What do conservatives fear?

[Dworkin]

Hi,

What is it that conservatives fear? They talk a tough game at all times and in all parts of the world, but there is something that they fear, viscerally, and on an existential level. What is it?

The Belgian writer, Lauryssens, writes of a proto – fascist in pre ww11 Germany:

“For Moeller van den Bruck there is no doubt that again the arch enemy of German culture is liberalism, which stands for everything that is corrupt.”

The last line of the above could have been written by an American Christian Republican in the year 2017. “..liberalism, which stands for everything that is corrupt.” The line is universal - “everything” and finally judgemental - “corrupt”. For those that hold to this belief, the words 'crooked Hillary' would likely have been a lighting rod to what they already know is true, and the sight of Obama's polished shoes on the president's desk in the oval office? I'll leave that to the imagination.

Of course there is a religious ontology to this thinking for the American Christian Republicans: the “fall” of man. Again, for those who believe this story, there is no reasoning to be done, for the world is fallen and can never be put right by liberal, and as they believe, tainted secular tinkering with God's plan. Such dangerously wrong ideas and practices lead straight to the horrors of socialism, communism and the demon. For them, it is a done deal.

I'll confess that there is little comfort in the above analysis, but sometimes it is reassuring to look into the distorting mirror of the other's mind and see it as it is. Fearful.

D.

[caroldansen]

1. They are afraid of losing control of what they want.

But they are forgetting the most important thing. Love and compassion. The bible says he who has love has God For God is love. If they are religious then they must have love and compassion for people and those in need. If they don't, then are they godly? Not according to the bible. I can tell you that those who do have love and compassion must always be democrats because I have seldom seen a demonstration of love or compassion in a republican.

[Initech]

17. They are afraid of losing control. Period.

[Exultant Democracy]

2. The conservative brain has an overactive amygdala,

In short they fear almost everything.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-human-beast/201104/conservatives-big-fear-brain-study-finds

Their minds are in overdrive all the time looking for threats. Add this to the pattern recognition software that we all run (why we can see shapes in the cloud, Jesus in a cracker etc...) and you have an explosive and dangerous mix.

Ever wonder why out of all the hominids only our race of Homo sapiens sapiens survived, it's not cause we hugged them all too much.

[Mendocino]

11. "In short they fear almost everything"

That is one of their defining characteristics along with making everyone else just as scared as they are.

[lagomorph777]

36. Yes, that's what I was going to say. The only big part of their brains is the amygdala.

That fear also makes them weak, and we can exploit it just as effectively as their autocratic leaders do.

[Exultant Democracy]

38. George Lakoff suggests that while yes their fear does make them weak,

That exploiting it for the greater is very difficult because the reaction to fear will almost never lead to a desirable liberal outcome.

In his opinion turning the dial down on their fear is the only tenable option. However I have no clue where that starts in a world with Rush and the rest of the right wing disinformation chamber yelling at them everyday. Education is obviously th e best option, hence the right wing war on schools and teachers for the last 30+ years.

[lagomorph777]

39. Education would be great, but yes the RW hates it for that reason (c.f. Betsy DeVos)

So we must resort to blunt force: make the Trump Chumps more afraid of the right than the left. Show them that their "leaders" are stealing their health care, their 401k, and everything they've ever earned. Show them the real meaning of tax "reform."

[Skittles]

3. TRUTH

[Nevernose]

16. They're not exactly afraid of "truth"

They're afraid of being wrong. I suspect because they think it makes them look/feel weak.

[bhikkhu]

4. Liberalism is simply freedom

and the idea that people are basically good, and the freedom of basically good people leads not to disaster, but a society which needs no mechanisms of control, no fixed hierarchies power.

[winetourdriver01]

32. Freedom

I've never thought of it like that before, thank you!

