The one quality ALL neocon/freeper types have in common.

[arbusto_baboso]

What is it? A complete lack of introspection.

Many link their thinking to a particular religious belief. But we have many believers on DU.

Many link their thinking to particular beliefs in smaller government, lower taxes, individual responsibility, and traditional morality. We also have adherents to such concepts here on DU.

But, if you think, REALLY THINK beyond your surface perceptions of an issue, you invariably come to realize that liberal thinking is the only way to go.

Whether it's laziness, shallowness, lack of opportunity due to a busy life, etc., conservatives are people who haven't searched their own hearts, or the information that is out there and available. I can't tell you how many times I've asked a far-right True Believer WHY they believe the things they do. And they can never come up with anything but the empty-headed dittohead slogans.

But let's face it. Selfish shallowness is human instinct. I also have trouble sometimes maintaining a liberal thought pattern. When encountering some of the people I work with, frequently, my first thought will be something along the lines of, "Your kids are your own damn problem", or "If you made decent decisions, you wouldn't be in this mess". I have to remind myself to be less judgemental, less smug, less self-satisfied.

And this is what we are fighting against. We represent the triumph of humanity's thought over its baser animal instincts, while the far-right represents the nostalgic atavism.

President Clinton was absolutely correct last night; when people think, Democrats win.

[FizzFuzz]

1. I just had a look at a freeper thread posted here, re the SwiftBoat

TruthManglers and what I just absolutely don't get is the inability to absorb facts. Lots of carrying on about the upstanding boaters and the lying Kerry etc...self righteous accusations that Kerry and Dems do what in actuality, the wingers are famous for and for which they get caught frequently (and excused frequently by the corp whore media). These people actually believe and are going on and on about the Boat people telling the truth???? When there's actual documented evidence proving these people were not on the boat with Kerry, they merely served in the same war;actually they didn't even know him.
What novel are these freepers writing when they tell stories about one "Boat" guy replacing Kerry as captain, or some such shit... ???

I just seriously do NOT get it. Loads of in your face hate, plenty of smug misogyny, racism galore, violent jokes and metaphors and then they scream about the hateful racist babykilling Dems?????? I DON"T GET IT!! How can people be so blind to their own behavior??? HOw can people wallow in lies like that???

I don't get it, I tell ya.

sorry, I'm going on and on here; been indulging computer addiction today.

[union_maid]

8. I think they're kind of mean

Not all conservatives, but all the freeper/neocon/RW types have a mean streak a mile wide.

[rucky]

2. I think some people are simply incapable of empathy.

it's a brain thing.

[rucky]

4. who cares what you think? n/t

[Eurobabe]

3. blamers

incapable of introspection. Funny you should mention, because that is just what I was mulling while outside cutting back my daylilies. OK, I need to get a life!~

[kodi]

5. fear of the future and an inability to develop tools to deal with it.

"As has often been acknowledged by conservative writers, one of the fundamental traits of the conservative attitude is a fear of change, a timid distrust of the new as such,<5> while the liberal position is based on courage and confidence, on a preparedness to let change run its course even if we cannot predict where it will lead. There would not be much to object to if the conservatives merely disliked too rapid change in institutions and public policy; here the case for caution and slow process is indeed strong. But the conservatives are inclined to use the powers of government to prevent change or to limit its rate to whatever appeals to the more timid mind. In looking forward, they lack the faith in the spontaneous forces of adjustment which makes the liberal accept changes without apprehension, even though he does not know how the necessary adaptations will be brought about. It is, indeed, part of the liberal attitude to assume that, especially in the economic field, the self-regulating forces of the market will somehow bring about the required adjustments to new conditions, although no one can foretell how they will do this in a particular instance."

"fear of trusting uncontrolled social forces is closely related to two other characteristics of conservatism: its fondness for authority and its lack of understanding of economic forces. Since it distrusts both abstract theories and general principles,<6> it neither understands those spontaneous forces on which a policy of freedom relies nor possesses a basis for formulating principles of policy. Order appears to the conservative as the result of the continuous attention of authority, which, for this purpose, must be allowed to do what is required by the particular circumstances and not be tied to rigid rule.

"The typical conservative is indeed usually a man of very strong moral convictions. What I mean is that he has no political principles which enable him to work with people whose moral values differ from his own for a political order in which both can obey their convictions. It is the recognition of such principles that permits the coexistence of different sets of values that makes it possible to build a peaceful society with a minimum of force. The acceptance of such principles means that we agree to tolerate much that we dislike.

