Why are so many of the teabaggers older and white?

[asdjrocky]

(Note- this was posted earlier and after several angry responses it was locked and I can see why. I want the people to know it may have been my intention to catch the eyes of the readers; it was not my intention to offend. Obviously, I did and looking back, the headline was all wrong and I deserved the ridicule I received. Someone even called me a bigot and I deserved that as well. I’d like to say I’m sorry and I’d like to say I believe I learned a lesson. It was very dim of me to think I could say whatever I wanted about an entire group of people just because I belonged to that group. But in the end, the question to me, the revised question, remains the same. How does this seem to happen to so many of us? How do we stop it? Again, sorry for offending many many people here at DU, that is not what I wanted to do.)

As a disclaimer, I’ll be 50 in April so I do kind of feel like an old person, especially after basketball with guys half my age, so this is not meant to knock the fine seniors we have here at DU or out there in the real world. Also I am white but I grew up in a racially balanced neighborhood, so that may change, if only a bit the way I look at things. And I don’t want to discriminate or bring hatred on a whole group of people but the question has been in the back of my mind since the whole teabagging thing started.

Why are so many of the teabaggers older and white?

Do we just become more stupid and more gullible as we grow older? Do we lose so many brain cells that we’re ready to believe any sucker in a suit? Maybe it’s the mean “you kids get off my lawn” syndrome that some old folks exhibit as they slowly decline. Or are they just more afraid?

The reason I ask these questions is obvious if you’ve paid attention to the town hall meetings. These are people that suck at the tit without knowing the cow. They think their Medicare comes from the Regan Ferry, and social security is republican magic. You try to tell them the simple truth and they quote Beck or the bible –yes the bible- or they just shake their cane at you until you retreat, head shaking and heart a little heavier.

I’ve always believed, or at least held out hope, that I would gain wisdom as the years gained on me but now I worry. I’m thinking maybe we’re all born with a stone somewhere in our hearts, just a pebble really when we’re tender and young, and it grows bigger as we accumulate years. We feed the stone and it can grow big and hard blocking the heart with its hungry mass or it can grow well and grow strong, becoming the pillars that open the doorway of the heart.

It depends on what you feed it. On what we all feed it.

Your parents feed the stone, as do you peers, your enemies and the people you pass everyday. And you feed the stone. Some stones subsist on a diet of hate, becoming boulders while others thrive on a feast of love and caring, to become pillars. We don’t have a lot of say in it when we’re young; we know we have to eat the food at the table. As we grow we can do our own cooking. Try all the recopies of the world, both good and bad.

We decide what the stone, that little pebble really, grows into. Why does it seem so many old white people decide wrong?

I think of my father. God I loved the man. He told great lies, quoted his favorite President, Truman, always inaccurately and he voted for Nixon, Regan, Bush, and anyone but Clinton. He was a depression era man, born in 1921 and he served in the Second World War. What did he feed his stone? There were no cable news shows back then. Only the local rag, the Giants in Summer and early fall, and the 49’ers in the winter. So why my Dad? Just age? Did the horizon dimming, along with his vision change his outlook? Maybe these questions are for another time, maybe even a different place.

I’ve worked nothing out in these few paragraphs and I’ve been mulling the question over for weeks now and I keep coming back to the same thought. There’s a bitter drink they are all given and almost all of them take a sip. It’s that final, fatal sip that makes the boulder. That sip grows the malignant stone.

I’m certain the bartender doesn’t tell you he’s pouring your stone the drink of Bitter Life as he slides you the frosty glass. It must be a trick, because not only do most of us take that drink, we pay the barkeep and reward him a handsome tip.

Here’s what I want to know. How do I spot this bartender? How to I avoid the swinging doors of this bitter saloon?

Help me work this out.

Why are so many of the teabaggers older and white?

[HopeHoops]

1. This is a trick question, right?

:shrug:

It is called "THE FOX AUDIENCE", also known as "THE GOP BASE".

[asdjrocky]

2. That's kind of what I was thinking.

But I believe this happened to a lot of people before Fox Noise. See the paragraph about my father.

