Existential Ennui

~ Searching for Meaning Amid the Chaos

Existential Ennui

Tag Archives: liberals

Convincing Those Who are Oblivious

16 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by Sherry in An Island in the Storm, Editorials, fundamentalism, Human Biology, Psychology, social concerns, Sociology, teabaggers

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

brain research, conservatives, liberals, psychology, public issues, sociology

Malcom-X-Quote-oppressed-peopleI spend a lot of time thinking.

I write a lot about the things I’m thinking about.

People who think like me, read what I write, and they think it’s pretty okay.

People who don’t think like me, don’t read me, but if they did, they wouldn’t agree with me.

Which is curious, since much of what I think about and write about is pretty well substantiated by actual things called facts.

It would seem evident that my facts should trump your fact-less opinion. But it doesn’t. Because you dismiss my facts. You don’t even waste the time to think about them, you simple use your magic eraser and voilà they are gone.

My husband, the great thinker, The Contrarian, reminds me that people are on a continuum. People are not neatly packed into the left or right or middle. It’s all bleeding all over the place. But we are dealing with averages after all.

“Recent converging studies are showing that liberals tend to have a larger and/or more active anterior cingulate cortex, or ACC—useful in detecting and judging conflict and error—and conservatives are more likely to have an enlarged amygdala, where the development and storage of emotional memories takes place.  More than one study has shown these same results, . . . .”

This has been known for some time. It ends up suggesting that these truisms are mostly true for liberals:

Liberals, according to this model, would be likely to engage in more flexible thinking, working through alternate possibilities before committing to a choice. Even after committing, if alternate contradicting data comes along, they would be more likely to consider it.

On the other hand, conservatives respond rather differently:

“. . .[W]hen faced with an ambiguous situation, conservatives would tend to process the information initially with a strong emotional response. This would make them less likely to lean towards change, and more likely to prefer stability. Stability means more predictability, which means more expected outcomes, and less of a trigger for anxiety.”

You see the dilemma?

Liberals continue to pepper conservatives with facts, and conservatives respond with concerns about values and things that affect them personally. They give you anecdotal information that they see as equally valuable in how they should respond.

Case in point. I know a person who is conservative and a fundamentalist. She is opposed to the ACA because it stems from President Obama, and pretty much is in agreement with all the known Tea Party positions regarding, abortion, gay marriage, guns, and so forth. I’ve never seen her seriously out of alignment with them on any issue.

At one point in her life, her health situation became serious enough that she applied for Medicaid. She was denied as “not eligible”. She self-reported that a “neighbor” couple got Medicaid however. She then went on to explain that God saw fit to have her denied because obviously He had other plans for her.

Let’s try to reconcile this. First, this woman has quoted her pastor as approving statements that call the American poor “akin to the rabble of Rome”. Her remark about her neighbors getting their Medicaid seemed offered as an example of  people who got what they didn’t deserve at least as much as she did. Yet, her application for Medicaid doesn’t define her as a “taker,” because of course she felt that in her situation, she “deserved” it.

However, when Medicaid denied her, that would mean she was not deserving, and thus one of those who was trying to get what she didn’t deserve, thus a taker. Since she cannot see herself as a taker, she is a qualified applicant denied what she deserved by a loving God who had other plans for her.

That’s the way you twist the world to fit your beliefs. People who get government assistance are still takers because they are not deserving, while good people like herself are denied. God has a plan and someday she will understand.

The example is instructive. It will do no good for me to  give her facts about how well Obamacare is actually doing now. She will not be impressed with knowing that in several states, competition between carriers has actually doubled, making it likely that premiums will come down even more in ensuing years. Eight million plus new insured will not do the trick either, since they are like her neighbor, people who shouldn’t get it, and could get their own if they would only get a job.

She might, on the other hand, be persuaded that it’s the Christian thing to do, that a healthier country means that everyone will benefit in myriad ways. Playing to her sense of Christian charity should work. But alas it does not to the fundamentalist. Jesus did in fact make it most clear that we were “our brother’s keeper” and he again and again emphasized to his disciples that here brother meant the truly marginalized. His examples of the marginalized he considered “brothers” were people of other nationalities,  victims of disease, women, those in employment to the oppressors, and sexually active persons.

Some how Jesus’ teachings about carrying for the prisoner, the sick, the hungry, the unclothed, got mixed up. I would take another post to untease the tangle of Pauline and pseudo-Pauline doctrine that is both misunderstood and mis-applied to these teachings to get where we are today with the evangelical right, namely that government should not proffer  programs for the needy, instead, they, the evangelicals should, so they can weed out all those who are not deserving, i.e., the lazy, the takers, the rabble, reserving charity for the “truly needy” which is essentially someone who has suddenly through no fault of their own, “fallen on hard times”, from which, if given just a little help for a short while, they will recover and once again be productive citizens.

