Meet the Base
Via DougJ, this study is absolutely fascinating. I admit, I feel a certain amount of sympathy for them. It occurs to me that the reason why they hold Palin, Beck, and Limbaugh in such high esteem is that they are the only public figures who seem willing to actually talk to them rather than ridicule them and otherwise alienate them. They’re looking for voices they can trust to lead them out of the wilderness, not someone who just offers more ridicule and an occasional nod in agreement.
I can feel some sympathy for people who feel so persecuted and left out. but their absolute self-righteousness is a bit much. They seem to hold no respect for anybody who holds a different belief. If i like and support Obama, then i obviously can’t be a thoughtful , decent person. And of course nobody but them as every been down or marginalized. Certainly gay people have always been open and free. And liberal was never used as a dirty word by the press or the MSM never defines conservatives as the only real Americans.
I will say i agree that i don’t think all their bile is driven by race. The R base would hate any democrat who was in the office the same way. One of the base beliefs of the R base is they are the only true American’s who love and care for the US. they are willing to tolerate the rest of us, but that is about it.Report
“I can feel some sympathy for people who feel so persecuted and left out. but their absolute self-righteousness is a bit much. They seem to hold no respect for anybody who holds a different belief.”
I can and have said the same thing about people on the left, which isn’t to engage in a fruitless battle of tu quoque but to wonder aloud about how best to proceed when everyone feels like a victim and concordantly doesn’t feel like extending much patience or good faith, even if for understandable and/or good reasons.
Life should have an easy button or more appropriately a reset button.Report
The self-righteousness is, I would say, a large part of why they have become so marginalized. After years of virulent rhetoric against immigrants, gays, war opponents, abortion rights supporters, etc., suddenly they’re learning that all the groups they’ve been going after are collectively a majority of the American people. The result of being against just about everything and everyone is that you eventually run out of people to be against.
Still, I wonder if it would have gotten this bad if the GOP had actually stood for something over the last decade instead of essentially being nihilistic and more certain about what they were against rather than what they were for.Report
Now, I do love to read this stuff; you commie-Dems are just a hoot!
This from Cicero’s Tusculan Disputations:
“As there are diseases of the body, so there are diseases of the mind (morbi animorum); the diseases are generally caused through confusion of the mind by twisted opinions (pravarum opinionum conturbatio) resulting in a state of corruption (corruptio opinionum); the diseases of this type can arise only through a rejection of reason (ex aspernatione rationis)…!
The bad news is that my beloved and newly found friends of the Left are infected with Cicero’s corruptio opinionum. The good news is that Uncle Bob is here to help you, to straighten you out, and to be your guide to truth, reason (nous), and hopefully, the love of God!
But, my goodness, you people have a long journey ahead of you!Report
The problem with this view is that they’re not willing to entertain the idea that they could be wrong. The reason why they hold the people you named in esteem is not because they’re the only people willing to talk to them, other people have tried. LBJ certainly did. What was he met with? A generation of Southern Republicans.
The problem is that these people take any attempt to correct distortions of their world view as belligerent.
It’s not that Palin, Beck, Limbaugh et. al. are the only ones speaking to them. They’re the only ones actively agreeing and abetting their sense of self-pity and victimization. How do you talk to people who will regard anything you say that doesn’t connect with their worldview as a lie or mockery?Report
[Palin, Beck, and Limbaugh] are the only public figures who seem willing to actually talk to them rather than ridicule them and otherwise alienate them.
I can’t seem to recall Obama ridiculing them.Report
Mark –
Have you seen any indication that the conservative base will trust anyone who isn’t agreeing with them? If tomorrow Glenn Beck started saying this “secret agenda” stuff was over the top and unsupportable, would the base follow him or would they call him a charlatan? I tend to think it would be the latter.Report
What can a person do? They’re trapped in their own delusions and loathe anyone who dares try to disabuse them of said delusions. There’s no path out for them until they become willing to see reality.
I can understand sympathy, but I think you’re looking for a solution that doesn’t exist until they themselves change. It’s not possible for the sane to lead the mad.Report