What teabaggers -- at a very basic level -- just don't get

[LuckyTheDog]

The solution to our problems is very, very rarely to go back to the problems we used to have before those were solved. Usually, the best course is to look forward, not backward. That attitude does not satisfy the conservative instinct to grasp at easy answers. But it's more effective.

[SheilaT]

1. They also have no clear understanding

of exactly what government is for, what is accomplished through taxation and spending.

[ChillbertKChesterton]

2. A lot of the 'stupid teabagger' types you see posting on conservative forums and so on

are not really interested in serious political thinking.

for them, politics is the same as sports: it's an identity game. you pick your side, and you identify with them, you call yourself by their name. in this sense, it's conservative. like a football game, the key to being the best fan possible is hating and shitting all over the 'other team' which is liberals. liberals, liberalism, and roughly anything that isn't Conservative is to be hated. they get their ideas of what qualifies as liberal and conservative from talk radio pundits, people like Limbaugh.

You'll notice an interesting theme in conservative talk radio, how they focus on what they do upsets liberals: "sean hannity, DRIVING LIBERALS CRAZY", stuff like that. this is a main motivating factor for someone who views their identity politics like a game of high school football (usually the high point of most of these peoples' lives).

Conservatives like this will support anything, and vocalize it, just to upset some imaginary liberal who they think floats around in the sky. It's like a teenager who listens to awful music in order to "stick it to the man", conservatives hold awful opinions to "stick it to liberals".

This is also why you'll notice that whenever a conservative opinion is critized or an argument is dissected they almost ALWAYS respond with "well what about liberals when they do it?! what about when democrats did this?! did you forget that DEMOCRATS were racist 70 years ago??", in their minds those are valid points because they structure their whole ideology/identity with "sticking it to liberals".

It's not about rationality, it's not about making sense, it's not about consistency, it's about "sticking it to liberals". It's a childish response to an ignorant identity politics.

These conservatives have never intellectually matured beyond their teen years, and there is no use trying to reach them. They don't care about logic or truth, it's a big game to them, and they want to play.\

[gateley]

3. I get that sense from the new kids in the House -- it's a game,

who's going to win, who will be Big Man On Top? They don't have an interest in what their posturing will do to their constituents, nor do they understand the real role of government.

To be fair, I've seen a couple of Tea Baggers who, although I of course disagree with them, seem sincere and truly believe their approach is best (they've been brainwashed, too). But just one or two -- the others are playing the game and stroking their egos.

[ChillbertKChesterton]

4. The second type of "stupid teabagger" is actually rational, albeit confused

These are rational minded people who are simply ignorant or misled. That is understandable because there is an extreme amount of disinformation and propaganda out there, it's easy to get to that place.

These people recognize a class war, but they misinterpret it. They see the nation divided into two classes:
1. Real, red meat eating, cold beer drinking, church going, work hard for a paycheck Americans.
2. Snobby, decadent, intellectual, atheist, vegetarian, latte-drinking, never-stepped-foot-off-a-campus, liberals.

They believe that these "latte liberals" are elitist in nature, think they know better than "real americans", and that they want to control every aspect of real America.

They believe this elite "liberal class" controls the government, education, and the media. Therefore all of the institutional failures of government are the fault of these liberals. They view the economic problems they and their communities face as the fault of "liberal elites trying to control the economy". They believe educational facilities are heathen smut factories where children go to learn that there is no God and the many sexual positions that homosexual men love to use. They believe the "liberal controlled media" is responsible for the moral decay of society, for broadcasting softcore porn on most of the channels and subverting traditional family values.

They view this as a class-war, and want to participate and win in it. They aren't interested in this because they view it as a giant spectacle where they cheer their favorite team, they are interested in this because they are really affected by it.

These people are truly upset about what's happening to the country, to their communities, and they want to make a difference. They have many legitimate grievances.

The problem is that right-wing propaganda has made them believe that the problems they identify are not because of an economic class war, but because of a cultural class war.

This becomes problematic because many liberals actually end up playing into this framework, reinforcing the conservative delusion. When liberals act all superior and elitist, disregard all conservatives as stupid rednecks, and walk around with an air of superiority, they are simply confirming what these conservatives has been told is true about liberals, and about the culture war.

These conservatives can actually be reached. If you talk to, respect, and even befriend these types of conservatives, they will be more open to what you say because they will know you personally and not view you as a "haughty latte liberal". The moment you come across being elitist or superior or condescending, you close your window of opportunity, you simply confirm their views and everything you say becomes whitenoise, or worse, because they confirm their worldview, they'll simply believe the opposite of whatever you say.

The key here is acknowledging that their problems are real, their concerns are valid, but redirect their frustration away from the imaginary culture war to the real economic class war. For example: explain how the moral degradation of the media is a result of corporate media institutions simply responding to the free market.

If their anger can be redirected away from the imaginary liberal enemy and onto the corporate vampires and more precisely, into the capitalist system of relations itself, they will become leftists.


It's not easy, especially if they surround themselves with Fox News and conservative radio, but if you have someone like this in your family or at work, offer a book exchange, you read a book of their choosing and they read a book of your choosing, something like this is a very good way to reach people without being too preachy.