"First, no joke. I know this is the reality we live in. That is precisely why I am working to alter your belief that this reality is acceptable and moral. The fact that you praise and worship this reality is a sign that you need to work on adjusting your thinking to a less violent and more mutual philosophy. That way we can both work together to create a world that is safer and more nurturing for our children."

Exactly!

"this is how it is" ... right, I think we should want to change that, that's the point

It's like, what, do they think what we're talking about is a quiz about how the world is presently arranged?

It probably is subconsciously an obedience ('might makes right' sort of thing) on their part. They don't even realize they're conflating "what's currently going on" with "how things ought to be".

Like it's foreign to even think in terms of 'ought' or entertain the idea of changing.

And you know what, it's inevitable that this change will occur, because so many people are sick and tired of all the nonsense. Just accept this, and start looking at more peaceful solutions to problems, because one day it will be upon us all.

boom! Yup. There is 0 reason to believe we won't evolve past this. These ideas that they lean on now will be gone at some point; if it's too comforting to let go of it probably means you'll be kind of lost and always needing post-facto rationalizations, as time goes on.

I feel like a lot of people are in the middle and not really committed to statism, even if they haven't thought much about alternatives. And then there are those special few who ie believe in Keynesian ideas and more actively believe in statism. The first category of people seem like they can transition fine, but the latter will probably kick and scream more, they're the ones who are intellectually threatened by the changes.