That leaves us with appealing to self-interest and values, but here too we run into trouble. Let’s take the issues of food stamps and a living wage as examples. Regularly we are told that food stamps are misused by uncounted numbers of people who are “too lazy” to work. (Facts are to the contrary of course, but facts don’t matter.)  These people are taking advantage of “us” through taxes when they could just as well get a job.  But on the other hand, conservatives are essentially against any minimum wage, arguing that it impinges on an employers right to pay what he/she deems appropriate, and that such a law interferes with free markets. These are values conservatives hold dear: working and free markets.

However, if you wish people to work, but allow business owners to play unfair low wages, doesn’t that put us into the food stamp business? Logic says that if you want people to work you need to pay them enough to care for themselves and their families. So you should support a requirement of a fair living wage.

But again, logic is not the point. Conservatives can and do hold opinions on things that are in considerable conflict. Remember, it is liberals who have to reconcile conflicting beliefs, not conservatives.

While it is easy to say that the way to change the mind of a conservative is to forget facts and give them arguments that appeal to their self-interest and values, such is not always possible as we can see, or at least it requires a great deal more finesse than one would think.

It would seem then, that the answer lies in education. Only by teaching our youngsters that the mind has a way of creating reality to suit its own comfort zone, can we set about the business of giving them the tools that will allow them to avoid the pitfalls of their own predilections.

In this no doubt liberals also have something to learn. The focus  in this essay has been on explaining why liberals can’t change the minds of conservatives with facts. But they too have positive points to contribute. In a stable compromising world,  we could do what we have mostly always done, bring out the best in each other.

What is most important to remember, is that no individual can be utterly pigeon-holed by this analysis. We change over time as well. We do have free will, and the ability to overcome our own negative tendencies. These are generalities across a spectrum. Genetic predispositions are just that, predispositions, over come again and again by serious study, and life experiences. We would do well to remember that.

(Do read the link–it gives a lot more detail and links to further study)

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Well We Weren’t Supposed to Be Here

07 Thursday Mar 2013

Posted by Sherry in Crap I Learned, Humor, Life in the Foothills, New Mexico, Psychology, Sociology

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

funny things, Humor, liberals, life in the foothills, meanderings, Murphy's law, reactionaries

piedrasSee, we were supposed to be exiting on Piedras just about now. The Contrarian had an eye appointment at the VA at Ft. Bliss at 10:20 am. They called to confirm last evening. They called to disconfirm this morning.

The doctor is “sick” or more likely off doing something that is way less boring that establishing an eyeglass prescription like he was supposed to do.

I hate it when my day is turned upside down, even when it means I have the day more to myself. I have to cook now. Instead of having leftovers. I like leftovers. They require little time in the kitchen.

I’m lazy.

I could have gone to the pool since I can’t go tomorrow. I have an appointment at Pet something or other over on Lohman and Walnut to learn how to clean kitty cages and play with the little buggers for a couple of hours. I’m being sent by A.W.A.R.E. (have no clue what that all stands for) but they are a rescue operation that offers kittens for adoption at all the various pet shops in Las Cruces. I know I’m not going to Pet Co or Pet Barn, so it’s the other one.

I’m going to be a volunteer. I may be the Sunday volunteer if I can get in at 9 a.m., since my church is fairly close by, and I could go after mass. If somebody is there that early to let me in. Being retired is sure tiring.

Don in Massachusetts has a list of Murphy’s laws. I’m going to reprint it in its entirety, because I don’t want you to have to link to see the whole thing, and they are all good, and I’m lazy, so it makes a great filler. Don is a great little blog so do visit AFTER you have read all of me. I am way more gooder than he. I’m also being silly today as you can see. Screw up my schedule and I become silly. Remember that for future reference.

MURPHY’S OTHER 15 LAWS
1. Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
2. A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.
3. He, who laughs last, thinks slowest.
4. A day without sunshine is like, well, night.
5. Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.
6. Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don’t.
7. Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.
8. The 50-50-90 rule: Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there’s a 90% probability you’ll get it wrong.
9. It is said that if you line up all the cars in the world end-to-end, someone from California would be stupid enough to try to pass them.
10. If the shoe fits, get another one just like it.
11. The things that come to those who wait, may be the things left by those, who got there first.
12. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will sit in a boat all day drinking beer.
13. Flashlight: A case for holding dead batteries.
14. God gave you toes as a device for finding furniture in the dark.
15. When you go into court,you are putting yourself in the hands of twelve people, who weren’t smart enough to get out of jury duty.
I can attest to that last one. It is my considered professional opinion, that the combined IQ of a jury is less than the highest IQ of any of its members. Remember that one. There will be a test. And it will be a POP Quiz, which somehow  came to mean a test that was not announced before it was announced. In other words, I guess it just “popped” into the head of the mean teacher as a fun thing to do to students.

