conservative tell me that I have no right to protest anything "The President" aka Trump, is doing. I stayed calm but made sure to inform them that, in fact, peaceful protests are part of the very first amendment.
Why not both?
I’m a fighter and a lover.
I use guns, grow food, herbs and flowers. Raise and care for critters.
I punch Nazis.
Violence begets violence in an endless cycle of everyone loses, and "using guns" is vastly different from the "second amendment" context I was referring to. But also, I'm not an internet tough guy, so it doesn't really suit me to go around pretending I get physically violent with people over political disagreements.
I’m a lifelong martial artist.
I use training only as a response or in controlled scenarios. I don’t consider a response violent unless done with anger or unwarranted aggression.
I'm a 12th generation samurai with military training in ballistics and massive missiles plus I have a PHD, as well as PHC, PHB, and PHA in when to use those particular sets of skills. So I get it, I do.
Everyone knows that only 13th generation samurai are allowed training in ballistics and missiles. Nice try.
I do understand where you're coming from, but judging from my personal experience with a friend who became a religious extremist (among other things), I don't know if this is actually possible with some people.
This is an honest plea for helping me understand and find a solution.
I tried to talk about his religious views and the world and people for 1.5 years. Nothing helps. Words seemingly never reach this guy, except they reinforce his faith. He would also never go to therapy, as "therapists don't want to help you, they just want your money".
He rather declared that he (and every human on earth) has been born without empathy and is unable to reach any acceptable moral values on his own and that raping and killing children is just part of his "good god, who's love first and foremost" than accepting that literally anything he heard about his faith isn't as good and pure as he sees it.
He's not my friend anymore, but
The things outlined above are only a small part of what he told me about his faith. I feel like this one is lost for good.
To me it seems like there's nothing anybody can do, we just need to wait until real bad shit hits the fan.
Based on how you've phrased your comment, somewhere along the line a person or group of people convinced your friend that these religious extremist views were righteous and helped to foster that relationship with him that lead him further down (or even into) that path. He wasn't born a religious extremist, in your own words "he became a religious extremist".
The truth is, it sounds like you're asking for a solution to a specific situation, but a random internet stranger with no real insight into that situation, no knowledge of that extremist's perspective and experience -- it's literally not possible for me to help you understand beyond very broad generalizations.
However ...
People can change their minds. Maybe not everyone, but what's certain is that they absolutely won't if there's no path that allows them to retreat from their extremist views/past when the call comes. Accountability may be necessary, but that opportunity to abandon old ideas needs to be clear of obstacles for the best chance of success at the start.
It might help to realize that you personally may never be able to change that one specific extremist's views. And even if you could, you might not be around at the right place and time to accomplish it. Focusing on that one extremist, in my opinion, is probably not the healthiest or most viable strategy.
No way I'd have the time or motivation to write everything I'd like to say to you, but I'll leave you with one anecdote (details intentionally obfuscated because the last thing I need is to be tracked down by 10th degree black belt sleuths with a penchant for extreme violence).
There was a regular counter protester who liked to come to protests for "liberal causes" and confront random folks who were showing their signs. He was actually getting to know those folks, seeing that they were nice & decent people unlike what his media bubble suggested, he got to see that they all had differences of opinions but chose to focus on what they all agreed on, etc.
Obviously everybody clapped and unicorns farted pots of gold, but the counter protester chilled the hell out significantly over time. He's told various people at various times that he actually respects what the protesters are doing even though he disagrees on the points. I haven't seen it, but I've been told he even responds to some of the most vile comments online in support of what those protesters are doing. He's distanced himself from the MAGA bullshit and Trump support.
The thing is, nobody sought him out, specifically, to change his mind. He's the one who showed up. He didn't turn into a card carrying registered Democrat liberal hippy. But we take the wins when and where we can get them.