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	BlackChampagne -- no longer new; improvement also in question.: Nut Psychology. Thursday, April 09, 2009 Nut Psychology. An interesting bit of armchair psychology by Matthew Yglesias today, regarding an issue I was talking about a couple of days ago. What's interesting in particular about the militia mindset, however, is that its narrative sources are very different from those of left-wing radicalism. People who believe in violent revolution and the murder of American soldiers and policemen generally, if on the left, appeal to basically anti-patriotic attitudes. Which is about what you would expect from advocates of the violent overthrow of the established political order. But the militia crowd exhibits much more the attitudes one would expect from a coup leader -- a Franco or a Pinochet who's actually appealing to the concepts of patriotism and nationalism as justification for violent revolution. I suppose there are some different ways of characterizing the asymmetry, but the underlying issue seems to be that rule by conservatives is integral to the right's conception of the United States of America. This is part of the rhetoric of the "heartland" and "real America" -- a period of political victory by a coalition grounded in the coasts and Greater Chicago is a period in which America has ceased to be herself. This doesn't quite get into the psychology of today's right wing radicals, but it's a nice analysis that rings fairly true. I'd say it's an indictment, but I don't think the people this applies to would deny it. Conservative white Christians are fairly open and plain about their desire to rule and be ruled by people like themselves. That's what all the "values voting" is about, and it's what spurred all of the various "Barack Hussein Obama the uber-liberal Muslim terrorist was born in Africa" snipe hunts during the campaign season. Those conspiracy theories never got any mainstream traction because most people (defined as the majority of votes who elected Obama) laughed at them, but furthermore, most people didn't care. Countless right wing blogs and publications devoted countless hours to delving into the "born in Africa" story, because to them, that was a checkmate level allegation. The ultimate sign of the "other." When the mainstream heard about it, they were bemused, both because of the wild-eyed nature of the accusers, and because well... who cares where he was born? Everyone knew Obama lived in Kenya and Indonesia during his childhood, and that he had a wild phase in his teens, before he got serious and worked like mad to turn himself into a successful politician and inspiring leader. What mattered to voters was what he'd done with his life and where he (said he) wanted to take the country. Where he'd been born (Hawaii, by all credible accounts) was entirely irrelevant. But to the immigrant-fearing right wing, the thought of someone from another country, especially a scary black country in Africa, was anathema. That's why it was an utterly ineffective rumor; because it sounded crazy, was delivered by fringe, crazy-sounding people, and even if it had been true it wouldn't have registered in the decision making process of most voters. It was an electoin, not Astrology. The location and time of a presidential candidate's birth is irrelevant; as is (for the most part) what they did as a child. It's what they did with their life once they were old enough to make their own decisions that mattered. Yes, there's a technicality in the Constitution about presidents having to be natural born US citizens. But most people don't know about that, and I doubt they would care if they did. Even had Obama been born in Africa, he was born to an American mother, and he lived in the US for all but the first few years of their life. Besides, it would be pretty dumb to DQ the best candidate for president based on an arcane technicality written 250 years ago, when the US was newly independent from England and on guard against any English sympathizers coming to power. Returning more directly to the quote, the unsaid aspect of that post is a pretty big element. The fact that there are no such leftist radicals in the US. Well, "none" is probably an exaggeration. There were some in the 60s, Republican campaign punching bag William Ayers for one, but that was 40 years ago, and most young liberals of the time agreed with their manifesto, if not their violent enactment of it. The fact that tens of thousands of their peers were being drafted and sent off to die in Vietnam for what most Americans came to see as an unjust and pointless war had the effect of radicalizing pretty much everyone of a draftable age. But today? The best the right wing can do for leftist radicals are outspoken celebrities like Michael Moore, or obscure junior college professors, none of whom are actually hording weapons, calling for assassinations or direct violent action, or fulminating anything stronger than the occasional poorly-attended protest march. Meanwhile on the other side of the coin, there are numerous national politics and media figures with nationwide radio and TV shows regularly calling for rebellion, urging gun hording and armed resistance (with tactical advice for killing uniformed police officers), calling the president a fascist and a communist, and so forth. I think Yglesias was probably wise not to broaden his post to those areas. Including them would have let dissenters nitpick the exact statements and their context, thus avoiding the core argument about the violent leanings of the rightest right wing, and their fascist, authoritarian, foundational motivations. Not every blog post can cover every element of everything. A lesson I'd do well to learn, as I struggle (unsuccessfully) to keep my word count down and my discrete topic focus up. Labels: psychology, wingnuts Posted by: Flux # 5:57 AM Comments: Guess I am a crazy then. Anytime a govenor of a state would seal a record for a common item such as birth certificate with no real info on it other than parents names seems like a cover up to me. Watch Obama Deception on Google video and give me your critique on that. It is a fact driven documentarty covering the banking system backing Obama. It also covers what he states he will do as president during his campaign and what he has done in the first few months in term. It shows that everything he said he would do he has not done. Just watch and review. As the months go by people will realize how bad he really is. #: 1:24 PM posted by polyesterangst "Yes, there's a technicality in the Constitution about presidents having to be natural born US citizens. But most people don't know about that, and I doubt they would care if they did." "Most people" might not, but the Democratic and Republican parties that spend millions on their candidates do, and there's no way they would allow a candidate to run who failed a basic test in the constitution. Which tells you right there that if the Democratic party were willing to back Obama, that they were satisfied with his nationality and is a big strike against the conspiracy theories (obviously they then just say that the entire Democratic party is corrupt, or that Obama tricked them with his voodoo shamanism). The funny this is, there were actual valid concerns about McCain's nationality. He was born in Panama during a short span of time where its status was not clear in relation to "natural born citizen". The general consensus was that it should be fine, but there were still arguments that could be made against him being eligible, to that point that the senate unanimously approved a special resolution declaring military personnel born in McCain's circumstances to meet the requirements of the constitution, although it didn't have any legal force (according to snopes). Even as it is with Obama's swearing in being fucked up by Roberts, there're nutjob conspiracies that he isn't "really" president. #: 2:29 PM posted by Lanthanide Post a Comment << Home Archives May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 August 2009 September 2009 October 2009 November 2012

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