Abdul El‑Sayed disavows Muslim Brotherhood, rebukes 'dual loyalty' slur
Abdul El-Sayed understands something I figured out about arguments belatedly in life: The best way to win a fight with a fascist troll is to ask, very earnestly, "What are you hoping to gain from this interaction? What is your ideal outcome here? What do you actually want, in life?"
The final interaction I ever had with one of my most beloved rabbis was this: I posted an Instagram card from an anti-Zionist Jewish org that read, "What is Passover without Zionism?" He replied, "Absolutely nothing" I wrote, "What do you think will happen in this convo?" He left me on read
I so appreciated his willingness to say everyone in the room knows why he's asking. None of the indulgent little fucking dance these guys count on.
Maneuver them out of their script and talking points and they fall apart.
Obviously the clip is dealing with a bigot effectively but it also feels incredibly relatable when you've worked customer service jobs where people want to yell at you in order to take out their shit on someone they perceive as their lesser. They always deflate when you engage them this way
Correct. They either collapse under their own weight or the have to plainly state their poisonous, vile intent.
i like to save this for when i've already got the hooks in, because creating a moment of real emotional intimacy immediately before hurting them makes the memory durable.
Tommy will be coming up with retorts and absolutely owning the way worse version of Abdul El-Sayed in his head late at night and in the shower for many weeks to come.
The sun was in my eyes. I forgot to stretch. If we were playing real debate rules, like in college, I totally would have won that. But it was a set up.
Dog I could get multiple Ph.d.’s in different history specialties and I’d still NEVER stop hearing him say “You should read history Tommy”