Why are right wingers so ANGRY? I know they're angry that Obama's in the White House, but

[raccoon]

they were angry way, way before that happened.

I wonder if some of them just enjoy being angry. Just like some people enjoy fighting. Some people, if
you say something that they perceive they can start a fight about, are very quick to take up when they see as
the "challenge."

[Are_grits_groceries]

1. Some are in a perpetual state of anger.

However, a lot of people have been whipped into a froth of irrational fear by RW nutjobs. This fear leads to irrational anger, and Obama is the easy target.

When people are that scared, it is hard to reason with them. As the economy appears to be improving, they are gradually calming down as reflected in the polls. They have to have something they can feel. This calming will take a long time to work its way through. Some won't ever calm down though.

[CAPHAVOC]

14. They read the original Constitution and do not realize the way the many Statutes in the last hundred

years have watered it down without amendment.

[Baitball Blogger]

31. I think that perpetual state of anger,

allows to create just enough confusion for them to achieve what they want most: dominance without challenge.

Leadership which thrives on uncertainty, is not leadership. It is a confidence game.

[MrScorpio]

2. There are some people in this world who aren't happy unless they're miserable

And these people are happy seeing when they're seeing that other people are miserable too.

If they go out of their way to spread that misery, they think that they're really accomplished something worthwhile.

There's a name for losers like this… I tend to call them "Assholes."

[TransitJohn]

3. It's because conservatism is a social pathology

motivated by hate, fear, and greed. You'd be angry too, if that's what motivated your personality.

[gratuitous]

4. Because advertising works

There are highly monied, highly motivated forces at work in our society that profit from citizens being at each others' throats. If a person is angry, that person isn't thinking or analyzing very much. The forces that profit from the anger supply a steady stream of targets for the anger, whether it's that fellow in the White House, liberals, hippies, women, poorer people, anyone of a certain economic stratum (the bottom third or so) who appears to be getting something for nothing. The popular media outlets ginning up the anger and supplying the targets aren't hard to discern.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. Fear.

Conservatism is an ideology centered around fear. And the people who can least afford to elect conservative politicians are the ones who are the most fearful and therefore vote against their own interests. The wealthy PTB ensure that they are afraid all the time, of just about everybody and everything - foreigners, uppity women, minorities, the government, anything different. And fear leads to hate and anger. QED.

[uponit7771]

6. Fear of something being taken away from them

[BarbaRosa]

25. Fear of someone else having something.

[shimonitanegi]

7. They are angry at the GOP establishment

GWB messed up everything.
Then McCain, now Romney, Go figure...
They want Newt Gingrich as their savior.

[lunatica]

8. It's not a rational thing. It's an emotional thing

Being rational entails thought, education and the ability to keep emotional reaction at bay because it entails knowing specific facts and being able to use reason in order to be able to think critically.

Emotion, especially the knee jerk rage kind is a lot easier and requires no thought processes at all. It's also addictive so the more the rage is whipped up the better the fix. Rage unleashes chemicals into the brain that feel good when rage is the motivator because it 'feels righteous'. It's basically bullies addicted to their own brain's ability to unleash drugs into their system, which is triggered by electrical pulses firing up neourological synapses. And like finding a lifeboat to keep them afloat they cling to the addiction.

Just like all other addictions it comes down to brain chemistry. There's no rationality involved because reason just doesn't have that addiction fix. It's cold and objective and requires self motivation and activity.

[n2doc]

9. Because their life sucks and is getting worse

And because every time they vote against their own interests, as directed by Rush, Faux et al, their lot in life keeps getting worse. Plus the media seem to love to push outrage these days. Makes people stop thinking.

[wendylaroux]

13. exactly!!

and they can't blame the people who did it. That would make them look like chumps.--grrrr.

[renate]

32. I think you're right

Good point! I was going to say that they're right wingers because they're angry, but your view is a million times more nuanced and more precise.

[OneGrassRoot]

10. It's not just right-wingers.

Take in the totality of the vibe on this message board each day.

Granted, people are angry for different reasons -- and often rightfully so -- but I'd venture to say the majority of the American population is angry.

And if they aren't angry, they're either super wealthy or they've been beaten down to the point they can't muster any emotion.

I think our society is immersed in anger and fear.

[sorefeet]

17. I agree

with onegrassroot, I am very angry.

[CatWoman]

11. and every time I ask one of them this question

that only makes them "angrier" -- if that's possible.

[southernyankeebelle]

12. Probably you can thank Fox Network. They love to work up the base to behond and back.

[eShirl]

15. Teeny peenii.

Metaphorically speaking.

[mac56]

16. They believe that someone else, somewhere in the world

is receiving some valuable thing that THEY ARE NOT ALSO RECEIVING.

Something they have decided they are entitled to. And that makes them angry.

Believe me, I see and hear it every single day.

[SammyWinstonJack]

18. Sad little creatures aren't they?

Selfish, self-absorbed angry little creatures.

Sucks to be them.