I’ve been wondering about another thing too. How long does it take you to realize that somebody is really really stupid? I mean ever met someone who you thought was normal and then sloooowllly you realize they aren’t? It’s like “whoa this is a fool, I’m talking to!” And then your smile, sort of becomes a pasted on thing, as you try to figure out how to escape before he/she erupts in a cackle and brandishes a machete? You know what I mean? Just a thought. Remind yourself of it next time you’re walking alone in the park.

I was told yesterday on Facebook that I could probably pick up my black arm band at the local DNC to further my mourning of Hugo Chavez. I find that weird. Just weird. But it came from a reactionary who denies climate change and thinks Milton Friedman is a god. I find reactionaries weird. Well actually, I don’t find them so weird as I find them simplistic. Their motto seems to be, “if it puts a dollar more in my pocket today, I’m for it. Screw YOU”. Now it is catchy I admit that, and easy to remember.

I figure selfishness is highest among “onlyies”. I’m an only. You know, only child. You don’t even begin to learn sharing until you go to kindergarten. That’s a bit late. You can get hit a lot by other kids, for not, you know, sharing. To an only, the world is “all mine.” I’m much better at sharing now, but I admit I still get a twinge.

I think liberals are people who have twinges. Reactionaries are pretty much numb to such conscience-poking ideas. That’s why conservatives are self-reporting as “happy”.  They don’t worry about how others feel much. Us liberals, we are all full of angst at the unfairness of life. We’re happy being that way though, and I think that counts for something like happiness.

I’m making a burrito pie for dinner. It’s comforting to eat casseroles doncha think?

Take care until tomorrow.

 

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Wackos of the World Unite: You Have Nothing to Lose But Moronic Thinking

25 Friday Jan 2013

Posted by Sherry in Crap I Learned, Editorials, Humor, Philosophy, Psychology, Satire, Sociology, teabaggers

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

conservatives, liberals, philosophy, psychology, sociology, tea party, teabaggers

I was recently called donald-trump-duck1a wacko. Nothing could be truer and if the person who so named me, had known me well, I would have laughed in agreement. But he knows nothing but a smidgen of my politics, and his opprobrium was limited to that fact alone.  To that sir, I take umbrage!

I have heard, and it seems to be folk wisdom, that one becomes more conservative with age. I guess it stems from an accumulation of anecdotal observances of friends and family as they age.

It may well be true.

I know it was nearly true of me.

At one point in my life, I found my life in a place that was not pleasing. I was living in an urban setting in a city known for violence. I was tired of house break-ins, and all the petty crime that life entailed. I was tired of my job, tired of the people I worked with and we were embroiled in a fight within our organization over wages and rights.

And I found myself slipping into conservative mode. I wanted out, and that required savings, and anything that impinged on my ability to save money was something I was against.

Life got better. And it continued to be so.

I realized something as life got sweeter. My normal liberalism was returning. My life is great today. And my liberalism is flaming, in fact I’m not sure I’m not sliding well into anarchism. (please do look that up before you report me to the FBI–I’m a Chomsky type anarachist and I’m just beginning that journey of discovery, so don’t hold me to it. Being the eclectic I am, I am always trying to learn something new. I almost became a nun for goodness sake!)

Which suggests that something more is at work here.

I’ve become involved in some discussions with old school mates as of late. The discussions have often involved issues of the day. And I find a very curious thing. Perhaps I’m reading the tea leaves wrong, but well, judge for yourself.

I view the Tea Party as a loose amalgamation of disparate spirits. There are your fiscal deficit hawks. There are your, don’t tax me (but do fix the pot holes). There are the “it smacks of socialism/fascism/communism” to me even though I can’t actually tell you which is which, but I don’t like it. There are your basic racists and any anti-Democratic group sounds good to me given that THAT guy is in the White House types. There are your basic survivalists who just hate government, but are also itching to shoot it up. There are your religionists/fundamentalists who think the US of A ought to be based on the bible as they interpret it, along with all their ideas of social living arrangements made mandatory by God, speaking through them. There are probably more.

It makes for a messy group.

But in discussions, I find that those who are most impossible to engage in anything other than sound bites direct from Breitbots, Daily Caller, Blaze, WND, and the ever reliable bellicose grifters, Coulter, Limbaugh, Hannity, and so on, are people who over time, you perceive to be just really really unhappy individuals. They have fallen into their conservationism as a defense to their miserable lives.

I paint this portrait with the proviso that not all need apply, but as they say, if you find yourself answering yes to three or more, you may have a problem that is leading you to be a Conservative:

  1. You are divorced or separated, and you feel that you are not at fault, having spent your life working to provide for your spouse who is an ungrateful _________.
  2. You have no education past high school, or if you do, it was toward a trade or low-level technical job.
  3. You are self-employed and have no more than six people who work for you.
  4. You have long given up an dreams of opening a second shop, franchising your business, or crossing that threshold to being a “businessman”. In other words, you still are working along with your employees.
  5. You work long hours, and while you make a decent living, you still can’t afford all the things you dreamed of having at this point.
  6. Every dime you pay in taxes becomes a dime that keeps you that must further away from “retirement”, and a chance to finally enjoy life. Emphasis on finally because you don’t expect to enjoy life until you have “made it”.
  7. You have few hobbies or enjoyable down time, because you “don’t have time” or can’t afford it.
  8. Life has definitely not turned out the way you expected it to, and you are close or at retirement age.
  9. You increasingly see that most people don’t work as hard as you do, yet they “get stuff” for free because they are a minority, a woman, an undocumented worker (illegal).
  10. You know that if the government didn’t take your money, you could have been wealthy like all the rich people you so admire. You’ve read all their books, and you know you are just like them.

