General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Confession of a former Rush Limbaugh fan [View all]Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)My major question would relate to the breadth of his new-found compassion. Many conservative who have "seen the light" have seen it only in relatively narrow and compartmentalized ways. Like the cancer survivor who goes on to endow a cancer charity but is oblivious to the needs of the poor and underprivileged, or even survivors of other diseases. How about concern for future generations, whose lives stand a fair chance of being devastated by climate change? In other words, It seems to me that many on the right have blinders which prevent them from seeing and responding to the conditions of people unlike themselves; they seem to lack the imagination to identify with the fortunes and misfortunes of people with whom they have little obvious situational affinity.
On the other hand, there are many who, for whatever reason, seem to have simply suppressed their broad-gauge compassion for whatever reason-peer influence, overexposure to Rush and Rand (either one, Ayn or Paul) and acceptance of a harsh libertarian philosophy because they don't think it through in terms of its real (rather than simplistically theorized) consequences in the real world. These latter conservatives, once they wake up, fairly quickly reject the whole wingnut ethic, and their suppressed compassion spreads its wings in short order when released to do so.
Edited to add that these comments relate to 2 poles of a spectrum, with many or most people falling somewhere between them.