The other day MMFA Poster NastyLiberal linked to a fantastic article. It offer a new term for the kind of Conservatism that I’m REALLY railing against here; the kind that has unfortunately increasingly come to dominate the argument on the Right. I highly recommend you check it out.
It’s called PSEUDO-CONSERVATISM and it is the school of thought embraced by Fox News and AM Talk Radio. It is at heart and soul of the Tea Party, and Glenn Beck may be this generation’s premier spokesman for the movement. The thing is…? The article was written in 1954! I don’t know if I should be relieved or terrified by that fact! I mean… OK, they’ve been a recognizable force for almost 60 years, and they still haven’t taken over – just a few years after that article was written we elected Kennedy and then Johnson. And while I might be scared that the movement is STILL AROUND after 60 years, and seems to be gaining momentum, we DID just elect Barrack Obama. So maybe they are just doomed to a permanent “almost” status. (OTOH, back then it was recognized for the enbrace of ignorance that it is, while today it's treated with undue respect as if it was something profound!)
Anyway, I've come to realize that when I’m railing against “Conservatives,” THESE are the people I’m usually talking about. And I’m lumping the media personalities (Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter, Savage) in with them, because that’s really the political school of thought that they speak for, as well as SOME politicians (Palin, Bachman, anyone connected to the Tea Party) who would rather fan the flames and benefit from the outrage, rather than actually educate people and start addressing some of the problems facing this country. It may seem trivial, to argue against this kind of lunacy, but I do not seek to prove it wrong so much as to point out how much of it is really out there. To make people aware of how much it has permeated our lives, become the “new normal.” This is exactly what I was talking about a few posts back when I said that this is not about Liberals and Conservatives so much, at least in any meaningful sense, but against Authoritarians and those who would think for themselves, regardless of the positions they may end up holding.
Ture Conservatives remain a frustrating lot to be sure, but there are least some principles that guide them, misguided or misplaced though they may be. But THESE PEOPLE? It's just as then Senator Obama said in his '08 campaign, "It's like they take pride in being ignorant!"
Well they DO. And I knew that at the time. What I didn't know was just how long this foolishness has been going on, and that the only recent development was the media's MAINSTREAMING of it.
Anyway, it’s a good read, and important stuff. So please check it out.
Who IS this guy?!
Political Talk Show Host and Internet Radio Personality. My show, In My Humble Opinion, aired on RainbowRadio from 2015-2017, and has returned for 2021! Feel free to contact me at niceguy9418@usa.com. You can also friend me on Facebook.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
"when I’m railing against 'Conservatives,' THESE are the people I’m usually talking about"
ReplyDeleteI have trouble separating "real" conservatives from these.
One type of "real" conservative is someone who postures as reasonable, yet believes that tax cuts for the rich create jobs, that spending cuts alone can balance the budget, and that the next round of republicans will get it "right". These are all provably false positions that cause great harm, so in my mind they are the same as the other conservatives.
The other type of "real" conservative is someone who mouths common-sense platitudes about responsibility and limits without realizing that most every liberal would agree with all of them.
The problem is that this (I guess not-so) new brand of conservative is now the mainstream. The far right has become the regular right.
ReplyDeleteI keep hearing from conservatives I know (and the ones I don't know) that Obama and his "minions" (yeah, they really say that) are extremists, socialists, radicals. If that is so, why isn't PETA a bigger part of the Democratic party? Why is there still a Green Party? Why do normal leftists like Thom Hartmann regularly criticize Obama? Why do far leftists like Mike Malloy crucify Obama? The far left, the socialists, the radicals...they're not on board with Obama, so how can he be one of them?
@Steeve,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. Which is why I always there are two kinds of Conservatives: Evil and Stupid. One's lying and the other's buying. The "real" conservative that you refer to is either RICH and juts wants more money. So he LIES about the tax cuts, etc... Or he's NOT rich, just STUPID, because he's guying it. The former uses the FEARS of the latter to get the votes they need to get more money for themselves. The latter (the Stupid) are the Pseudo-Conservatives. Oh sure, some of the former are too, but if you're rich, there's at least a certain rationale to thinking the way they do. It's not GOOD. It's still just based on GREED. But it's RATIONAL. We can understand why it happens. But the Pseudo-Con? They're just plain STUPID - in the IRRATIONAL sense that Cipolla describes in the "Basic Laws of Human Stupidity" that I link to in my HoF: They do harm to others while at the same time harming themselves.
@Sammy,
You're absolutely right. But these are people who never hear ANYTHIGN outside of Fox news and Am Talk Radio. They are constantly fed propaganda that supports their world view, and they simply can't accept any evidence to the contrary. Convincing them they're wrong means convincing them that they've been brainwashed. That they're stupid. That they're weak. That they've been taken for fools. That their gods are frauds. That's too much for them to admit, and the message they're getting too pervasive in its own right to drown out. And that's what scares me - they've existed fro 60 years (apparently) but they've never be pandered too, energized, and mobilized as a political force like this. Well...not since Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia or the Cultural Revolution in China anyway. Ad that's what scares me a little. They just have NO CLUE. And the powers that use hem have no shame or guilt about what they are doing. They made anything that disagrees with them "liberal" and made anything "liberal," WRONG. And it's terrifying to see just how many there are, and how influential they're becoming.
