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In reply to the discussion: Ironically, once you decide a person or group is "stupid," you are relieved from thinking about them [View all]Crunchy Frog
(26,579 posts)An interesting subject, but needs a good deal more research.
I would strongly advise viewing the actual film. The main focus of the film is the story of the filmmaker's father. He was a kind, mild mannered, lifelong Democrat who suddenly became transformed into a completely different person. The only difference in his life was a change in his routine, where he now had a long commute, alone in his car. He literally was brainwashed through exposure to RW talk radio, and other propaganda outlets.
It was a really fascinating story. He gets "deprogrammed" in the end, as he is gradually cut off from his sources of RW propaganda, and family members deliberately begin replacing some of it with liberal sources. He goes back to being mild mannered, and even ends up voting for Obama. I'm guessing that susceptible people like that are lacking in some sort of internal filter, as he seems to take on the viewpoint of whatever he's exposed to, without applying much critical thinking.
I only just discovered the film, but I've seen reviews where other people talk about similar things happening in their own families. I would bet that lots of people are vulnerable because they lack critical thinking faculties, rather than that they're closet bigots.
They show footage of him during his brainwashed phase, and you can see him seething with anger, as is encouraged by RW talk radio. This is the context in which there is discussion about anger actually being addictive. Apparently it actually triggers the release of endorphins.
Again, I would urge you to actually watch the movie. You can't get a really good idea of it just from descriptions or reviews. I feel like it's an important piece of a very large and complicated puzzle. I believe that a large percentage of this country's population is literally under the spell of a cult, and that this is the product of a very intentional, deliberate process. This is what the Koch brothers and others like them have been funding with their billions over the past few decades.