What this all leads to is extreme anger. It’s not my fault I’m not living the life I deserve. It’s __________ fault. It’s got to be somebody’s fault you see. I just has to be. For it cannot be mine. I work too hard for it to be mine.

Of course, it begs the question that you have perhaps listened to the wrong people. I could explain that you are believing exactly what the corporate masters desire you to believe. You are blaming who they wish you to blame. You are mired in self-pity, because it is not your fault. And it truly isn’t your fault. You simply based your beliefs on those whose interest it is to keep your striving in place,  and misdirecting your anger away from them.

So I think of it as a badge of honor to be a liberal at my age. I have successfully avoided the pitfalls of self-interest in the name of what I call being human. I see the human experience as one of striving to be more human, and that means being more open and giving and sharing with the lives that surround me. There is nothing so very noble about it. It’s a constant struggle to pull away from purely selfish interest to include “the other”. I don’t always win that battle, but the struggle enhances my ability to win more than I lose. And as a citizen of planet of earth, I find that a positive step forward.

Evolution is about change over time. Try to be mindfully engaged in that process. I think God likes that. But that’s me, the wacko speaking.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Ideological Wars That Never Were

16 Friday Nov 2012

Posted by Sherry in American History, An Island in the Storm, Editorials

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

conservatives, ideology, liberals, society, The Gilded age, theory

Because Willard was only a pretend conservative (my words), Joe Scarborough laments we have never had the conversation we should have: namely the ideological underpinnings of those two behemoths, Liberalism and Conservatism. And we should have, he argues.

According to Joe, conservatives are about securing individual liberties for folks, keeping regulations and taxes low so that people can create their lives as they see fit. Read that as small government. It’s job mainly I would assume is to protect the population from enemies and to intrude only in those areas that require a uniformity in order for things like commerce to operate smoothly.

Sounds okay.

Liberalism, as I define it at least, see government as a much bigger deal. Liberals see government as the last foundation for human lives. It provides the minimum needs of its population. That includes food, clothing, housing, medical care, and education, while providing the basic environment for work–fair wages, safe conditions, and a means to redress grievances for conditions and benefits.

Conservatives, I think, see the Liberal model as bringing about an indolent population that is happy to recline on the sofa, with remote in hand, living on the dole. Liberals see the Conservative model as pie-in-the-sky unrealistic and contra to human nature.

Shall we examine?

Conservatives believe that business (free markets) are best. Business is left unfettered to compete against each other, and everything stems from this. Men and women who have ideas, secure capital, hire workers, and make products that are freely offered in the market place where they compete with other products. As a business succeeds, the products improve, the wages improve, blah, blah, blah.

But this is not what happens. I have read in a number of places recently that the sociopath is not limited to only serial killers. They are indeed often found among CEOs. We have the evidence of this in the period of American history known as the time of the Gilded Age, or the Age of the Robber Barons.

What we learned is that certain men, in all the major industries were not about making great products, but instead were driven by only one thing–winning. And winning was defined by money, and power. And that was determined by putting competitors out of business and controlling the market. No thought was given to the quality of the product, and no thought was given to the life of the worker who made it all happen.

Business left unchecked leads to no trickle down of money or opportunity to all. It simply leads to the oligarchy of the corporate few.

That is the error in conservative thinking as I see it. While there are thousands of compassionate business leaders, most are driven to succeed and success is measured by money and power. Nobody is handing out awards to the CEO who paid the highest wages, made the best quality product, and granted the biggest benefits package to her workers.

Moreover, giving everyone the opportunity to succeed on their own, is not for everyone as conservatives seem to think. Many folks are not driven, not intellectually up to the task, and not psychologically oriented to that pioneer spirit of striking out into the unknown with only their wits and their muscles as tools. Most small businesses fail in their first year.

Conservatives are very good at giving the failures in society someone to blame. It’s government with its taxes, and this or that minority with its willingness to take a hand-out, that takes your money and prevents you from doing for yourself. When we have others to blame for our shortcomings we never look at ourselves and perhaps discover what we are not suited for and what we are. Conservatives short-circuit that process, giving us false enemies to blame for what are really our personal failings.