[HopeHoops]

7. Roger Ailes used it for the Reagan myth

It has been exploited all along - and it is without question thoroughly racist. Exploiting racism is one of the foundations of the Ailes method - Willie Horton sound familiar?

Think about healthcare - illegal aliens (code word for Mexicans) will get free healthcare THAT YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR!

I'm white, and to the best of my knowledge always have been, but I absolutely cannot understand how someone can be so fucking stupid as to worry about how "white" the country is. What the fuck difference does it make? This is 2009, not 1809.

[asdjrocky]

10. Yep.

And I forget the name of the guy, he was a rather flamboyant Repug from one of the Carolinas I think. Rove idolized him, but gawd I can't remember his name. He did work for the first bush and on his deathbed the story goes he felt bad about trading in fear and lies.

[Thirtieschild]

19. Lee Atwater

[asdjrocky]

20. Thank you, that's it! Boy that guy was a piece of er, work.

[catzies]

25. That was Lee Atwater, gone but not forgotten. The damage he did lives on. n/t

[Turbineguy]

3. They are the first ones

laid off in a downturn.

[asdjrocky]

6. That's a good point.

[RagAss]

4. Because the hate....it ferments with age !!!!

[asdjrocky]

8. I do know, and I should have said this in the op,

many, many people that are 20, 30 or more years older than me that have taught me many things about being a liberal, I'm talking about a syndrome that effects the people at the town hall meetings, the people that vote Democrat when young, and Republican when older.

[Thirtieschild]

22. Diagreed with you first time around, still disagree.

We don't all age into conservatism. Some of us age into liberalism. My first vote, in 1956, was for Eisenhower. I'm ashamed to say, blushing as I write this, that in 1960, at age 25, I voted for Nixon. All votes since them have been for Democrats.

I've often wondered if political leanings are influenced by where you live, where you grow up. I grew up in the Texas Panhandle, in the county that in 2004 gave a higher percentage of votes to Bush than any other county in the country. I came out of there a die-hard conservative. Living in D.C. and then Atlanta gave me a different perspective. If I had never left West Texas would I still be conservative? I hope not, but I'll never know for sure.

[Juche]

5. Most wingnuts are older and white

Median age of a fox news viewer is 65
Of an O'Reilly viewer it is 71
Average right wing radio listener is 67

http://www.pensitoreview.com/2009/05/05/average-age-of-fox-news-viewer-is-65/

I read once the average conservative GOP member is over 55 now.

As to why, I have no idea. But chances are if someone is a misinformed, histronic wingnut they are older, white and probably male. FTR, I'm a young white male so I have 2 strikes against me.



As a pure WAG, it could be that as you get older and set in your ways, you fear change more.


It bothers me too, when I have debates with my parents (59 and 60) who are both white. I have only listened to politics for about 2 years, but I know more than they do about basic issues (who our reps are, how big the budget it, what it goes to, how many senators there are, what states the candidates won, etc). And whenever I see a 70 year old wingnut say 'keep government hands of my medicare' it really pisses me off. How can I only pay attention to politics for a few years and know more than these people, who are 2x my age? What the fuck went wrong with this country where there are so many ignorant, fear driven people in it?

I don't know honestly, but it is bothersome. And I worry about the same thing, how do I avoid going through the same transformation. I don't want to be ignorant, loud and vote for a party that supports oppression of endless 'out' groups. I worry how I can avoid the transformation too. If it makes you feel better, there are still some feisty old white males who are liberals. Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Vincent Bugliosi, Bernie Sanders, etc.

[asdjrocky]

9. Good questions.

I'm trying to find answers. In the post that got locked, many people said somewhat the same thing you're saying here.

[burrowowl]

46. I've met many Young what

I would call Fascists! Guns! I'm invulnerable and hate people of Color!