[HughBeaumont]

19. Here it is in a sentence:

There are some men who like to have sex with other men, women aren't in need of a man to make decisions for them any more, soldiers are defending the interests of corporations, they still think the "have-too-littles" are at fault for everything when the problem is really the "have too damned muches", deep down they know voting for Republicans means the economy becomes completely zero-sum . . . oh, and there's a (insert racial slur here) in the White House.

CNBC (Conservative Neo-Lib Bagger Channel) and Faux are their gasoline and pacifier at the same time. "You're still in control, Whitey . . . You're still in control . . ."

[sorefeet]

20. I'm pissed

because the rich are robbing the country blind and blaming our problems on the poor. WHY is judge Thomas not in jail???????? Why are politicians allowed insider trading???? I have a million why's.

[izquierdista]

21. When everything you do doesn't work, you get angry

When you pass great big tax cuts and get left with a check for $300 that doesn't pay for the increased price of gas, you get angry.
When you get the damn lib'ruls to let you drill for oil and then it gets sold out from under you on the world market, you get angry.
When you finally manage to kick Planned Parenthood out of town and your daughter gets raped and has to 'take a trip', you get angry.
When you home school your kid and then are told he or she will have to take remedial courses to get into college, you get angry.
When you invade some country on a whim and they aren't glad to see you and set out bombs on the roads, you get angry.
And finally, when you get a serious medical condition and you get jerked around trying to get into "the finest medical care in the world" you get angry when you realize it was all your fault, all of it.

So given all the times you lectured the liberals on personal responsibility, you figure now it's time to blame the whole mess on them.

[mac56]

22. +1

[sorefeet]

23. I'm pissed because

In Montana they offered my brother a hospice room but when I got him to Illinois the doctor offered him an excellent prognosis with treatment.

[renate]

33. wow!

Good for you! And what excellent news about your brother!

[Proud Liberal Dem]

24. Nothing changed much when Bush/Republicans ran the show

for 6 years this past decade either. I've concluded that they simply NEED to be angry about something and/or are only truly "content" when they have something to be angry about. I think too that they recognize, despite their protestations to the contrary, the disconnect between their "beliefs" and those of the general public. I mean, if this country was the conservative right-wing "paradise" they claim it is (or should be), then they'd run out of things to be angry about really quick.
Of course, the truth is, the minority population in this country is increasing and the country is becoming more diverse (which won't change), women are NOT going to go back to a position of subservience to men nor are they going to go back to the days of being expected to be barefoot and pregnant and in the kitchen every day no matter how many laws are passed against birth control/abortion the right-wingers pass, GLBT persons are NOT going to just go back into the closet and pretend that they don't exist (as they are) no matter how many anti-GLBT laws are passed/constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage the right-wingers pass, people are not going to just allow businesses to totally run amok and ruin the environment in the name of profit, and people, etc. Right-wingers simply can't adapt to the new reality of the world so they are busy redefining reality and/or ensuring that they are able to apply as much force as possible to slowing/obstructing social progress and reform in this country.

[Richard D]

26. I think it's the orange dye in Cheetos.

Or something like that.

[hifiguy]

27. Fear-stoked total paranoia

that is ultimately based on a poisonous combination of bone-deep stupidity, racism and fundamentalist religulous irrationality.

[PassingFair]

28. They are angry for the same reasons that WE are angry.

No jobs.
Plummeting home values.
Foreclosures.
Lack of affordable health care.
Poor schools.


They just blame a different group for these problems.

They blame "government" without seeing the corporate
ownership behind it.

They don't realize that we ARE the government, and we've
allowed our choices to be legislated away.

Also, they don't see how they are being played on the GOD GUNS AND GAYS issues.

Religionists are a BIG chunk of the problem.

[Bigmack]

29. They can't help it....

I'm increasingly drawn to the theory that the human brain develops differently in different individuals. I think genetics, exposure to various chemicals in utero, stimulation after birth, etc, cause the brain in some people to lack higher cognitive functions like critical thinking, deductive reasoning, and emotional stability.

Some people just lack the capacity to think through the problems of the world around them and place themselves in that world.

Add Fox News(?) and you get some people who are very angry at a world they literally cannot understand.

[golddigger]

30. "In the beginning the Universe was created.

This has made a lot of people very angry, and is generally considered to be a bad move."

[jwirr]

34. My guess is that they are recognizing that they are losing and are egged on by hate radio and hate

preachers. For a long time the media has reminded us that white people are soon to be out numbered by the minority groups soon if not already. This to them is a threat to their way of life and the control that white people have had over this nation from the start. Fear is the ruling factor in their anger.

It has gotten worse as they watch their own candidates make such fools of themselves and they realize that they have nothing to offer to even many of the people they think should be on their side. They have thouroughly insulted women and the men who support those women, gays and families who support them, the poor and elderly and god only knows how many other groups and they are beginning to see the end in sight. Now they are turning to violence to win. It is going to be rough for a while.