Why I Stopped Being a Right-Winger -- Modern Conservatism Has Become a Form...

[Brewman_Jax]

Why I Stopped Being a Right-Winger -- Modern Conservatism Has Become a Form of Mass Hysteria

From the article:

Quote: Gosh! When did I end up in bed with Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber? Could it be because I did specialize in blowing things up while serving my country for four years as an airborne combat engineer? I also watched human beings blown up. I had friends and Navy SEALs I was in battle with blown up. My own intestines exploded on the first of my four combat embeds, three in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. Took seven operations to fix the plumbing. I later suffered other permanent injuries.

Yet now I find myself linked not only with the Unabomber, but also Charles Manson and Fidel Castro. Or so says the Chicago-based think tank the Heartland Institute, for which I’ve done work. Heartland erected billboards depicting the above three declaring: “I still believe in Global Warming. Do you?” Climate scientists now, evidently, share something in common with dictators and mass murderers. Reportedly bin Laden was scheduled to make such an appearance, too.

...

This is nuts! Literally. As in “mass hysteria.” That’s a phenomenon I wrote about for a quarter-century, from theheterosexual AIDS “epidemic” to the swine flu “pandemic” that killed vastly fewer people than seasonal flu, to “runaway Toyotas.” Mass hysteria is when a large segment of society loses touch with reality, or goes bonkers, if you will, on a given issue – like believing that an incredibly mild strain of flu could kill eight times as many Americans as normal seasonal flu. (It killed about a third as many.)

I was always way ahead of the curve. And my exposés primarily appeared in right-wing publications. Back when they were interested in serious research. I also founded a conservative college newspaper, held positions in the Reagan administration and at several conservative think tanks, and published five books that conservatives applauded. I’ve written for umpteen major conservative publications – National Review, the Weekly Standard, the Wall Street Journal and Forbes, among them.

...

It's quite amusing to say that anyone of the racist rabid RW is mentally ill, because anyone that would believe even a fraction of their philosophy has to be not right in the head, and we generally hold sick people to a lower standard. What is scary, and sad, is that there is nothing organically wrong with them. They actually believe that and would like to take the country back to the "good ol' days", like around 1850.

The above writer is not much different, though he is educated and can research. Like I've written on multiple occasions, I've met teabaggers and freepers with advanced degrees. The fact that these people, in spite of the facts, are still followers of the rabid RW shows that they don't care and prefer being more equal than everyone else.

[Velleity]

We have some good studies of "conservatives" and I have been studying them myself for years. But I have yet to see anything comprehensive and definitive. I don't think they are mentally ill. In fact lower intelligence in and of itself may be healthier, like children tend to be healthier.

Children are curiously incomplete, but healthier. Ignorance is bliss, eh?

[Brewman_Jax]

(05-25-2012 07:48 AM)Velleity Wrote:  We have some good studies of "conservatives" and I have been studying them myself for years. But I have yet to see anything comprehensive and definitive. I don't think they are mentally ill. In fact lower intelligence in and of itself may be healthier, like children tend to be healthier.

Children are curiously incomplete, but healthier. Ignorance is bliss, eh?

So true! What they don't know...

[pappy]

(05-25-2012 07:48 AM)Velleity Wrote:  We have some good studies of "conservatives" and I have been studying them myself for years. But I have yet to see anything comprehensive and definitive. I don't think they are mentally ill. In fact lower intelligence in and of itself may be healthier, like children tend to be healthier.

Children are curiously incomplete, but healthier. Ignorance is bliss, eh?

Is there any correlation between below average IQ and common sense reasoning skills? It seems to me that there are many people that have low IQ yet possess reasonable to amazing common sense.

It seems to me that many, if not most, on the far right are more lacking in an ability to reason between competing ideas and pick the one that most closely resembles reality and/or will result in the best outcome.

There are, of course, the exceptions like "The Oracle of Stupid" the Donald.

[KonaKane]

There have now been several studies on conservatives, pointing to an exaggeratedly large or "productive" part of the brain called the amygdala...the "lizard brain". A small clump of brain tissue responsible for fight, fuck or flight and most importantly FEAR. The studies made a good case to show that fear is the overriding primal emotion that guides modern conservative reactions to the world around them.

[SeattleGirl]

(05-25-2012 12:33 PM)KonaKane Wrote:  There have now been several studies on conservatives, pointing to an exaggeratedly large or "productive" part of the brain called the amygdala...the "lizard brain". A small clump of brain tissue responsible for fight, fuck or flight and most importantly FEAR. The studies made a good case to show that fear is the overriding primal emotion that guides modern conservative reactions to the world around them.

I've read summaries of several of those studies, and I would agree. They are scared to death of changes, especially big ones like DADT, same sex marriage, a black man in the white house, etc. It seems to be it's gotten worse, but it probably hasn't. Maybe it's just that these past few years have been so full of changes that they are all on hyper-alert and in hyper-fear.

[janedrake]

That's one of the most righteous rants I've read in a while.