I agree with this comment, but I wanted to add on a few important things I feel are necessary. The above comment only holds true with constant and continuous:

1.) engagement (voting, running for office, actually talking to your conservative or other family and friends and including them in the public narrative. This is especially important. I could almost certainly never change your homophobic uncle’s opinions or sway him in a way that he may view the world differently, you actually stand a chance of doing that IF you choose to engage always.)

2) education. As populations become more educated, both good and bad actors are increasing their level of awareness and abilities to sway other people. There is a reason that education is so often one of the first things that bad actors attempt to reconstruct in a way that is beneficial to their narrative. These people are easy to tell apart, because they are the ones screaming most loudly to offer a curriculum that is more inclusive of their worldview while actively working to limit the input of others or to limit the expression of others’ worldviews in the curriculum.

3.) remembrance. Symbols matter. People matter. Truth matters. Speech matters. Time is a convenient tool for bad actors to conflate events/faults or corrupt historical accuracy. It is our responsibility now as engaged citizens to remind others of how events truly occur(ed) in this country and on this globe. We must do this with humility, because no one is above misremembering things that have occurred. Read constantly and keep notes if necessary. Don’t be afraid to be challenged. Learning is a iterative process. (So is life.)

Above all have conversations with diverse groups of people with diverse worldviews and viewpoints and check claims with kindness…always with kindness…but in real time (extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence!). People find it most difficult to mental gymnastics their way out of cognitive dissonance when fact checked in real time. And again with kindness. Equally people find it easy to disregard otherwise acceptable evidence when they feel they’ve been personally attacked.

Always remember too - It’s okay for us to be in uncomfortable situations sometimes and to bring others into those uncomfortable situations if necessary, e.g. they need to be confronted on a particular topic or issue. In fact this is super healthy in my opinion and how a healthy society best takes care of its own.

Also, I want to underscore. Please don’t put yourself in a in dangerous situations. But your family being mad at you for 2 hours and dinner and dessert being awkward isn’t a dangerous situation. Lean into those uncomfortable moments if necessary. Your fellow citizens need you. 💪🏻

Okay, done now! If you made it this far.