Some of us are meant, for many reasons to follow, to work for others, to concentrate on things other than monetary success in the world. The Conservative mind sees everyone (except the real people–the creators) as susceptible to any offer that allows them to receive rather than do. The truly do think most people will sink to the lowest level if given the chance. But where does the Conservative model leave the artist–the songwriter, the sculptor? Where the scientist or historian? Years upon years of work may be necessary before any apparent benefit is seen. How many painters are unknown and unappreciated during their lives? Do not these folks have a right to subsistence?

I recall back in the ancient days when I was in college, taking a philosophy course. A question was posed, and of course it was one of those that has no real answer, only promoting your thinking skills.

Would you pay someone a subsistence living wage to read–with no strings attached?

My answer was an unqualified yes. Yet I could not articulate exactly why. I just knew the answer should be yes.

Today, I can articulate why. It is because it is not human nature to learn for ever and go to the grave having never divulged what you learned. Whether from wanting the adulation or recognition or from a more socially acceptable need to help humanity, we as humans are driven to share what we know or think we know. It is why we are community animals and not lone wolves.

That is why the seminal error that conservatives find in liberal theory–that all receive the basics of food, clothing, housing, medical care and education–is not an error at all. They think this will lead to a dull, passive, uncreative, lazy, society in which nothing valuable is done. It will not.

If one looks to Europe, where a safety net such as described has long been in place, one doesn’t see a decadent useless society. One sees countries who are leading the way in alternative energy, in medicine, and in education. I see no evidence that people in Europe eschew work and prefer to sip wine on the veranda.

Conservatives lives in a dream work, one abetted by the likes of Ayn Rand who reacted to the soviet world that descended upon her country and stripped her family of freedom. She interpolated all that into some fantasy where job creators created for the pure love of creation, and worked tirelessly to improve their creations, where fair wages were paid by happy entrepreneurs who knew the value of  a well-paid workforce.

Yet, history tells a different story. We did not institute clean air and water acts because of some fear of dirty air and water that might happen in the future. We did not institute child labor laws because someday some boss might work children too many hours. We did not institute safe working conditions, safe food laws, safe drugs, and so forth, because of potential greedy men and women who might endanger us.

WE ENACTED THOSE LAWS BECAUSE ENTREPRENEURS HAD DONE THOSE THINGS.

We protected unions because fair wages were not being given.

Clearly I come down on the liberal side of things. I think to be considered civilized, a nation must care for its people. It must provide them with the basic foundation from which to compete in the world. Poor children are BEHIND at the beginning because they come from less rich environments. We owe them a fair and level field.

Tomorrow: What we owe, and why we owe it.

Related articles
  • What is the difference between my conservatism and progressivism? (tannngl.wordpress.com)
  • [personal|politics] Why I am not a conservative (jlake.com)
  • The Dangers of Intellectual Arrogance (americanthinker.com)
  • Mitt Romney’s post-election gaffe (politico.com)

 

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Are You Seriously Insane or Only Serious. . . .Seriously?

28 Wednesday Mar 2012

Posted by Sherry in Environment, GOP, Humor, Media, Psychology, Satire, Sociology, teabaggers, The Wackos, What's Up?

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

conservatives, global warming, liberals, projection, psychology, right-wing insane, The Republican Brain

“What we have here is a failure to communicate.”

So, I was minding my own business, just reading up on my favorite bloggers, when Denise sent me over to this hatefest called TownHall, wherein all the greats (leading off with Annie *nobody will touch that* Coulter) of ultra wacked conservatism reside. And I read this bilge by somebody called John Hawkins about how evil and super crazy all liberals are.

And I read the comments, which consisted of a long list of “yes, yes,” and “got that right” and “oh, John, you are the best” and other such drivel.

Now John said all the usual things, like:

  • that liberals are hateful people (almost all of them) We get up hating, and we go to bed hating. We hate all the wrong people (them) which is proof, while they hate only the right people.
  • that liberals promote race hatred at every turn. The Nazis couldn’t have done as well in creating groups to gin up hate like liberals do, even though the crazy right never uses  analogies like Nazi.
  • that most liberals are immoral and therefore never have to apologize (as the right is constantly having to do) when their private immoralities become public. Conservatives are moral because they do apologize. And also liberals, having no morals, spend all their time lying about conservatives, which by definition, conservatives must refrain from (which explains why Willard is not required to tell the truth about nuthin’ since he ain’t no real conservative)
  • that liberals don’t care about whether their policies actually work, it just makes them feel good to force them on people, for some reason that Hawkins can’t explain. But it’s true nonetheless. “policies that kill millions but make them feel good about themselves are a win.”
  • that liberals are extremely intolerant. The entire MSM is liberal, yet they begrudge the Right a couple of puny radio shows and Fox. We don’t even know the meaning of tolerance–“Actual tolerance means that you realize people have different practices and views and even if you don’t agree, you understand that they should have the ability to live as they choose, just as you should have the leeway to live as you choose.” Liberalism is just the first step to fascism. (Except if you are gay, an immigrant, Muslim, a strong woman,  a Democrat, a liberal, progressive, 99 9/10’s of all black race card players, European, Middle Eastern -except Israeli, college student, college professor, welfare recipient, sexually active woman, Commie, socialist, evolutionist, secularist, tree-huggin’ greenies, a climate changer . . . awww heck, anything other than white!)

