I don’t think normies want to change the Marxists minds, not in the sense of having a reasoned discussion and getting them to see things differently at least. I think normies just don’t want to be engaged with them, at all.

They want to be left alone to live their lives with their families. It’s the fact they can’t do this without constant encroachments from the leftists that is causing the problem, they’re given no respite from people whom they don’t even want to think about in the first place. Throw in government supporting these fringe positions and it becomes impossible to ignore.

Today I saw clips of them telling Muslims to ‘go home’ - the same people a month from now will be protesting on behalf of immigrants! When anyone raises the obvious dichotomy they’ll be shouted down as racists and it’s this forever-gaslighting in the censorship environment you mention that will see things break, you can’t keep people in a perpetual state of anxiety where they’re fearful of the repercussions because they missed this weeks latest “current thing”.

And none of them will see it coming. They’ll claim any attack is unprovoked (ala Russia in Ukraine), and the incumbent powers will go SUPER hard when the snap happens to try and make an example out of anyone involved (ala Jan 6) which all that means is now you’ve got a dog who has been trained not to growl, who has attacked, and probably figures they might as well go all the way because they’ll have hell to pay if they don’t win.

This isn’t a standoff that ends after a few scuffles, it ends with either the government stomping out all dissent and creating a totally compliant populace, or the government being overthrown and their vanguard being run off such that none never dare advocate that ideology in public ever again.

That’s what I find concerning about it. It’s not even that the Marxists ‘win’ and get what they want - A totalitarian right wing putsch will be every bit as bad and probably send cultural norms back a hundred years if they get their way. Basically we’re headed to one of two very shitty options that really no one other than tiny fringes of extremists actually want.