OTOH... They're also largely unruly and disorganized. And I still hold out hope that the Tea Baggers will do more harm to the Republican Party than achieve any real power. How this all plays out is left to be seen. The Right just might riding a Tiger: They're making good progress, but as soon as they fall off they'll get mauled and eaten by it.
One thing is for sure: Now having a better understanding of what it is that we're REALLY up against my hatred for people like Murdoch and Ailes is reaching a near visceral level. Between them and the psychopaths they enable, I'm beginning to think that blood will be spilled at some point.
Thank you both for your comments.
The problem is that this (I guess not-so) new brand of conservative is now the mainstream. The far right has become the regular right.
ReplyDeleteVery good, grasshopper. The conservative elite that so dominates the news media is not "conservative," properly speaking; it is reactionary. Far too often outright fascist, in fact. There's no place for conservatives anymore. Hardcore conservatives like Lindsey Graham and John McCain, who have spent decades-long careers in opposition to everything decent, liberal, and American, are now branded RINOs by the "conservative" elite (the reactionaries), and targeted for termination. The elite haven't become "the regular right" yet, in as far as the rank-and-file certainly don't, as a rule, hold to extreme right views, but the elite do lead it, and, in a sense, that's the same thing. They're the ones who create and shape the images held by the rank-and-file of liberals, of Democratic politicians, etc. They're the ones who rule when the public votes in the "conservatives."
I keep hearing from conservatives I know (and the ones I don't know) that Obama and his "minions" (yeah, they really say that) are extremists, socialists, radicals. If that is so, why isn't PETA a bigger part of the Democratic party? Why is there still a Green Party? Why do normal leftists like Thom Hartmann regularly criticize Obama? Why do far leftists like Mike Malloy crucify Obama? The far left, the socialists, the radicals...they're not on board with Obama, so how can he be one of them?
Some of these rhetoricals are a lot better than others (PETA is a microscopic fraction of the public with no real influence on anyone), but they point they collectively make is unassailable. The White House press secretary just threw a public tantrum about what he disparagingly called "the professional left." That "professional left" is the regular rank-and-file left, who don't complain because, as Gibbs would have it, they fail to get 100% of what they want--they complain because they've been screwed over by this administration at every turn. They've gotten virtually nothing they wanted. And when you move further, to the far left (what little there is of it), you're getting the kind of anger one usually associates with the right.
The left in the U.S., to be sure, is a glutton for punishment. It takes a beating over and over again and replies with "thank you sir, may I have another?" But everyone has their breaking point, and those at the White House are smoking crack if they think Gibbs adding insult to injury is going to do anything but hurt them.
I read blogs from both sides :conservatives real or fakes) and liberals (whatever that means).
ReplyDeleteI'm under the impression that both sides are scared: The conservatives are afraid the Fall of the Empire is very close; The Liberals are afraid they might be accused of causing that Fall as they've gone too far with their liberalism in the last elections.
I think both sides are correct in their fears.
".. would rather fan the flames and benefit from the outrage rather then educate people and start adressing some of the problems facing this country".
Well, education can do very little if at all. As for addressing problems - it's too late for that.
If the Conservatives (the fakes and the real ones) " want their country back" , they'll have to stop talking nonsense about November and behave stupidly as Tea Bag parties. They'll have to seriously plan a revolution. That's the law of history.
Great find, Eddie;
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing and frightening to see how accurately Dr. Hofstader is describing Glenn Beck's fear mongering:
"The pseudo-conservative always imagines himself to be dominated and imposed upon because he feels that he is not dominant and knows of no other way of interpreting his position."
I, also, found many statements just as applicable to today. I was also struck by the reasonableness of the language. John Dean says many of the same things in Conservatives Without Consciences, but with much more edge. So it's clear that this "pseudo conservatism" is a virus that isn't going to go away. My fear is that its newfound control of media and "the narrative" has given it the ability to metastasize beyond the ability of the body politic to survive it.
@Classic
ReplyDeleteGreat points, as always. I wasn't aware that Gibs had made those comments. How out of touch can you be, when it's YOUR JOB to BE IN TOUCH?! Unbelievable. I feel like writing President Obama a letter over it. (Hey, I got an actual reply from Presdient Reagan, back in 1982, so who knows? LOL)
@Duta,
By "educate" I don't just mean through schools. I mean that the media should go back to valuing OBJECTIVITY and ACCURACY and start calling out BULLSHIT for what it is, rather than treating it with equal respect in the name of [false] "balance." Their bias goes a long way towards enabling this nonsense and, as a result, Americans these days are so misinformed it's insane.
@Conchbhar,
Thanks. I'll have to check out Dean's book. I don't know if I should be worried that [the virus] has survived this long, or releived that after sixty years it's still no more than a disorganized tea party.
Thank you all for your comments.