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LeftishBrit

(41,192 posts)
6. Because a fundamental aspect of the RW philosophy is that the strong in society should be allowed to
Wed Jan 11, 2012, 11:47 AM
Jan 2012

triumph over the weak.

Mostly in modern society this means allowing the rich to triumph over the poor; but it also includes the attitude that ethnic and social majority groups should be able to triumph over minorities, and a 'Might means Right' attitude to foreign policy.

Also, and related to the above:

(1) A very negative view of human nature: people will only work, behave themselves, be productive, if they are constantly kept in fear of ruin, poverty, or legal punishment. Punishment as such is an obsession with some on the Right. British right-wingers, at least until recently, were obsessed with the need to bring back hanging and flogging (nowadays that kind of right-winger tends to be more preoccupied with hating benefit claimants, and xenophobia against immigrants and the EU). A British Cabinet Minister recently actually said that in order to increase productivity, it is necessary for workers in the public services to be kept in fear of losing their jobs.

(2) The concept that life is a zero-sum game: people can only gain at the expense of someone else. Co-operation is a meaningless concept; competition is everything. One person's happiness means another person's suffering. To prevent suffering is to deny 'opportunity'. Anyone remember Tom Paxton's satire on Reagan-voters, 'A Truly Needy Family of Your Own': 'For success alone is not enough to make a life complete/ It's seeing the other guy fail that makes it all so sweet!'?

(3) A significant number of people can be readily convinced that suffering is intrinsically good for you; the nastier the medicine tastes, the more good it will do!



I doubt there's any one answer... phantom power Jan 2012 #1
It's because a high percentage of those Repubs. in power are sociopaths. And these, Cal33 Jan 2012 #3
I'm with you on this. newspeak Jan 2012 #9
It's a way of separating themselves from those "other" people. The Velveteen Ocelot Jan 2012 #2
Torquemada would have been a rethuglican. lpbk2713 Jan 2012 #4
I did not even mention edhopper Jan 2012 #5
Because a fundamental aspect of the RW philosophy is that the strong in society should be allowed to LeftishBrit Jan 2012 #6
Good post! edhopper Jan 2012 #7
Spot on! PurityOfEssence Jan 2012 #12
Wrongly believing rank and file Republicans "delight in suffering" kctim Jan 2012 #8
I love your posts, they crack me up. Ikonoklast Jan 2012 #10
I agree Puzzledtraveller Jan 2012 #17
I think I was talking more about edhopper Jan 2012 #22
If you make $8 or $10 or even $12 an hour hfojvt Jan 2012 #11
Well, it basically comes to the same thing... LeftishBrit Jan 2012 #15
Whut? lonestarnot Jan 2012 #24
I don't minimize their evil - I think you might have been referring to another post. LeftishBrit Jan 2012 #26
Religion. FarLeftFist Jan 2012 #13
I don't know. I think you have to be born that way. raouldukelives Jan 2012 #14
Oh, they delight in suffering, all right . . . Brigid Jan 2012 #16
It Makes Them Feel "Superior"... KharmaTrain Jan 2012 #18
They don't call it the "R-complex" for nothing: IDemo Jan 2012 #19
To get in real good StarlightGold Jan 2012 #20
To have someone to look down on treestar Jan 2012 #21
Verminists! lonestarnot Jan 2012 #23
For all the reasons already mentioned, plus that... Crankie Avalon Jan 2012 #25
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