There.

I mean.

Okay.

Classroom please.

PROJECTION:

Psychological projection or projection bias is a psychological defense mechanism where a person subconsciously denies his or her own attributes, thoughts, and emotions, which are then ascribed to the outside world, usually to other people. Thus, projection involves imagining or projecting the belief that others originate those feelings.  .  .  .In this way, the subject may obtain ‘acquittal by his conscience.  .  .  .Projection can also be established as a means of obtaining or justifying certain actions that would normally be found atrocious or heinous. This often means projecting false accusations, information, etc., onto an individual for the sole purpose of maintaining a self-created illusion.  .  .  .Compartmentalization, splitting, and projection are ways that the ego continues to pretend that it is completely in control at all times. . . . [from Wikipedia]

Got that? And guess what?

Wanna know who is the best at this crap? The fundamentalist-authoritiarian follower. Or TeaPerson, or Ultra Right-Wing Wanger.

So, you know, you cannot talk to these folks.

¶

There is a book that just came out called The Republican Brain. It looks like a good one. The author speaks about Republican views on global warming. This has always been an odd duck for me. Why does the extreme Right hate environmentalism? Some, the fringe evangelical crazies think that Genesis settled the issue by saying that God said he would never suffer the destruction of the world again, ala The Flood. But surely that is a fringe.

So what gives?

Is it just the herd mentality of the authoritarian follower to follow the dictates of the GOP elites who receive their campaign funds from oil and gas interests and thus echo the “green technology is bad” song?

Are Republicans just idiots?

Sort of. Smart idiots would be more like it.

It turns out that the more educated you are as a Republican, the more you deny global warming. How can that be?

Research also shows that it’s a white male, Tea Party position as well.

The reasoning goes this way:

  1. The conservative mind is authoritarian. It likes clean black/white dichotomies, and it likes certainty. Fear and threat are bad. Once they have an opinion, it is held against all new information.
  2. The conservative mind prizes individuality, dislikes government and accepts that society is hierarchical. If humans are responsible for global warming, then their free market philosophy has failed and government will have to step in.Since this is unacceptable,  there must be a conspiracy to create a crisis in order to justify take over of economies. Scientists must be part of this, so scientists can’t be trusted.
  3. The worst aspects of the conservative mind are met with a news outlet that is prepared to coddle their mis-beliefs, i.e., Fox News. Studies clearly show that Fox News watchers are the most uninformed on all issues, but clearly global warming.

So, again, we can talk with these folks.

Now you go out, and forget all the doom and gloom, and have a good day.

Related articles
  • 5 Uncomfortable Truths About Liberals (nebraskaenergyobserver.wordpress.com)
  • Liberal Opposition to Ryan Plan Is Delusional Demagoguery – David Limbaugh – Townhall Conservative Columnists (theconservativehillbilly.wordpress.com)
  • The Myth of the American Political Intelligence Gap (esquire.com)
  • The Conservative Teen (boingboing.net)
  • Profiles in Liberal Ignorance, Hate, and Intolerance: 20 Examples (vocalminority.typepad.com)
  • Why The Right-Wing Brain Is Dysfunctional (theageofblasphemy.wordpress.com)
  • Are Hate and Fear the new american values? (drugsandotherthings.wordpress.com)

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Standing on the Roof With a Megaphone

23 Saturday Oct 2010

Posted by Sherry in Essays, Evolution, fundamentalism, GOP, Humor, Muslim, racism, Sarah Palin, Satire, Sociology, teabaggers, Technology, terrorism, What's Up?, World History

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

civilization, fundamentalists, GOP, History, Juan Williams, liberals, Louis Gohmert, political ideology, Politics, progressives, right wing nuttery, Sarah Palin, sociology

I may as well. Things on the old computer front are getting rather ugly. So if I disappear, well I haven’t, I’ve just dragged this mother to a hospital for repair.

I’m almost at a standstill on FB these days, I can barely scroll. So I figured to download another foxfire which I had dumped as corrupted. Well, I didn’t get far before it “file corrupted me”. I tried opera again, same deal. I tried Google’s chrome, and you guessed it.

I finally got a forum question into Google, and maybe I can get an answer. It may be some security setting that needs changing.

But my e-mail is now acting up. If I’m sent a link, like a FB comment, I can’t answer it within e-mail, they won’t open anything. A pain, but I can cut and paste at least. It’s sooo totally frustrating.

The Contrarian doesn’t have problems since he usually just plays poker and goes to a couple of sites. I’m the one with four windows open and starting and stopping. Basically I figure that I’m moving stuff faster than the dial-up speed can take, and it just locks up. Then I have to shut down everything (I get lots of “not responding”) and start over. Over time, I guess I wind things up inside and suddenly everything starts to go awry.

