All of these arguements are about shifting blame and responsibility for all the ills of the world - to someone else. Anyone but us. It's Them, always Them!
The real truth about being liberal is simply that you realize that we are all connected. Economically. Bio-chemically. Thermo-dynamically. What happens at the bottom of the ocean can change weather patterns across half the globe. What happens in a cave in Afghanistan can change an entire National pathology on the other side of the world. The truth about Liberals isn't that we "Hate America First", we love America's promise and potential and are angered and disgusted when we see her fail to live up to that promise - that All Men Really Are Created Equal and that preserving and protecting those rights from government overreach - beside being "Really Hard Work" - is the primary goal of our nation,
With that view in mind we don't fear or even really hate conservatives, we only hate what they've done to regress this nation back toward the type of totalitarian and repressives states that predated the Great Elightenment and the truly progressive vision that birthed this nation. Those regressive forces will always be there, but the tide of history is not on their side - it's on ours.
We are the True Sons of Liberty (oh, look a Punk Rock reference!) - not them.
I don't hate conservatives. I for one, pity them. They need help. (Treatment, Rehab, Deprogramming, a Colonic - anything!) Even if they don't deserve it, certainly won't seek it and won't return it. If they honestly and openly ask for it, Liberals will provide it.
Does anyone believe conservatives would do the same?
Born and Bred in South Central LA. I spent 12 years working in the IT Dept. for federal contractor Northrop-Grumman on classified and high security projects such as the B2 Bomber. After Northrop I became an IT consultant with the state of California in Sacramento and worked on projects with the Dept of Consumer Affairs and CalTrans, as well as projects for Kaiser Permanente in Oakland. Now living in Los Angeles with my own independant web design company where I operate the Truth 2 Power Online Radio Station.
I call it the Incubus Virus, which invades the systems of willing hosts.
It should be identified early in the growth of a person, and when they have had time to mature, college level, if they have not changed, as GW Bush did not, they-everyone of them, should be put in a place where they cannot hurt either themselves or anyone else for the rest of their lives.
There should be only one death penalty" For those which lobby with gifts and those who accept the gifts.
Hate is an emotion that destroys the hater. I only felt it once in my life for a few hours and let me tell you I never want to feel that way again. There are some people I do not like but then it works both ways I suppose. Hate is selfish. The person who hates is doomed to make the same mistakes over and over and nothing is ever their fault. They are limited in emotion and reason. Remember emotional IQ tests .Many in this category are incapable of abstract thought and love to hid the ugly emotion behind God and religion. They are truly weak and afraid of everyone and I also feel sorry for them because they do not understand how to help themselves. They get pleasure from hurting others and never apologize unless caught in the act and not always then. They are the elepahants in the china shop. Breaking whatever they touch.
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cluelessfl (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 184 comments)
on Sunday, May 27, 2007 at 4:21:32 PM
So both progressives and conservatives use mental illness as a meme/synonym for bad behavior, how nice for those of us with psychiatric labels, to be hated by both sides or at the least associated with the worst behavior. Conservatism isn't a disease of the mind nor is liberalism, neither is either a virus. Those of us will real illnesses and viruses (AIDS anyone?) don't particularly like being associated with all the wrongs in the world. I don't think it's clever to call people whose opinions and actions mentally ill anymore than it is for kids to say "that's so gay". Please stop.
But I'm not just randomly making this claim, Dr. Bob Altemeyer has done quite a bit of work on this in relation to the Authoritarian Mindset. John Dean has written specifically about this, using Dr. Altermeyer work, in "Conservatives without Conscience" Clearly it's not exactly the same as someone actually sufferring from a mental disorder, and I make this clear in the article, and more detailed study needs to be done but there are indeed some parrallels.
<>Vyan
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F. Vyan Walton (65 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 12 comments)
on Monday, May 28, 2007 at 10:11:16 AM
Here's my take on this entire problem. You see, you have posted several factual observations that clearly illustrate the 'logical' insufficiency of conservatives. The problem is they will never read posts like this. They will never engage in direct, intellectual argument where facts can be used to deduce positions and with the use of logic correctly identify the truth.
For them, the Socratic method was some faggy Greek guy who was ugly and no one listened to anyways because he was a liberal.
That about sums it up.
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e m (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 19 comments)
on Sunday, May 27, 2007 at 4:24:39 PM
However, I have a somewhat different take on the Conservative personality.
While some of our political leaders certainly fir the picture of the sociopathic personality, (Bush, Cheney, Rove, Gonzalez, et al), when you look at the plain old garden variety Republican, I submit that you will find something quite different in play – plain old FEAR.
These are people who are deeply afraid. They are afraid of change, afraid of complexity, afraid of a universe in which not everything can be answered in black or white.
Those who threaten their well defined universe receive aggression. “Liberals,” academics, journalists, minorities – all are different from the Conservative and are thus to be feared and attacked.
My article, “It’s All in the Brain,” explores my own analysis of the neurological basis for the conservative personality.
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Sherwin Steffin (14 articles, 24 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 81 comments)
on Sunday, May 27, 2007 at 7:16:44 PM
Dems Repubs Jews Christains Muslims and other Groups
It doesn't matter what group you belong to, if the top of your pyramid is occupied by psychopaths [ASD, sociopaths, etc.], you will be taken in a direction not of your choosing. This is what has happened. Clean your own house. Do what you can to prevent others from doing in your name, that which you would not do, whether in education, church, state, or country. Then your world will become a better place. More on this subject is said here at the recent Lie, Steal and Murder commentary at http://GreatRedDragon.com. Respectfully, Edward Ulysses Cate
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Edward Ulysses Cate (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 217 comments)
on Sunday, May 27, 2007 at 7:34:02 PM
To liberals and progressives the conservative mindset does appear to be socio-pathological. However, as a neuroscientist I think the evidence shows that this is a normal human behavior. Humans are highly tribal in nature and the vast majority of them tend to be authoritarian followers. This has probably been bred into people over thousands of generations. The tribes that were more hateful and revengeful probably triumphed over those that were peaceful.
In the modern world their behavior seems bizarre, illogical and nonproductive, but in the context of warring tribes that need to be whipped into a frenzy by their authoritarian leaders, it makes a lot of sense. This is also why sports pits people against each other so feverishly even if they are not personally participating.
So blame it on the leaders more than the followers. The leaders know exactly what they are doing, the followers are just ditto-head dupes. For the leaders, it is simply a matter of divide and conquer.
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John R Moffett (79 articles, 14 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 596 comments)
on Monday, May 28, 2007 at 6:14:32 AM
Thank you. I also believe it is somewhat "normal", just as the underlying elements behind alcoholism are fairly normal and common. Authoritarianism is exactly on point.
Vyan
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F. Vyan Walton (65 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 12 comments)
on Monday, May 28, 2007 at 10:14:29 AM
