How many shrinks does it take to change a freeper?

[Brewman_Jax]

I did a survey of the archives to see if freepers really change. It's unscientific, so, I can't draw any formal conclusions. I picked and surveyed calendar year 2004, and I counted 57 ex-freepers. This includes only confessed ex-freepers, ex-neo-cons/conservatives, and/or ex-republicans. This does not include those who voted republican once or twice in the past, self-described independents or libertarians, freeper moles and/or trolls. That's why the count is so small relative to the timeframe surveyed.

Out of the 57 confessed ex-freepers, 11 were tombstoned (19% of total), 22 inactive, defined as no recent posts (39% of total), and 24 active (42% of total). Out of the count, 58% are gone to 42% that remain. In an election, that's a clear win without a runoff.

So, what does that have to do with the price of tea in China? :shrug:

The freeper mindset is more than idiots that continue to vote against their best interests. It's a deep-seated foundational belief system that's based on fear, hate, and ignorance. That's why there are freepers that wear suit and ties for a living, and those that sweat for a living. Freepers with college diplomas, and freepers that are high school dropouts.

A friend of mine in college said this: They don't teach you, you teach yourself. The same applies to freepers. It's a moot point whether we hammer them with the truth, or try to guide them to the truth about current events; they have to learn it themselves. Sometimes, they just can't handle the truth. That means that there's a long way to go, and we can't quit because the task is hideously difficult.

The answer--only one, but the freeper has to really want to change.


Submitted for your consideration.

[sui generis]

1. it depends on two things

how big the freeper is and how big the diaper.

[Brewman_Jax]

5. I try to be serious for a second

and that's not a bad joke. :D

[librechik]

2. freepers don't go to shrinks unless it's a court order

so I would say none until the cops pick them up in their jockeys in front of the house dead drunk and holding a bloody kitchen knife.

[Brewman_Jax]

6. That's no big deal

they're just getting the meat ready for the grill. :rofl:

[Mabus]

3. One

Just make sure the settings on the shrink ray are set correctly. One zap and the problem is gone.

[Brewman_Jax]

8. Too bad it isn't that easy

[Mabus]

9. A girl can dream, can't she?

:evilgrin:

[Anarcho-Socialist]

4. Freepers are a complex group

There are those who are freepers because of economic interest (higher income earners, trust fund kids) and there are those freepers who go against their economic interest.

The second group is complex. Some vote against their own economic interest out of false consciousness, believing GOP propaganda about Democrats being Marxists who will take away all their money, or because the Democrats are "weak on terrorism". Others in this group vote GOP because of reasons of prestige; this group tends to be white working class men who resent the rise of feminism and civil rights as taking away from the prestigious role that the white working class male previously enjoyed in the hierarchy of American society until the 1960s and after. This type of person resents these subjugated groups demanding equality because it impacts his dominant status. Then there are the fundies who vote GOP because they believe in a psychopathic vengeful god who hates contraception, loves the death penalty, hates non-evangelicals amongst other things. Then there are those who are truly dumb, who can't digest complexity of any kind and vote Republican because they are told by other people, or because they are influenced by negative advertising.

Also I should mention that there are philosophical conservatives: followers of Ayn Rand, Leo Strauss and Edmund Burke who are Republicans, but this group tends to avoid Freeperville (at least these past few years) due to its dumbing down of any debate. It is this group who was most likely to stay home on November 7th, angry that the GOP had moved away from philosophical conservatism to something entirely different. Some held their nose and voted GOP, others held their nose and voted Democratic for a change, and others in this group stayed home.

[Brewman_Jax]

10. Interesting points

and thanks for thoughtful response. Most of the freepers I've dealt with come from the false consciousness "they're taking my stuff away" school of thought. Anything that interferes with their sense of entitlement and priviledge drives them to fits of insanity. I noted that also in my survey of ex-freepers; those seem to be the ones most likely to be tombstoned. A few I know seem to be fundies, but they prefer the separation of church and state (go figure! :shrug:)

[bluerum]

7. Indeed complex. I think the answer lies mainly in whether or not they

live in the basement of a two parent home, a single parent home with mother, or a single parent home with father. There can also be cases where they live in the basements of relatives or friends.

Getting any kind of message through to these people will depend primarily on how protective mommy and daddy are, and how much media and internet access the freeper spawn is allowed to have in their basement domain.

So - your question of how to change freepers presents some difficult issues - not the least of which is getting through the basement fortresses they have barricaded themselves into.

:sarcasm:

edit: grammar.

[Brewman_Jax]

11. That's a good point

though the basement isn't necessarily an actual basement, the barricade mentality seems to be common in freepers. "Those people" are coming to take my ________ (enter false entitlement here).

[Orsino]

12. Freepers don't believe in psychoanalysis.

They see only good and evil.