It begs the question - were they always thinking this stuff and now feel entitled to say it out loud? Or are they being coaxed by propaganda generated by some of our nations enemies in order to break apart our country? Is this all one big state-sponsored psy-ops attack by a foreign country?
I don’t know. But it sure as hell scares the hell out of me.
Yeah, I agree with kobra. It’s a mix. The Alt Right Playbook video series gives some interesting thoughts on the matter. Conservatives and further right tend to be hyper hierarchical and tend to demand respect for the chain of authority, even to their own detriment (as long as it hurts someone else more). Rejecting an authority figure is a bigger deal on the right than the left due to the whole “control how people think” angle.
So it hasn’t gone far enough to alienate the ones that are still on board. Some refuse to hear the negative and just bury their head in the sand. Some are convinced by emotionally charged rhetoric that “the other side is even worse.” And some already agreed with them secretly. For most, it’s probably a mix of these various techniques for contorting to fit the shape demanded of them by their authority figures–some being more bigoted than others after all. For the pro-hierarchical people, their place in the hierarchy is a piece of their self-identity and it’s really hard to fight that instinct.
It begs the question - were they always thinking this stuff and now feel entitled to say it out loud? Or are they being coaxed by propaganda generated by some of our nations enemies in order to break apart our country? Is this all one big state-sponsored psy-ops attack by a foreign country?
I don’t know. But it sure as hell scares the hell out of me.
It’s both.
Yeah, I agree with kobra. It’s a mix. The Alt Right Playbook video series gives some interesting thoughts on the matter. Conservatives and further right tend to be hyper hierarchical and tend to demand respect for the chain of authority, even to their own detriment (as long as it hurts someone else more). Rejecting an authority figure is a bigger deal on the right than the left due to the whole “control how people think” angle.
So it hasn’t gone far enough to alienate the ones that are still on board. Some refuse to hear the negative and just bury their head in the sand. Some are convinced by emotionally charged rhetoric that “the other side is even worse.” And some already agreed with them secretly. For most, it’s probably a mix of these various techniques for contorting to fit the shape demanded of them by their authority figures–some being more bigoted than others after all. For the pro-hierarchical people, their place in the hierarchy is a piece of their self-identity and it’s really hard to fight that instinct.