[Juche]

11. Here are cool articles

Supposedly people turn more liberal as they age.

http://www.livescience.com/health/080310-liberal-seniors.html

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/684301/does_aging_make_us_more_conservative.html?cat=9


Stress may play a role in elderly people who become conservative. Supposedly their brains become more sensitive to cortisol. No idea if it carries over to political conservatism, but seeing how the conservatism they are referencing (fear of change, fear of danger) also is tied into political conservatism (which sees the world in black and white and says we need strong police and military to stop change and danger) I wouldn't be surprised if brains more sensitive to fear make the elderly more likely to be politically conservative. So keep your stress levels low in old age with nutrition, exercise, meditation, social support, etc.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/older-decision-stress-2244025-adults-making

[asdjrocky]

13. Thank you, I'll do some reading.

[WestSeattle2]

12. Generally speaking, Democrats stand for change

and progression, republicans oppose both change and progression. For many republicans (read "Caucasian") the idyllic version of the 1950's (that never was) is their Nirvana. Anything that threatens that mythical time and place is deemed un-American, and they will demonize anyone deemed a threat to that version of history. Corporate interests play off that idiocy and use them as "fronts" for their own agenda.

Teabaggers are clearly white males with limited education, who lack critical thinking skills, and who fear change and progression. I will go even further and suggest that a majority of these guys would love to roll the clock back 50 or 75 years, when women and minorities "knew their place", when white males ran the country, they were able to be promoted based on the old boys network rather than on qualifications, and they could exercise their bigotry and hatred with no social repercussions.

In a word, these guys are losers.

[Sebastian Doyle]

14. For the exact same reason the PUMAs were older and white

Because they're goddamn stupid racist bigots who are still stuck in the '60s.


The 1860s that is.

[Zoigal]

15. The world is changing too quickly for them and in desperation

they are clinging to what they know. They often are uninformed and ignorant about
anything "new". Any change frighten them. If it helps any, i will be eighty one my next BD and have become more
progressive as i have aged.....z

[asdjrocky]

17. lol, believe it or not, that does help.

I'll never forget, I was in my early 20's when I met an man in his 70s, he was the Grandfather of a girl I was seeing at the time. We were out in his almond orchard having a beer together and we got to talking about the hostages in Iran. I don't recall exactly what I said but I'm sure it was something very stupid, and he looked at me and ask, "Why do you think they are so pissed off at us over there?" He told me "one guy doesn't bloody another guys nose without a reason."

It got me thinking, and it got me reading. For the whole summer he taught me, and reasoned with me as we knocked those almond trees in 100 degree heat. Come to think of it, I got 4 bucks an hour and two free beers with the added bonus of becoming a real liberal. Pretty good deal, all given to me by a old person.

I never told him thank you, but I'll thank you for your good words, and your hope. Thank you.

[demosincebirth]

29. Many of them are just barely hanging on with their

socaial security and medicare and are easy prey for r w scare tactics. I am seventy and I know many in that position. Thank God for my union pension.

[Name removed]

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[asdjrocky]

18. The difference between being a racist and a white supremacist?

White supremacists have to go to those meetings.

[spanone]

21. easily frightened ...easy prey

[Libertas1776]

23. Older and white

need I say more.

[Warpy]

24. I noticed my mother starting to spout a more conservative line

about two years after she went blind. On closer examination, I found that she didn't have access to newspapers. Her only news sources were televised news and the Reader's Digest, available every month both in Braille and on tape.

I think that's a large part of it, they become increasingly print handicapped. Many are also computer phobic. They buy what they hear on talk radio and television.

I don't think they're any more gullible, but when all you hear day in and day out are the same lies from different sources, you generally start to believe them.

In addition, most of the younger folks are out working and raising their families. They don't have the time to go to meetings during working hours.

Most of the younger folks you see at these things are party people, maybe a few of the newly unemployed who still think they have a place in the world.

Still, there's a good reason for the elderly majority at the town halls, just like there's a good reason so many of them are spouting lies.

[LostInAnomie]

26. Looks at the demographics of the Republican party.

They are an old, white party.

[Juche]

27. It also depends on the state

The elderly whites in Vermont voted Obama 2-1, the elderly whites in Alabama voted McCain 4-1.

[treestar]

28. I'm your age

Don't worry the big 50 won't be too traumatic, but I know the feeling.

IMO that generation was rather fortunate - my father's age group. They were born during the Depression, but not old enough to have to be aware of it or worry about it. Too young to serve in WWII. Maybe in Korea, but when Dad went into the Service, it was the mid 1950s. No war. Too old by the time of Viet Nam. Kids too young to be drafted during that entire war.

