The making of a MAGAT?

[Bettie]

Today, my son reminded me of an incident that he thinks shows how one of his classmates ended up being a MAGAT.

So, anecdotal to be sure, but I suspect some people will find this familiar.

The moment my son reminded me of happened on the school's "Olympic day" when he was in third grade. Their class was waiting for another class to finish an event, so parents were there talking to their kids. My kid's friend was showing me the ribbons he won in various events, he was really proud that he had all of the colors (1st through 6th place) and that he was having a lot of fun. His mom arrived and heard him talking about it and told him to shut up about the ribbons.

She then berated him, in front his classmates, for being proud of being a loser. Anything less than first place, she said was a loss and he should feel ashamed of it. Then, she went on for a while about how his little sister was kicking his ass and had only first place ribbons.

Within a month, that kid had changed entirely from a sweet, kind-hearted little boy to being kind of a douche. He stopped hanging out with the nice kids and moved toward the bully kids. By the time they graduated, he was wearing MAGAT gear and just being a jackass to everyone all the time.

His parents are MAGATs too.

But, once my son reminded me of that incident, that stayed with him because in his mind it marked the end of one of his first friendships. His reminder made me wonder, is this how it starts?

What makes people that way?

[BComplex]

1. Indeed it does. This is exactly how it starts.

This is also how mass shootings start.

That kind of humiliation messes up a young brain. Just ask Psychologist Mary Trump.

[localroger]

2. We have to be carefully taught nt.

[SharonAnn]

3. It's how Trump started, being berated by his father.

[procon]

4. It's definitely learned behavior.

Looking at my own family of asinine MAGAts, they learned their biases from hate radio and Fox News. My brother went from a union man to trying to ban the union that gave him a decent living. He lives in a paranoid alternate reality now, convinced that his cause is righteous and everyone else is evil and out to get him and those who support Trump.

He believes everything he hears without pause to think or reason. He's bought a bunch of big guns because... Mysterious Unnamed People are going to take his stuff. There is nothing too farfetched, outlandish or ridiculous that he doesn't agree with. As long as he hears it on Fox then it must be true and that's all he needs to know.

The TV and radio celebrities assure him it's fine to hate, distrust, even harm anyone who disagrees with their POV. Violence, bullying, threats, intimation, go hand in hand with yelling, screaming and posturing to dominate any discussion. My brother believes he knows the secret truths that the dishonest news media hides from the public just to make conservatives look bad.

I don't think I'll live long enough to ever see my real brother return. In the mean time I have this terrible golem who will explode at any perceived slight. He's actually made me afraid so I haven't seen him in person for over A year. We still talk, but it's limited to inane pleasantries and vapid topics that do not poke his bubble.