Promoting ignorance as a virtue is the TEAGOP way.
I think I found the seed for the following right here on the bOINGbOING BBS. But I’m not sure. In any case, the following is not original to me, my only contribution is arranging it in a way that makes sense to me.
The thing that annoys me is the lack of self awareness. Some of the same people who accuse Obama of acting like a king rather than a president (i.e. using executive orders just like George W. Bush and other presidents have) are the same people who seem to think that Trump, if he became president, would suddenly change the way the country works despite having limited power to do so and having to work with Congress to enact significant changes. Trump can’t build a wall without Congressional approval and budgeting. He can’t ban Muslims because it’s unconstitutional.
They don’t want a king unless it’s a king they think they approve of (despite not really knowing anything he actually stands for, which is probably just himself).
It’s not a lack of self awareness. If anything, us Conservatives are too self aware. We know that we flipped from “Dissent is Treason” to “Dissent is Patriotism” when the White House flipped from an R to a D, and we also know that we’re against the Tyranny of Obama but for the Tyranny of Trump, and let me assure you that we have perfectly good reasons for these policy reversals, and once I make them up I’ll tell you what they are.
So, while you’re waiting, you should re-examine your own position, and figure out why you people are so divisive and Partisan in these trying times when America is Crippled and we need to band together, stop arguing, and agree with me. With a little luck, enough time will pass that Trump will take office by the time to are finished thinking about it, and by then us Conservatives will be able to go back to shouting “Shut up and sing!” at you.
Not that he would ever have used the term “skeptic”, but one of my fathers was the type to honestly want to hear different viewpoints in the hope that he might learn something new that changed his mind on the subject. Then he got old, and started spending all of his time around other old people who kept Fox News and AM talk radio playing at all times. Now he’s a full-blown denier. Same person + new and intense indoctrination = different world view. It could happen to any of us.
I’m just optimistic enough to hope that it can work in the opposite direction too.
They want a tyrant as long as it’s their tyrant.
Liberals have been pointing this out to head-in-the-sand Conservatives since at LEAST Regan.
But listen, none of that matters. Trump’s success isn’t mostly about people being suckered by him (though there are some of those).
It’s mostly about nativism and racism (and the fear that underpins these).
Trump sells that, and they eat it up, because it’s what they want and no one else is selling it.
The other side of fear is hope, and there is very little of that in Flint or Chatenooga or Janesville these days.
So someone sells them fear, and they will buy it. It is the product they are really looking for. Everything else - state’s rights, free markets, tax policy, fear of big gubmint - boils down to this fear in the end.
I believe a large portion of this is Contrarianism. These folks are willing to do, say and believe anything to cause as much pain and suffering for the “other side” (the dreaded Liberals!) as possible. Even if it means theythemselves and the majority of the population will be worse off. This goes beyond and overrides the deeply-rooted selfishness that is so characteristic of conservatives.
And that’s quite a track record, if you ask me.
More seriously, this is why the NRA is both deeply wedded to and also a perfect microcosm analogue of the GOP. The purpose of the NRA is not ideology, but sales. The best marketing mechanism is not information but insecurity backed with confusion. Everything else follows.
If that’s so, then isn’t this more about anti-science types shifting from being an embarrassing but useful part of the Democratic party to being the Republican base through the Southern Strategy? It’s not something done to the voters, it’s the change in the voters providing an opportunity for this kind of behavior from the candidates.
You could argue that the reversal of this is likewise true. Replace the word Business with Government and replace the name Trump with Hillary and you get an equally valid argument. Fact is both sides are out to eat your lunch, and to think otherwise is truly foolish.
I actually think this argument works for them and the way they think. Just now, it’s THEIR king.
Brilliant!
and horrifying!
These are the same people angry about “lobbyists” but believe that corporations should “self-regulate”. No Rational Actor would fuck over their customers and non-customers without the FDA, EPA, USDA, etc.
False equivalency is pseudoskepticism. Persons voting for Hillary are generally aware of her corporate ties, she isn’t pretending to be an “outsider”.
Most conservatives just want to watch the world burn
…while blaming someone else for the fire, meanwhile they brought the hot dogs and marshmallows.
And threw our money on the woodpile.
I don’t know. While I don’t believe the prevalence of suckers is evenly distributed on both sides of the political spectrum, I think it does a disservice to the argument to say Conservatives are particularly prone to suckerdom.
Anti-vaxxers and proponents of holistic medicine tend to fall to the Left more often than not.
