Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Conservatism As Pathology
This article poses the question, "Are Bush supporters literally insane?"
Short answer: Yes.
How else do you explain, as noted by this author (and by Thomas Frank in his book What's the Matter with Kansas?), the working class individual's support for a party that caters to the rich while making life harder for the middle class? The answer is simple: Voting against your own economic interests must be a pychological disorder.
The article cites a study done on the psychology of conservatism, and it confirms what I've always felt about conservative ideology--that it plays to the worst traits in people, such as self-interest over community (only yellow dogs have that "pack" mentality), intolerance ("you're either with us or against us"), fear of the "other," or what this article calls "a defense of one's cultural worldview and therefore a resistance to outsiders and new ideas." (Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, anyone?)
I have been racking my brain trying to figure out how conservatives, especially those who aren't rich CEOs making out like bandits under Bush, can possibly support this administration, and this explanation--a plea of insanity--seems the most plausible so far.
Conservatism As Pathology - Are Bush supporters literally insane? By Timothy Noah
Short answer: Yes.
How else do you explain, as noted by this author (and by Thomas Frank in his book What's the Matter with Kansas?), the working class individual's support for a party that caters to the rich while making life harder for the middle class? The answer is simple: Voting against your own economic interests must be a pychological disorder.
The article cites a study done on the psychology of conservatism, and it confirms what I've always felt about conservative ideology--that it plays to the worst traits in people, such as self-interest over community (only yellow dogs have that "pack" mentality), intolerance ("you're either with us or against us"), fear of the "other," or what this article calls "a defense of one's cultural worldview and therefore a resistance to outsiders and new ideas." (Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, anyone?)
I have been racking my brain trying to figure out how conservatives, especially those who aren't rich CEOs making out like bandits under Bush, can possibly support this administration, and this explanation--a plea of insanity--seems the most plausible so far.
Conservatism As Pathology - Are Bush supporters literally insane? By Timothy Noah
