Psychology of Conservative Americans and their "Bogeyman Liberals"

[Classical_Liberal]

I like to research antique horse saddles, and I recently joined a messageboard for people who are into cavalry re-enactment research. I am used to running into conservatives on these boards, and since I am not in a political frame of mind, when I research saddles I avoid political discussion as much as possible, and let it go in one ear an out the other. However I looked into the archives one day and found a poster who says he was a saddlemaker (from Wyoming) trying to equip our Special Forces in Afghanistan. It seems that owing to bad roads and the general dilapidated condition of that country, our Special Forces were having to learn cavalry skills again. Ergo he joined this messageboard to inquire with Cavalry historians This is the truth, since I googled it and low and behold their were several articles on the subject of our special forces having to go on horseback in certain circumstances. Whether he is truly helping the Special Forces would appear true since he had pictures of uniformed men working with the test equipment he said he had built.

Anyway, the guy said that he was a Viet Nam vet, who moved from Los Angeles to Wyoming after he got out of Viet Nam in the 60s, specifically to avoid the "buckets of piss and spit" that were thrown on him by "the counterculture" in the 60s. Here's the thing. I went to his website, and he has only just turned 40. Unless he was in Vietnam at the age of 13 or 14 this could not possibly be true. I also know from Snopes.com that many of these tales of vets being pissed and spit upon are considered Urban Legends. He is an NRA member and all that, and has expressed fairly extreme militia conservative views. I do know that many conservatives seem to have an awful chip on their shoulder over us liberals. My question is why? Why does this guy need to invent some crazy Hippie counterculturalist to poor buckets of piss and spit on him?

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. My experience has taught me...

That there is an awful lot of disturbed and un-diagnosed and untreated people in the general population. Now, I am not being at all flippant here: I speak from the experience of a psychiatric case worker, a job I have done, as well as having worked as a taxi driver. Lemme tell you, you want to see people in their most raw and unguarded moments, drive a cab. I have lots of stories, but the best is the woman who got into my cab and the first thing she started talking about was her recently-prolapsed uterus. Really.

It's hard to drive when your brain has recoiled into one small corner of your brain pan.

There seems to be, in our society, a trend towards "defining oneself" that has gone more than a little too far. Rather than defining onself on a healthy and constructive level, things have progressed into widespread and outright fraud. Once people do that once, and get away with it, they will get a charge out of it and be drawn to doing it again. In doing it again, though, to get that charge, they have to expand the scope of the fib.

They tend to continue until it blows up in their faces.

Now, you are probably asking yourself why these people are drawn towards neo-conservatism. Well, the neo-cons, however falsely, have co-opted the mantle of "rugged individualism and freedom", mostly through the running-dog lickspittles in the media, who do a piss-poor job of holding their feet to the fire, point by point. Somehow, they attract the "self-definers" and "rugged individualists" to a political philosophy that wants nothing more than to eradicate them and turn them into the logical equivalents of serfs.

[Elanor]

2. Because

having an enemy defines who they are. It makes them feel good about themselves, superior to us. It helps them to bond and be comrades; it's like a password you share with the In Kids in the Culture Wars.

The Republicans running the revolution used group pysch dynamics (in group, out group) deliberately to make the masses follow them and support them. They (the ones in charge) realize that their policies are harmful to most of the idiots following them; they need to appeal on an emotional level and bypass intelligence to get their support.

Propaganda depends on bypassing brains and appealing to emotions to be effective. Note the terror alerts and constant fear of "them." As Michael Moore pointed out, the R's used this before 9/11 ever happened; we've all been raised to be scared of black men. Fear helps them control all of us; hatred of a common enemy bonds the in-group of Republicans together and gives them a sense of superiority and comradery. Like fear, hatred is a powerful emotion that can be manipulated to control people.

You note that your acquaintance lies about his age and experience. Obviously he's insecure and looking for affirmation and acceptance by the in group.

It's sad, but most people seem to be easy to manipulate.

[Doctor Panacea]

3. Motivation for lying

He is fantasizing to satisfy some need in his life. Identification with a war is a powerful way to inject meaning into a life that is otherwise unfulfilled. This guy may see himself as a victim of some kind. If so, this could make him fantasize about himself in the role of a Vietnam veteran, since Vietnam veterans are often falsely portrayed as victims of a "liberal" society.

[TheBigGuy]

4. kind of off-topic...

his tale about his Vietnam "experience" makes me question his tale about equiping the US mitliary in A-Stan a bit, too.