Posted at NoQuarter 7/13/06
Hey, Larry.
Spot on, as usual. I don't want to change the subject, only to shade it somewhat, with an insight that I had listening to John Dean discussing his new book with Olbermann. Several times I've asked, sometimes in a whiney voice, why people aren't taking to the streets with torches and pitchforks. John Dean's discovery (rather like tripping over an elephant) that there is a voluminous literature on authoritarian personalities and those who follow them, and that almost exclusively authoritarian personalities, and those who follow them, are conservative, in the American sense of the word. Ahah! I said. I knew it! And I did, 'cause I'm an anthropologist, and anthropologists know these things, as do the sociologists who study the phenomenon. However, I hadn't before yesterday made two connections. First, liberals are not susceptible to authoritarianism. Why? Because they question authority. They confront it. They analyze it.They believe in a pluralistic society. They believe in tolerance. All of these characteristics militate against being susceptible to the likes of Hitler, Mussolini and Cheny (Bush is just an accolyte, one of the followers--a mouthpiece, a Charlie McCarthy). And that led me to remember that here, in America (and Canada, and a few other democracies) you don't take to the streets with torches and pitchforks, because it isn't necessary. Just vote the bastards out! Once every four years, the people have that opportunity. Of course, there are apathetic souls who don't exercise their franchise. Dean further revealed that about 23% of the population is either authoritarian, or a follower of the authoritarian personality. That explains why Bush's numbers won't go below 30%. The 'base' is unmovable, intractable, and fervent. They are brutal, and strident, vehement, and vocal followers. They have a common set of enemies (abortion, gay marriage, stem cell research), and they villify and demonize anyone who gets in their way. They brook no dissent. They would rather die than let their leader come to harm, or be taken to task for mistaken and misguided policies, and they do so without question. That's the fundamental difference between Bush's base and the liberal base. Unfortunately (and here's the other insight--make of it what you will), that is precisely the reason that liberals seem (not are--seem) unruly, unfocussed, disorganized, a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off. It's because they don't follow blindly. They don't subscribe to a particular worldview. The Democratic tent is vast, and accepting of dissent. Not so the Republicans, and especially the far-right, Christian Supremacists. So, you, and I and anyone else with a megaphone has to keep up the drumbeat, to (pardon the overworked expression) energize the liberal base. We need them to feel as if their vote counts (notwithstanding vote tampering, which is a whole 'nother issue). And it will count, as long as the truth remains in the national conversation. So, to Hell with Fox, and Rupert, and the NYT and the Mooney press. Keep the truth in view. Speak it loud, and speak it often. It's the only chance we've got.
I've gone on far too long. Thanks for your forbearance.
And, keep fighting the good fight.
Spot on, as usual. I don't want to change the subject, only to shade it somewhat, with an insight that I had listening to John Dean discussing his new book with Olbermann. Several times I've asked, sometimes in a whiney voice, why people aren't taking to the streets with torches and pitchforks. John Dean's discovery (rather like tripping over an elephant) that there is a voluminous literature on authoritarian personalities and those who follow them, and that almost exclusively authoritarian personalities, and those who follow them, are conservative, in the American sense of the word. Ahah! I said. I knew it! And I did, 'cause I'm an anthropologist, and anthropologists know these things, as do the sociologists who study the phenomenon. However, I hadn't before yesterday made two connections. First, liberals are not susceptible to authoritarianism. Why? Because they question authority. They confront it. They analyze it.They believe in a pluralistic society. They believe in tolerance. All of these characteristics militate against being susceptible to the likes of Hitler, Mussolini and Cheny (Bush is just an accolyte, one of the followers--a mouthpiece, a Charlie McCarthy). And that led me to remember that here, in America (and Canada, and a few other democracies) you don't take to the streets with torches and pitchforks, because it isn't necessary. Just vote the bastards out! Once every four years, the people have that opportunity. Of course, there are apathetic souls who don't exercise their franchise. Dean further revealed that about 23% of the population is either authoritarian, or a follower of the authoritarian personality. That explains why Bush's numbers won't go below 30%. The 'base' is unmovable, intractable, and fervent. They are brutal, and strident, vehement, and vocal followers. They have a common set of enemies (abortion, gay marriage, stem cell research), and they villify and demonize anyone who gets in their way. They brook no dissent. They would rather die than let their leader come to harm, or be taken to task for mistaken and misguided policies, and they do so without question. That's the fundamental difference between Bush's base and the liberal base. Unfortunately (and here's the other insight--make of it what you will), that is precisely the reason that liberals seem (not are--seem) unruly, unfocussed, disorganized, a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off. It's because they don't follow blindly. They don't subscribe to a particular worldview. The Democratic tent is vast, and accepting of dissent. Not so the Republicans, and especially the far-right, Christian Supremacists. So, you, and I and anyone else with a megaphone has to keep up the drumbeat, to (pardon the overworked expression) energize the liberal base. We need them to feel as if their vote counts (notwithstanding vote tampering, which is a whole 'nother issue). And it will count, as long as the truth remains in the national conversation. So, to Hell with Fox, and Rupert, and the NYT and the Mooney press. Keep the truth in view. Speak it loud, and speak it often. It's the only chance we've got.
I've gone on far too long. Thanks for your forbearance.
And, keep fighting the good fight.
posted by The Subversive Archaeologist at 12:45 p.m.
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