Then it’s into the shop where they clean it all out again. Which seems unfair, since the Contrarian does maintenance every evening, clean-ups, virus updates, defrags. But apparently it can’t overcome my crazed Internet maneuvers.

And then there’s Twitter, which only partially works now. The New Twitter is crap as far as I’m concerned. They continue to say they are fixing it, but never do, at least not my problems. I’m about ready to return to Fred and Wilma and ask if they have an extra room I can rent. The MODERNITY is driving me nuts.

***

Many muse on why the West arose as the leader in civilization, dominating the landscape for several hundred years. Superficial answers don’t satisfy. You really have to go far back to uncover the probable reason, and it may well be location, location, location. Hardly a new idea to modern marketing! Anyway, it’s an interesting article and moreover it’s an even more interesting site that you might want to bookmark for return visits, if you are history minded that is.

***

Interesting question. Republicans self-identify with being conservative. Democrats are loath to even accept the designation “liberal”. We try to substitute progressive instead. We get ready to defend if accused of liberalism. It’s like having the plague, or a STD. Why?  Jonathan Alter attempts an answer. Bonus is that Alter gives mini-reviews of a lot of political themed books on Washington politics in general and Obama specifically.

***

BlackMagpieTheory has a great little poem about Sarah, dear Sarah. Short and sweet. Go see.

***

New GOPer Idiot to enter onto the radar screen is Repiglian Louis Gohmert, from the great sludge state of TexASS. Gohmert says Merika would be more fine if all the fine Christians, as he would define them were to take control and just impose God’s law on the land of the not-anymore-free. H/T to Ahab at Republic at Gilead for the above.  By the by, word is that Louis is perhaps the dumbest representative in the entire House, but I guess that is pretty self-evident.

***

I must say, there is something mildly giggly about a whole bunch of aging white men and their sexy grizzly girls, all fawning over Juan Williams, and trying to act all-inclusive and everything. Let’s slay the almighty NPR, with its tiny government funding to show how much we love our HOUSE NEGROES, cuz they make us look soooo COLORFUL and not at all the bigoted asshats we truly are.

We are after all, agreeing that it’s okay to think that Muslims who wear traditional Muslim clothing, place being Muslim above being Americans or whatever nationality they might be. Like Catholics who wear crucifixes and Jews who wear yarmulkes are of course placing their faiths above their citizenship. Native Peoples who wear braids, obviously will defend their ethnic group before they will carry a rifle for American against enemy invaders. Yeah, I can see that this all makes sense, and is not just another RACIST FEAR MONGERING TACTIC to gain the approval of the RIGHT WING BIGOT, ya know the ones with NASCAR/BUDWEISER  jackets and FLAGS on their car aerials all to announce that they place their JUST US above the common good of the ENTIRE country.

***

Related Articles
  • Rose: Williams’ firing reflects fear in media (boston.com)
  • Louis Gohmert’s Exquisitely Dumb Solution To The Unemployment Problem (huffingtonpost.com)

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

I Don’t Know Whether to Throw in the Towel, or Chew It

26 Friday Feb 2010

Posted by Sherry in Barack Obama, Congress, Democrats, Essays, GOP, Health care, Human Biology, Iowa, Jesus, John McCain, poverty, Psychology, social concerns, Sociology

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

brain, conservatives, far right wing, filibuster, health care reform, Health Care Summit, Jesus, liberals, McCain, Obama, Republicans

Frankly, I haven’t had a lot to say about health care reform for some time. I grew tired. I grew disgusted. I could feel my blood pressure soar at the mere contemplation.

Nothing has changed. The “Summit” turned out as expected. Mitchy McConnell worries that his side only has gotten 13 minutes and the other side 52 minutes so far, and Johnny McCain cannot avoid the temptation to mewl about the lost election but again. In between, the same tired old arguments, most all of them argued, debated, and proven wrong or right a kazillion times already.

So, I’m not wasting your time with arguments, you’ve heard them all before. What I can do is point you toward some useful information. One of these nuggets of truth is a piece from TruthOut written by Professor George Lakoff about how brains work. It’s a fascinating article and really helps one realize why conservatives are as they are and why liberals are as they are.

Basically, we are wasting time talking. The worldview of the average Republican suggests that anything Obama is destructive, thus even pointing out that Democrats are willing to push certain Republican points, Republicans will LOGICALLY flip and now oppose them. They view any action to support this president to be counter productive. They believe that they are doing the right thing in being the party of NO.

In part it depends on how one is raised. Conservative Republicans tend to be brought up in authoritative father dominated families. The world is dangerous, dad protects, children are obedient, and punished physically for failure to comply. Liberal Democrats are tend to be brought up in nurturing supportive families without gender control, where helping family and others is seen as being empathetic and responsible. Both tend to place make these “governing” models onto new institutions such as church, work, and government.