I don't think he ever had a single worry about unemployment. Never a question about not having a job. I can't be sure of this, but I never heard any word of worry on that score.

So they had it very good.

Now I will get flamed by people from that age group, so I will say it's not everybody who had it so good - and Dad himself is not a wingnut (but has a lot of right wing friends) - but the average white middle class male did pretty well, so it would follow that a large percentage of them aren't going to think any change is needed.

[asdjrocky]

36. My Dad worked at the same place for 30 years.

He worked very hard, never took a day off, but he never had to worry one day about losing his job. He bought his house in 63 on a hand shake for nine thousand dollars. He served during world war 2, but he was state side. He knew the banker in our town of only 100 thousand and could get a loan any time he wanted. When he retired he tended bar part time, just to have something to do, until a year before he died.

My life has been vastly different, to say the least.

What you say makes some sense to me.

[treestar]

57. Mine had one employer only, too

He was much luckier on vacation: had six weeks of vacation per year by the time he retired! He started out with two, and the longer he was there, the longer he got, according to company policy.

[BlooInBloo]

30. I take it you've learned about things everybody knows, but nobody is allowed to say.

:P

[asdjrocky]

34. Yeah. I had no idea it was such a long list.

But at the same time, if offence clouds the message, then why offend?

[undeterred]

35. You mean like

oh, never mind.

:hide:

[BlooInBloo]

37. (shrug) Many are offended by the truth.

[undeterred]

31. Most racists are older and white.

Most teabaggers are racists.

Most teabaggers are older and white.

[asdjrocky]

41. There you go, arguing logic. You must be a Democrat.

[frogmarch]

32. I think the

reason so many teabaggers are old and white is because young white racists are generally too busy working and racially indoctrinating their kids to teabag.

[asdjrocky]

40. So it's a family thing?

They send the grandparents, now I get it.

[cliffordu]

33. Skeered of the swarthy folks. And the commies.

[TexasObserver]

38. The gigantic 1960s racial/social divide.

If they graduated from high school when the Beach Boys, not the Beatles, ruled ....

If they graduated from high school when black players didn't dominate the NCAA ....

If they graduated from high school when white boys wore thin ties, black suits and white socks ....

Then they're likely to be in that pro McCain rally, growling about all the things that have pissed them off, from birth control pills to black presidents. It's not a hard and fast line. There are many in that age group who aren't angry old teabaggers, but the bulk of the teabaggers still haven't gotten over seeing their high school integrated after they left them.

[asdjrocky]

42. Another good point.

But let's not forget, we wore white socks and thin ties in the 80's too. :hi:

[rustydog]

39. Because you can't fix stupid? nt

[classysassy]

43. Its fear

caused by the likes of Limbaugh,Beck and that ilk.

[burrowowl]

44. I am an Old Tex-Mex (real Mexican) 62 years-old

I got shot at in '68 for protesting the VN War and found myself protesting Bu$hCo, I'm a Socialist, like Bernie Sanders. Went to town hall meet in Albuquerque, etc.
and in all these demostrations, we seem to be mostly old-farts, not many youngsters present! WHY?!
Worked and walked for Obama with sciatica and wondering if it was worth the pain.


:mad: :grr:

[Starbucks Anarchist]

45. Most young people are busy working.

That's not a putdown of your age group. It's just a simple fact.

[burrowowl]

47. I am still working too

and for a lot less than I earned in France where I lived for 20 years and young French and Mexicans still protest even if they work! I'd say Raygun destroyed the American education system and now we have robotic young'uns!

[asdjrocky]

51. I met so many great people far older than me during the campaign

and now I just wonder where they all are.

[PatSeg]

48. I am an older, white liberal

Even though I was raised by republicans, I was always more liberal by nature. As I got older, I became more liberal in many ways, though my liberalism is more informed and less reactive. I've known narrow minded, unenlightened people all my life, but in their youth, they tend to be preoccupied with other facets of life like work, family, socializing, etc. When they get older, they have more time and their fears tend to surface and are easily manipulated.

