Something I've noticed about the right-wingers I know personally...

now, I'll admit I only know a few dozen, and anecdotal evidence is useless, of course, but I've noticed something about the right-wingers I've seen, that really jumps out at me. I was wondering if you guys have noticed the same thing about the right-wingers you know.

It seems like they don't think very rationally in many situations. For example, they stay with abusive and addicted partners, and keep trying to make the relationship work in spite of all evidence of hopelessness. And instead of trying something that perhaps has some small chance of working - insisting on therapy or going to Al-anon for examples - they just have the same old fights, almost every day, for years on end. They complain bitterly, threaten to leave over and over but never do. They just never seem to be aware of the futility of what they are doing. It never seems to dawn on them.

Or they are addicted themselves to some substance, and they lose relationships, lose jobs, get DUI's, etc. but they never change. They are never able to look at the situation and make a rational decision like, maybe I need to go for treatment and stop using this substance.

Or they have some personality problem that causes them to fight with everyone around them, losing one job after another, losing one relationship after another, but they never see that they keep getting the same results over and over. They never see the need for change.

Or they grew up with parents who beat them mercilessly and abused them, but they defend those parents, saying, "I deserved it" or "Daddy was just trying to make sure I knew what to do when I got married" etc. etc.

They just don't seem to be able to come to what I think should be obvious conclusions. Something short-circuits in their brains. And I see it when they say "drill baby drill" and then turn around and blame President Obama for the mess in the Gulf.

The thought process to me just doesn't seem logical, it just doesn't seem to hold together as a coherent whole, and it applies not only to their politics but their lives as well.

It puzzles me a great deal.

I know plenty of people who are politically liberal who display these same behaviors.

GREEDY

Tho old nail on the head, and all...

Read it (it's free) and you will have some of your questions answered.
http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/

that scale...I guess it affects how they think...

I got caught up reading from that link you provided for the past 2 hours. I've got stuff to do now, so I bookmarked it for later reading. Really intersting stuff! And that study they did regarding the high RWA group...OMG the fact that they twice destroyed the world in short order would have been hilarious if it weren't so eerily possible in real life. :scared:

My guess is that they lack background eduction and life experiences to enable them to make "connections" between things. Their view seems rather "flat". They seem to lack the desire for exploration and creative thinking. My recent experience, being self-employed, is that Republicans or so-called Independents, almost always lie to me about how poor they are when they are not. That is the only thing I can say for certainty about my experience with them.

proof that their beliefs are false. A very simple example is the argument I had with two friends (brothers). They INSISTED that the Democratic Party's name is "Democrat Party". Yes, they were both ditto-dumbasses. Even when I got out the laptop and showed them the facts, even showing them the Democratic Party website and it's history, they were still convinced it was all bullshit.

Most of the time, the riech-wingers I konw simply refuse to even look at evidence contrary to what they believe.

with right wing Republican acquaintances is that they are all bigoted. They don't like African-Americans, Mexicans or Jews. They remain acquaintances because I don't want them as friends.

...is that they have no reverence for facts and provable truth. They are able to slough off evidence that does not support their belief.

I attribute that phenomenon to their being propagandized and brainwashed. They KNOW at some level that their "side" is full of crap and so they think the other "side" catapults propaganda, too.

IOW, they know that Rush and Beck are windbags full of lies but pretend not to, and choose to believe that Keith and Rachel lie, too.

I say this after close observation for many years now.

is a lack of applied empathy.
I was listening to a fisher person this morning lamenting his losses and a comment he made has been in my mind ever since.
He said, and I paraphrase, "Pelicans are nice but what about the people?". He does not realize that it is the canary we need to keep alive to insure the lives of the miners. These people deride environmentalists as "tree huggers" without understanding that a healthy forest is what keeps them employed.
They just never make a connection to the larger world around us.

It doesn't matter how religious or educated they are, they are missing true empathy. I seriously believe that many have learned the correct response in some situations, or they contribute to charity because their church tells them to, whatever. Second, they lack the ability to see the big picture which is a serious intellectual flaw IMHO. The point is that they are simply unaware of what they lack, which is why one does find sincere, intelligent people who vote republican and feel comfortable despising democrats.

... that contrast personality traits and world views of who is drawn to conservatism versus who is drawn to liberalism.

It makes for interesting reading, and in good hands is non-judgmental.

Hekate

PS: Where in the world did you ever find an incested adult woman who excused it by saying "Daddy was just trying to make sure I knew what to do when I got married"? That rather beggars the imagination.

What conservative have in common to me is overwhelming and usually unsubstantiated anger and fear that drives their belief systems (why they are so irrational) and a very strong sense of entitlement.

poor decision making coupled with the RW Media and their "religious" beliefs, and alcohol and drugs...we are lucky they don't try to kill us all in our sleep.
At least they haven't tried yet...

mark

Education, if properly done, teaches people how to think, how to analyze information, how to relate cause to effect, how to apply logic.

It's just a fact that by and large, uneducated people are prone to misguided behavior and thinking, simply because they never learned how to think properly.

They know how to function in certain situations such as their job, as long as it's very narrow and specific, but outside of that, they don't have the critical thinking skills that are necessary.

I've opined about this before and without fail, it looks like intellectual snobbery to many. But I stand firmly on this position.

Lack of education, along with believing anything they hear a right wing asshole spout, also usually very into religion, which also discourages critical thinking.

However, the ones I know do not fit your profile. The ones I know are for the most part stable and in some cases successful. By mutual consent we talk very little politics. The main difference between us seems to be how the problems of society should be addressed. I feel that government need to be more involved, they feel the government should be less involved.

... the world through a different lens. Conservatives and other Republicans are often as well-read and well-educated as you and I, and are often every bit as capable of logical thought processes. They simply come to different conclusions about how the world operates and how people ought to behave.

The Tea Partiers turn out to be more educated than most, according to one survey. It doesn't mean they have low IQs, does it? Instead, what does that mean in terms of having had their fears and other emotions manipulated until they behave so stupidly against their own interests?

When you say right-wingers, you might try defining which segment you mean-- and I'm not just talking to the OP. I vehemently disagree with the way the Repub Party has been radicalized, and the way that the basest segment of the base has been stirred up by vile rhetoric. The Repub Party has invited these lowlifes into its bosom and will live or die by the results.

But not every right-winger is wallowing in the spew of Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh. To believe so is to underestimate the opposition, and that would be a big mistake.

Hekate

I know a lot of people who do a lot of dumb things and make poor decisions with their lives, myself included. I don't think politics matters.