Ritalin Invitees on Nostr: I completely agree that when people change, the last thing we need to do is berate ...

I completely agree that when people change, the last thing we need to do is berate them for their previous beliefs. However, part of change is atonement for past mistakes. It's not enough to simply say, "I was wrong, I'm on your side now." You've got to do the work, and your change can't simply be rats fleeing a sinking ship. In 1945, there were a whole lot of Germans, for instance, who suddenly had never been Nazis. That's not good enough.

I sometimes get flak for saying that the Lincoln Project or other never-Trump Republicans are grifters who can't be trusted and shouldn't be welcomed to the hashtag resistance. "They've changed, they're on our side, we need all the allies we can get." Etc. And then we let them be our allies and they start telling us what we should do, I've noticed. How we can get even more allies like them if we just bend a little. If we just acknowledge that most people don't want trans kids to have treatment. That most people don't want trans women in sports. That most people want more cops. That most people like capitalism.

And the never-Trump Republicans are still Republicans. Liz Cheney agrees with Donald Trump 90% of the time, she just doesn't want him in particular to be dictator. Her father? Not a peep from her about the massive erosions of civil liberties and human rights under his administration. Never-Trump Republicans are Republicans who don't like Donald Trump. They want things to go back to the way they were when the fascists were more oblique about it. That's all.

And even if I believed for a moment that they've actually changed, where's the atonement? Where are the reparations? Yeah, I'm kind of shaming them for their past views and actions. Their past views and actions killed people, hurt people, destroyed people's lives. I am not in a position to forgive them for that, nor will I forget.

So, sure, when a bigot turns away from bigotry and says, "I was totally wrong, I'm sorry, I will do better," I celebrate that. But I only believe it if that bigot works to undo the harm their bigotry caused. And I won't blame anyone for not trusting that bigot as much as they otherwise might.

The enemy of my enemy is another enemy my enemy has. The enemy of my enemy is a problem for my enemy. I'll support the two of them beating each other, but I won't let my new "ally" tell me how to fight. If they want to be my ally, they're going to have to recognize who the senior partner of the relationship is.