Why I Am Not a Conservative - F. A. Hayek

http://www.geocities.com/ecocorner/intelarea/fah1.html

[msmcghee]

6. They can't tell you why because . .

. . they'd have to tell you that they are addicted to the feelings of security that come from their strongly held ideological belief system. It is just as much a drug as heroin for them - and causes far more damage overall to our society than all forms of drug abuse.

Those ideological feelings, barely below the surface in way too many Americans (just like they were in the Germans in WWII) have been well fertilized by Rove and Gingrich before him - and Reagan before him. Our nation is now fully feasting on the bitter fruit of that expertly propogated weed.

It has nothing to do with reason. And no-one wants to admit that. Even to themselves.

See sig line below.

[snippy]

7. Hate.

They instinctively hate anything or anyone different from themselves. They hate people, policies, beliefs and opinions. They hate with a mindless fervor and a venomous glee that satisfies some serious psychological need. It is a pathology of unknown (to me) cause.

[NuttyFluffers]

9. selfishness

the prime requisite to be an evil person. it opens up the entire panalopy of flaws, from fear, hate, pride, antipathy, psychosis, self-righteous zealotry, etc.

to destroy their evil you must kill the core from which it spawns - selfishness. too often it is too hard to reach them in their cocoon of selfishness and change them for the better - often you are relegated to just cleaning up their messes.

we have a big cleaning job coming up after a kerry landslide.

[rucky]

10. kick-a-roo

[peegee]

11. Had an argument with a very close friend.

Had no idea he was so RW. Every point could only answer "Well we have not had one attack since 9/11." That's how safe he thinks he is. Typical fear factor that Bush has been using to promote his campaign. This is so sick.

[Swede]

12. Greed,dishonesty,sociopathic............

But they do love their guns.

[merh]

13. The GOP - RWer's are the largest pyramid scam in history...

Greed - the love of money - entitlement - are the common traits that all dupes of the scheme share. Freepers buy into it and believe that they are entitled to the gold and platinum memberships.

Pyramid Scheme - The disguises, rationalizations and defenses have a similar ring. Perpetrators claim they are uplifting people, setting them free, creating new opportunity, and teaching them a new and better way to live and prosper. As in all such abuses of the past, huge amounts of money are spread to peddle influence, stave off regulation, and maintain the false portrayal of legitimacy. Critics are vilified and threatened with lawsuits as "anti-business" and "losers."

The element of the pyramid scheme that has the most in common with past abuses is its appeal to economic justification. Deceptive practices which take money from millions of unwitting people and enrich a small group of promoters and perpetrators are defended as "legitimate business," helping to build the economy, employ people, and provide economic opportunity.


http://www.pyramidschemealert.org/schemes/schemeindex.htm

[spooked]

16. That could explain why there are a lot of born again Christians

selling Amway.

[merh]

18. Could be ....

:think: could be :shrug:

[spooked]

14. I believe the difference is they are JUDGEMENTAL

and we are open-minded

[sal]

15. fear

maybe hate

[tom_paine]

17. ALL Totalitarians share that quality...and many others

Not just Busheviks.

Every human being is at risk of something like that. It is an intersting balance, trying to walk that line, as necessity forces us to adopt a somewhat closer similarity than we would normally embrace.

Don't kid yourself, either, such a generalization is over-reaching. Whether or not your overarching thesis is correct, don;t forget

there are some selfish, mean, egotistical libs out there who ALSO lack introspection.

I've met some of them.

Every group of human beings has those kinds of people in it. And we all have our blind spots and flaws.

[LiberalPersona]

19. You got that right

I'm just glad that I started thinking very deeply about these things early enough in my life, otherwise I might have become what I now hate and fear so very much. I believe it may be getting involved with a social circle in which gay people are the majority that pushed me in the right direction.

[Happy Eddie]

20. Maybe they're lonely

I know that sounds too huggy-poo, but "dittohead slogans" kind of sums it up. Take all the sociological tropes you're sick to death of hearing: fewer established institutions, fewer ties to a community, fewer permanent jobs and hometowns.... You're going to have some fairly embittered people, and you're going to have a lot of new subcultures, something to belong to, cropping up.

Essentially, American popular culture has significant elements of incivility. It is, shall we say, impatient with processes. I'm working on a theory that our popular culture is an extension of the personality of Don Rickles: that Don Rickles begets Diehard and the Terminator and Jay-Z.

Rush Limbaugh. Insult humor. That whole mocking of the different under the guise of mocking the humorless and self-important. The Right wing sounds and feels more like some of the dominant trends that go on around us. It's a subculture that, for some people, works.

I may be bonkers, but if I am I hope it's in an interesting way.