That gray haired, white guy with the beer belly shouting angrily at a town hall meeting in his youth was probably that guy at the neighborhood bar who after a few drinks loudly spouted ignorant opinions about sports and politics to any poor soul who would listen. He often drank too much, bitched about "damn hippies", welfare queens, his boss, his brother-in-law, and everyone else who infringed on his rights. He never really changed much over the years. He grew older, but not smarter and now he has more free time on his hands, little or no sex drive, cable news, and his doctor probably made him give up drinking.

The Glenn Becks and Rush Limbaughs did not turn these people into extremists, they played on the narrow minded beliefs these people already embraced and empowered them to go forth and express their ignorance on a bigger stage at a stage in their lives when they have more time than sense.

The one common thread these tea baggers and birthers share is the belief that people are out to get you and you have to protect yourself and your family from "them". They were always ignorant, self-absorbed, probably bigoted, and a bit paranoid. Age often magnifies our best and worst traits, fears and prejudices. Eventually politicians or ring-wing talk show hosts are bound to exploit their ignorance and give them a platform to voice their ill founded fears and anger.

They'll never get smarter, only louder and they will be the first ones to bitch when they can't get the health care they need or if Social Security screws up their check. They are quick to demand compassion during hard times, but never willing or able to give it. They've always been among us, but now they're more visible.

[asdjrocky]

50. So you're saying if you start smart,

odds are you stay smart. Now that makes sense.

[PatSeg]

58. I should have used the word "wise" instead of "smart"

as I've known some very smart narrow-minded people. It appears that the common thread among such people is an inability to change in any meaningful way and they use every life experience to reinforce a flawed value system. I'm not sure if it is environmental or inherent, but it is something that has fascinated me for years. I've been involved in the adoption community, and I've heard some incredible stories about adoptees who never embraced their adoptive parents' attitudes or beliefs, but often followed paths similar to the family they never knew. Such similarities surprisingly were not just limited to talents and interests, but could include empathy and open-mindedness.

So for me, the question is, does a society create such people or does it give them the atmosphere in which to grow and flourish? Are there some cultures that are more inclined to spawn such people, possibly because they encourage the hate and play on the fears? Studying history, it appears that in an enlightened liberal society, they are a justifiably oppressed silent minority until an opportunistic leader(s) comes along and exploits their fears and gives them a voice.

[raccoon]

53. Great post, especially this:

"They are quick to demand compassion during hard times, but never willing or able to give it."

[PatSeg]

59. Thanks

And they tend to tailgate or cut off other drivers on the road, but are totally enraged when someone does it to them. I've seen people do this in a time-span of a few minutes and was astounded that they were oblivious to the contradiction. Life gives them so many opportunities to correct their flawed thinking, but they appear to be incapable of change.

[opihimoimoi]

49. They are the EASILY FOOLED segment

[BlueGirlRedState]

52. I thought the same thing at the town hall meeting in Waco

Why is the "Greatest Generation" also the most selfish?

Of course, that's a generalization, just like when there is thread after thread here at DU telling Texans to go ahead and seceed.

I'm white, I'm 53 and I'm a Texan, so I've got a "dog in this fight" so to speak.

At the town hall, almost everyone, I'd say 95%, were over 50. And yelling about how evil, inefficient, corrupt... yada, yada, yada... the government is.

Where were the youthful protestors? It was a Saturday, so work for many is not an excuse. Surely there are more than 100 Democrats in the county to counteract the 900 screaming that they don't even want Medicare.

My father fits the angry white Faux news profile, so much so I cannot go back to my parents' home. He was born in 1929, only an 8th grade education but he had good jobs with civil service and the post office. He was a union man but now dispises unions. Complains the city won't fix the potholes in front of his house but doesn't want to pay taxes. Hates "women's libbers" and minorities. I had hopes he would have evolved from his mother who had a deep distrust of "colored and Jews" but he seems to be turning into her.

[asdjrocky]

54. It must be really tough being a liberal in a red state.

And yeah, your Dad sounds a bit like mine.

[CreekDog]

55. so much for this

:eyes:

[bridgit]

56. Cause they're prickly old crap-heads with nothing better to do than think they invented America

[Name removed]

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