Yeah I am not the kind of person who could study psychology much because imo a lot of it is mumbo jumbo theories that turn out to be wrong and a lot of times are used to justify poor policies and approaches. The human brain is so complex. We still don’t really understand a lot about how it really works. But I do like to observe people’s behaviors and try to figure out what their motivations are and what they have in common. Mostly as a curiosity and a way to help me understand the world and society, than anything else. I’ve come to the conclusion that the desire to feel superior to others (which is I think a common human trait) and a related issue of a lack of humility are at the root of many of our problems as a society and also as individuals. People can find this imagined superiority through their income, education, religion, status, political views/tribe, race, and many other things. Then they feel justified oppressing and othering the people they feel think they are superior to. When they refuse to question their own views or consider others’ experiences they are showing pridefulness and a lack of humility. I believe this is at least a good part of all of the strife we see in the world.

I’m sorry about your mom. It’s sad that you no longer feel like you can openly talk with her. It sounds like her desire to help wasn’t as strong as her aversion to Republicans 😕 I always wonder if people who refuse to be around people they view as inferior, the “bad guys”, just are afraid that it might result in their monolithic and stereotypical views of those groups being challenged and they can’t handle that idea.