I'm getting REALLY uncomfortable ...

[1StrongBlackMan]

with all of the academic studies indicating that rightwing/conservatives are possessed of personality defects/character flaws. Not that I don't enjoy reading them; but reading these studies takes me back to the academic studies that would have African-Americans as defective.

I cannot buy into either.

[kestrel91316]

1. My personal experience has been that RWers don't give a damn about

anyone but themselves and their personal finances.

FWIW.

[villager]

2. It seems pretty clear, given how it manifests, that rightwing-ism is a psychosis

The sooner we realize that deranged, hateful politics isn't healthy, the better off we'll be as a species.

[mike_c]

3. can you criticize the data or the methods?

It's easy to express skepticism about "academic studies" and thereby diminish their importance, but it's intellectually dishonest to do so without actually refuting them. Those studies that suggested African Americans were of lesser intelligence and such fell apart because they were faulty, badly designed, and interpreted subjectively. Unfortunately, that circumstance does not mean that other studies obtaining similar conclusions are faulty-- only a critical examination of the methods and data can do that.

[1StrongBlackMan]

5. I, largely, agree ...

But I have been unable to find/access any academic peer-reviews of these rightwing/conservative studies.

And I doubt many/any of us (here) have the capacity (or desire) to critically dissect these studies.

And even if we, did so what?

We should be far more concerned with a person's conduct, and it's affect on society, than his/her predilections; as we can address the former, and have no legitimate control over the latter.

[1StrongBlackMan]

4. I think posts 1 & 2 ...

prove my point! One uses anecdotal experience to generalize across a group of people; the other, demonize that group ... Just like what has/is done with African-Americans.

I think it's a far better approach to deal with the behavior rather than demonize the person. It prevents us from embarassing ourselves when someone, accurately, points out our hypocritical lack of tolerance.

[bongbong]

6. False Equivalence

False Equivalence again. Sigh.

African-Americans have no control over their skin color or background, but repigs have lots of control over their mental states. They can check into an asylum or stop listening to hate-lie radio, for example.

[1StrongBlackMan]

7. I disagree ...

All of the literature about rightwing/conservatives that I am questioning indicate that their "mental statel" has a physiological/biological basis; therefore, they DO NOT have a choice, or control, over their mental state.

I will grant, however, that the literature suggests that their response to/perception of the world is inflamed by their choice of media; but I find "academic" studies that ascribe physiological predisposition to an entire class of people, flawed at best ... but moresp, a waste of time, energy and resources.

[Blue_Tires]

8. There's nothing wrong with examining the pathological need to keep a belief

in a societal/political issue, in light of the mountains of evidence to the contrary...

The fact that many of them self-identify as conservative republicans, and so many politicians pander to them in an election year is a legit trend to research...

[goclark]

9. I agree with you