[luvMIdog]

5. they fear being a minority that does not weld power

they fear their religion being a minority
they fear their skin color being a minority
they fear being less powerful than others
they fear having to share their wealth
they fear their racism or prejudices disappearing in the minority

[GreenEyedLefty]

6. In 8th grade civics I learned that convervatives like to maintain the status quo

They prefer traditional values and ideas. Change and progress are considered disruptive... Which is stupid on its face because we change and progress whether we want to or not.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

41. And everybody and everything is changing all of the time

Last edited Mon Feb 27, 2017, 02:09 PM - Edit history (1)

They are like a Beaver Dam trying told back a Tsunami. It would be interesting to see an alternate reality where conservatives were not as successful as they are in this reality in terms of holding back change, just to see where we would be now as a society without them. There was a good Star Trek:TNG episode ("First Contact&quot that sort of touches on change, reaction to change by a society when new information comes along. Basically, it deals with a society sufficiently advanced to be approached by the Federation for possible membership grappling with the fact that they're no longer alone in the universe and how that planet's "President" ultimately handles it. Unfortunately, the decision that he makes causes them to reject Federation membership at that point in time and retreat back from their scientific progress due to the reaction by some of the people, including the President's security chief, towards the revelation that Riker- who has been secretly observing the society and injured/captured during the course of his surveillance- is an alien. Aside from the President's science chief being allowed to leave with the Enterprise crew at the end rather than being forced to live under President's new restrictions on scientific progress, it's not much of a "happy ending" typical of Star Trek shows, but it demonstrates how conservative elements can and do hinder scientific progress and keep us trapped in ways of thinking and doing things that have the tendency to inhibit growth.

[hatrack]

7. Everything and Everyone

They fear everyone who doesn't think or look like them.

They fear everything that doesn't serve to remind them of the awesome special nature of themselves and 'Murca - that is, pretty much the rest of the human world, and the totality of the natural world.

Other than that, they're fearless.

[KG]

8. a black planet.

metaphorically.

[Demsrule86]

9. They are scared of the future and want to return to the past where they were

in control of everything...including women and people of color.

[Orrex]

10. They're afraid of female orgasms

and of women presuming to control their own genitalia and reproductive organs.

[Ligyron]

19. yeah, and a lot of them ARE women!

[Orrex]

21. Right?

[Generic Brad]

12. They are scared of being exposed to be intellectually, morally, and financially bankrupt

They are hollow charlatans who despise themselves. They lash out and seek to destroy that which is good and pure because they secretly know their dark stained souls are beyond redemption.

The motto is: "If you can't beat them, beat them anyway."

[Dworkin]

13. Glad

Hi,

I'm so glad that this forum is here. These days it is a deep comfort to read a succession of posts that I wholeheartedly agree with.

Thanks, everyone.

D.

[Ligyron]

20. You're not the Dworkin on Twitter are you?

I really like the way she thinks/writes.

[Dworkin]

25. Nope

Hi Ligyron,

Nope. Two places I avoid on the web, Twitter and Facebook. I used to post on a couple of 'right wing' forums, just for the sparring, but these days I leave them alone.



D.

[SammyWinstonJack]

30. Belated welcome.

[Calculating]

14. They fear a change in the majority faith/culture/race of America.

They fear immigration because it dilutes the race and culture within America. They view an America where whites are no longer the majority as 'white genocide', and the thought of it horrifies them more than anything else. They basically believe that once whites are no longer the majority, the other races will turn on them and demand reparations for past abuses.(Similar to the situation in Africa where the blacks have taken over white owned property and farms). The religious right are also on red alert right now because they see the declining influence of religion on our society. Fewer young people are buying into organized religion, and they see their control over the country slipping away more every year. The fact that many of the migrants coming in now are Islamic is just icing on their cake of hatred. They see Christianity waning, while Islam seems to be expanding every year.

[Dworkin]

26. Good analysis

Hi,

That's a good analysis and overview. I have been studying 20c European Fascism for some years now, and have a large library of unpleasant reading. Whilst it is a long reach to compare this to current America, there are some parallels with Trump's thinking (such as it is) and much unspoken resentment from other right wingers on the lines you describe.

I think they are seriously scared by Islam, simply because Muslims are not victims and will fight back ferociously.

Mikhail Gorbachev has recently noted that there are conditions now for world war, not just with Muslims but among other major players who may see an opportunity in fragmented geopolitics. Dangerous times indeed.

D.

[yuiyoshida]

15. They fear anything or anyone who is different

n/t.

[grantcart]

18. Change

If you look at every civilization there is a tension between those that want to keep the existing metaphysical, economic, and social structures in place and those that want to use reason to question, challenge and replace those structures.

This is part of the evolution of human societies. It can be the case that change is misdirected, too fast or nihilistic so having some check on overly impulsive change and so rational reformers need to establish proof beyond an intuitive or even "preponderance" of the evidence but it has to break the bonds of inertia which, after all, were the results of a previous stage of revolutionary reformers.

The Old Testament writers, in each of their stages represented a radical, progressive reform over the existing world view. At the time these reformers were resisted by an ancient reactionary perspective that was committed to pagan and caste structures.

The more things change the more things stay the same. There is no "arrival point" there is only the journey.

[uponit7771]

33. +1

[eniwetok]

22. Conservatives Fear DEMOCRACY

The Right has a minority agenda of promoting the interests of corporations and the uber rich. They can't prevail in a democratic system unless they con passionate single issue voters who don't care about the Right's real agenda. The right also wants elections to be like the market where money prevails instead of votes. Lucky for them the Right in the US has on its side an antidemocratic system which has now handed them the presidency TWICE in the last 16 years despite their candidate being rejected by the People, and their power is magnified in the antidemocratic system where now Dem Senators represent 33 million more people yet the GOP has control.

The Right is fortunate that their main opposition party doesn't care about democratic principles and they would never try and reform our antidemocratic system... even if it's posing an existential threat to their agenda.

[jimjc]

23. reboobs fear

not being in total control of everything and everybody, and they will do anything to
accomplish it.

We have a very big mess on our hands and who knows how we can change
it, this is a war in every way, make no mistake.

[Rex]

24. US.

They fear us, because they fear the future and we are the future. It is why they harp on Reagan and want America to be White er Great Again.

[nilesobek]

27. The demographic time bomb.

It's a simple math equation. Conservatives are in fear of their failing birthrates worldwide. Mexican and Muslim birthrates are an unstoppable force and ruling majorities in America and Israel are about to meet their new bosses.

[uponit7771]

34. +1, read a white supremacist say they're scared of the stronger color gene and my reaction...

... is wouldn't their energy be better used being happy and reproducing ?!

But then take a look at the people who are afraid ... most are not at the top of the reproduction list anyway so of course they're afraid.

Look at Bannon... just.. dirty lookin

[truebluegreen]

28. Everything.

to post #2

[A HERETIC I AM]

29. The future. n/t

[rock]

31. That they'll be found out

They have absolutely nothing to offer to a society that values freedoms.

[Dem2]

35. Hate to post this 2x in 2 minutes, but...

Conservatism (n.), the irrational fear that somewhere someone you think is inferior is being treated as your equal.

[kentuck]

37. They fear losing power...

...the power that prevents the liberals from destroying America with their corrupt ways.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

40. Greatest Conservative fear:

Somebody is getting something that conservatives believe they are not entitled to. The biggest problem with Conservatives in my judgement is that they view the world through prisms of morality and their own personal experiences which may or may not be applicable to the "real life" or "real world" experiences of most people, which makes it difficult for conservatives to empathize with other people and understand the real-world effect that their policies may have on other people not as privileged as they might be.

[Iggo]

42. Pee-pees and hoo-hahs.

Oh, and melanin.

[Aristus]

43. Everything.

Why do you think they carry guns with them when they go grocery shopping? These are people who are scared of their own shadows...

[workinclasszero]

44. Two things

Freedom and the "other".

[J_William_Ryan]

45. Conservatives fear

change, diversity, and dissent; they fear expressions of individual liberty, and they fear an inclusive, tolerant society.

And their fear manifests in hate, bigotry, and racism.

[Warren DeMontague]

46. that someone, somewhere, may be happy?

Well, that's H.L. Mencken on puritans, but close enough.