So, you cannot shame a conservative into doing the “right” thing because he doesn’t and will never see it as right. Flipping and flopping are seen as necessary to stop the ruination of America.

Lance Simmens writing at Huff Po, suggests that congress is the new death panel. They clearly and uncategorically deny that health care is a human right, thus they are the ones who are willing to decide who will receive it and who won’t. Let’s don’t go do fast, a step  at a time, and cost governs all. Such is their mindset.

His advice: Democrats must forge ahead, forget the Republicans and pass whatever they can. They will never get help from Republicans who pretty much have dug in their heels. And, their base, is of the same opinion, doesn’t listen to opposition arguments anyway, and want no truck with compromise at all. Witness what has happened to the new Senator from MA who is now being vilified by the ultra right for his voting yes on the jobs bill.

Iowa’s Tom Harkin has re-introduced legislation to end the power of the filibuster. He did so some years ago when his own party was a minority, so he has cred on this issue. Dick Durbin has gone one better, and is enlisting the public’s help in petitioning for the ending of this blocking technique. Follow the link and you will be directed to the website where you can sign a petition to that effect. For those of you in a hurry, go there directly by linking here.

Will Marshall, also writing in Huff Po, sums up the Summit by arguing that at least Republicans have been forced to put forth what they would do.  His conclusions are:

  • Republicans do not fundamentally believe that health care is a human right. Their plans would insure about 3 million more people, without explanation of what standards would apply and still leaving 43 millions without care.
  • They wish to reduce premiums by using methods mostly of benefit to healthy policy holders. Their solutions favor giving people options that reduce to bare bones their coverage at bigger savings by buying out of state and use of medical savings accounts.
  • They have no interest in working with Democrats because their base says just saying NO is fine.

Probably the dust up between John Sydney and the President was the best moment of yesterday’s events. If you want to read a really really scathing comment on Johnny, by all means read Paul Slansky’s piece, again at Huff Po.

Of course one of the most shocking elements of this debate is that so-called strong Christians are lined up behind Republicans on this issue. Somehow they find a Christ who is not “for” health care. Paul Rauchenbush speaks to this issue, and finally admits it is basic selfishness. I agree.

Well, enough I guess. One could go on for hours, reading and linking up to various opinions. My advice: Screw the Rethugs. Get something together, and push it through. Use reconciliation. Ignore the polls. Giving some relief will have a bigger effect than doing nothing. Ignore the Republicans. Ignore the Republicans. Ignore the Republicans. Is that getting through?

And just in case, you think I have nothing else on my mind, I’m getting increasingly disappointed in Canada these days. I think they have done a fairly lousy job all around on the Olympics. I guess I should explain, but I won’t for now. Trust me. You know you can’t don’t you?

Bookmark and Share

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...
← Older posts

Who We Are

Thinking non-stop since April 15, 1950. We search for meaning amid the chaos.

Giggles

Laugh as Long as You Can

Subscribe

Subscribe in a reader

Donations Joyfully Accepted

Calendar

February 2023
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728  
« Nov    

Follow Me!

Follow afeatheradrift on Twitter

Facebook

Sherry Peyton
Sherry Peyton
Create Your Badge

Words of Wisdom

The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die. ~~Sen. Edward M. Kennedy~~

Recent Posts

  • We moved to Blogger
  • Moving to Blogger
  • Christianist Doublespeak
  • Next Week I’m Gonna Start Biting People
  • Time to Report for Retirement
  • The Best Little Whorehouse in Boulder? Or How I Loved to Learn Republicanese Gangsta Style
  • The Power of the Post
  • The Exceptionalism of the United States of America
  • Can We Stop With the Illegals Shit?
  • I Laughed, I Cried, I Spat Epithets, I Chewed the Rug
  • *Temporarily Asphyxiated With Stupid
  • Are You Having Trouble Hearing? Or is That Gum in Your Ear?
  • Collecting Dust Bunnies Among the Stars
  • Millennial Falcon Returning From Hyperbole
  • Opening a Box of Spiders

A Second Blog

  • Extraordinary Words
  • What's on the Stove?

History Sources

  • Encyclopedia Romana

The Subjects of My Interest

Drop the I Word

We Support OWS

Archives

The Hobo Jesus

Jesushobo With much thanks to Tim
Site Meter

Integrity

Twitter Updates

  • @realDonaldTrump #YOUREFIRED 2 years ago
  • Tales From the Pandemic acrazyladyblog.wordpress.com/2020/05/09/tal… 2 years ago
  • @MarshaBlackburn Stop the racism trumpish cultist 2 years ago
  • @realDonaldTrump NEVER you asshat. We await your removal via straight jacket and handcuffs. 4 years ago
  • Melanie says women's claim of sexual assault not suff evidence,. Women's voices minimized. She's as sick as tRump.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 4 years ago

World Visitors

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Existential Ennui
    • Join 2,450 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Existential Ennui
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: