Fascism and the Republican Party

Fogdog

Well-Known Member
August 28, Tucker Carlson claims that "by any reality based measure" Russia is winning the war, yet Biden is calling for an unconditional surrender by Vlad. He says that Biden's policy is nuts and then spins -- Biden is doing this in order destroy the West and make way for total Chinese domination.. He then asks a loaded question to seal his point. "What would be the other explanation?"


On August 29, Ukraine gave Tucker his alternative answer

“Today, we started offensive actions in different directions,” a spokesperson for Ukraine's southern military command said Monday after weeks of strikes behind Russian lines.



The war isn't over and Putin seems to be far away from surrendering but very clearly he is NOT winning the war by any measures, reality based or not.

So, egg on Tucker's face again. But I find it interesting that the fascist Right is painting Biden as somehow being an enemy of the US and somehow colluding to sell out the West to China. This lie falls so far outside of reality that I can't help but wonder why anybody still listens to their bs.

Yet MAGA Republicans eat up bullshit like Tucker's false claims. Then get all angry and say Biden is divisive. " Biden is trying to destroy the West in order for China to establish world domination". MAGA GOP fascists continue spiral downward and away from reality.
 
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cannabineer

Ursus marijanus
August 28, Tucker Carlson claims that "by any reality based measure" Russia is winning the war, yet Biden is calling for an unconditional surrender by Vlad. He says that Biden's policy is nuts and then spins -- Biden is doing this in order destroy the West and make way for total Chinese domination.. He then asks a loaded question to seal his point. "What would be the other explanation?"


On August 29, Ukraine gave Tucker his alternative answer


The war isn't over and Putin seems to be far away from surrendering but very clearly he is NOT winning the war by any measures, reality based or not.

So, egg on Tucker's face again. But I find it interesting that the fascist Right is painting Biden as somehow being an enemy of the US and somehow colluding to sell out the West to China. This lie falls so far outside of reality that I can't help but wonder why anybody still listens to their bs.

Yet MAGA Republicans eat up bullshit like Tucker's false claims. Then get all angry and say Biden is divisive. Biden is trying to destroy the West in order for China to establish world domination.

Some people say.
Confirmation bias is emotionally rewarding to the same brain circuitry serviced by gambling and heroin.

It is tough because the precondition for changing reward-dependency behavior is a distinct and lasting desire to change it.

The propaganda are designed to sabotage that path out of delusion. Imo.
 

Fogdog

Well-Known Member
Confirmation bias is emotionally rewarding to the same brain circuitry serviced by gambling and heroin.

It is tough because the precondition for changing reward-dependency behavior is a distinct and lasting desire to change it.

The propaganda are designed to sabotage that path out of delusion. Imo.
This caught my eye during a google search for more information on the MAGA GOP. "Escape from Freedom". Good title.

Recall Trump's reason why he was so good at medical science. "My uncle is a doctor". As if his wowing medical scientists when he visited a medical research facility during the early days of the lockdown was due to an inherited trait. He bragged about his "good genes" (reference) As if his economic and social status was not due to being born rich but his superior genes.

It turns out that there is evidence that fascists or more generally, right wing authoritarian leaders and followers are very likely to believe in BS like race theory.

“Escape from Freedom”: Authoritarianism-related traits, political ideology, personality, and belief in free will/determinism

Extracted from the introduction:

Fromm (1941), a pioneering scholar of the psychology of totalitarianism, posited that individuals seek to “escape from freedom” via authoritarianism in times of uncertainty and threat. Similarly, Adorno and colleagues’ The Authoritarian Personality (1950) highlighted belief in fate, a variant of determinism, as one of 9 personality facets underlying susceptibility to fascist ideology. History offers at least some indirect support for these contentions, albeit at the level of broader societies rather than personality dispositions—Nazi Germany and the Stalinist Soviet Union, two prototypically totalitarian regimes, leveraged the philosophical concepts of genetic determinism and dialectical/historical materialism, respectively, to champion utopian methods of social engineering that killed millions (Popper, 1957/2013).

Recent years have born witness to several scientific investigations of the relations between the deterministic belief that genetic and/or social factors shape a person’s essential character (i.e., psychological essentialism), on the one hand, and constructs reflecting reverence for hegemony (e.g., right-wing authoritarianism and social-dominance orientation)


The authors link tendencies of people who are strongly Right Wing Authoritarian, to also being highly hierarchical, hold strong views on the need for dominance over lower social classes or race. This isn't just an element of fascism but can include other right wing belief systems, such as Radical Islam, Evangelical Christians, Marxist Communism, White Nationalism, NAZIs, and others. But MAGA GOP fascists definitely hold these views. They go on to cite recent work that indicate: authoritarianism is functionally related to preferences for certainty, structure, and safety in one’s environment

However they got there, whether it was through nature, nurture or personal experiences Right wingers, MAGA GOP, authoritarian leaders and their followers crave certainty and believe in determinism over free will. Hence Trump's claim of being born with a mastery over medical science. Hence, right wing nuts who say "Republicans are same as Democrats" because to say otherwise is to believe in free will and that they chose to be assholes.
 
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cannabineer

Ursus marijanus
This caught my eye during a google search for more information on the MAGA GOP. "Escape from Freedom". Good title.

Recall Trump's reason why he was so good at medical science. "My uncle is a doctor". As if his wowing medical scientists when he visited a medical research facility during the early days of the lockdown. He bragged about his "good genes" (reference) As if he his status was not due to being born rich but his superior genes.

It turns out that there is evidence that fascists or more generally, right wing authoritarian leaders and followers are very likely to believe

“Escape from Freedom”: Authoritarianism-related traits, political ideology, personality, and belief in free will/determinism

Extracted from the introduction:

Fromm (1941), a pioneering scholar of the psychology of totalitarianism, posited that individuals seek to “escape from freedom” via authoritarianism in times of uncertainty and threat. Similarly, Adorno and colleagues’ The Authoritarian Personality (1950) highlighted belief in fate, a variant of determinism, as one of 9 personality facets underlying susceptibility to fascist ideology. History offers at least some indirect support for these contentions, albeit at the level of broader societies rather than personality dispositions—Nazi Germany and the Stalinist Soviet Union, two prototypically totalitarian regimes, leveraged the philosophical concepts of genetic determinism and dialectical/historical materialism, respectively, to champion utopian methods of social engineering that killed millions (Popper, 1957/2013).

Recent years have born witness to several scientific investigations of the relations between the deterministic belief that genetic and/or social factors shape a person’s essential character (i.e., psychological essentialism), on the one hand, and constructs reflecting reverence for hegemony (e.g., right-wing authoritarianism and social-dominance orientation)


The authors link tendencies of people who are strongly Right Wing Authoritarian, are highly hierarchical, hold strong views on the need for dominance over lower social classes or race. This isn't just an element of fascism but can include other right wing belief systems, such as Radical Islam, Evangelical Christians, Marxist Communism, White Nationalism, NAZIs, and others. But MAGA GOP fascists definitely hold these views. They go on to cite recent work that indicate: authoritarianism is functionally related to preferences for certainty, structure, and safety in one’s environment

However they got there, whether it was through nature, nurture or personal experiences Right wingers, MAGA GOP, authoritarian leaders and their followers crave certainty and believe in determinism over free will. Hence Trump's claim of being born with a mastery over medical science. Hence, right wing nuts who say "Republicans are same as Democrats" because to say otherwise is to believe in free will and that they chose to be assholes.
Bing. A big driver for this constellation of desires is a repudiation of the basic fact that the world is a complex and morally ambiguous place drawn in shades of gray.
“I reject your reality and replace it with my own.”

and that’s when the fight started …
 

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member
This caught my eye during a google search for more information on the MAGA GOP. "Escape from Freedom". Good title.

Recall Trump's reason why he was so good at medical science. "My uncle is a doctor". As if his wowing medical scientists when he visited a medical research facility during the early days of the lockdown was due to an inherited trait. He bragged about his "good genes" (reference) As if his economic and social status was not due to being born rich but his superior genes.

It turns out that there is evidence that fascists or more generally, right wing authoritarian leaders and followers are very likely to believe in BS like race theory.

“Escape from Freedom”: Authoritarianism-related traits, political ideology, personality, and belief in free will/determinism

Extracted from the introduction:

Fromm (1941), a pioneering scholar of the psychology of totalitarianism, posited that individuals seek to “escape from freedom” via authoritarianism in times of uncertainty and threat. Similarly, Adorno and colleagues’ The Authoritarian Personality (1950) highlighted belief in fate, a variant of determinism, as one of 9 personality facets underlying susceptibility to fascist ideology. History offers at least some indirect support for these contentions, albeit at the level of broader societies rather than personality dispositions—Nazi Germany and the Stalinist Soviet Union, two prototypically totalitarian regimes, leveraged the philosophical concepts of genetic determinism and dialectical/historical materialism, respectively, to champion utopian methods of social engineering that killed millions (Popper, 1957/2013).

Recent years have born witness to several scientific investigations of the relations between the deterministic belief that genetic and/or social factors shape a person’s essential character (i.e., psychological essentialism), on the one hand, and constructs reflecting reverence for hegemony (e.g., right-wing authoritarianism and social-dominance orientation)


The authors link tendencies of people who are strongly Right Wing Authoritarian, to also being highly hierarchical, hold strong views on the need for dominance over lower social classes or race. This isn't just an element of fascism but can include other right wing belief systems, such as Radical Islam, Evangelical Christians, Marxist Communism, White Nationalism, NAZIs, and others. But MAGA GOP fascists definitely hold these views. They go on to cite recent work that indicate: authoritarianism is functionally related to preferences for certainty, structure, and safety in one’s environment

However they got there, whether it was through nature, nurture or personal experiences Right wingers, MAGA GOP, authoritarian leaders and their followers crave certainty and believe in determinism over free will. Hence Trump's claim of being born with a mastery over medical science. Hence, right wing nuts who say "Republicans are same as Democrats" because to say otherwise is to believe in free will and that they chose to be assholes.
Such people exist in every society, but insecurity and fear drive those numbers up and Republicans are all about creating insecurity by removing social safety nets and driving up fear with guns and rhetoric, creating social divisions and fostering tribalism which needs an "other" to work. Hoards of brown folks coming across the border and the prospect of them being replaced by people they suspect are better than they are. Their sense of entitlement is being eroded, there was always someone else to look down on and kick down on. The meritocracy of education is a threat to them, more than just for the ideas it spreads and minds it opens up, but for who it allows to advance in society.
 

Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
MAGA GOP fascists continue spiral downward and away from reality.
Really, who gives a motherfuck what they do?Let them accelerate into a death spiral that ends with them splattered on the pavement...It'll just be one last mess of theirs that the rest of the nation has to clean up.
All we have to do is keep an eye on them and keep them from causing as much collateral damage as possible in their death throes.
 

Fogdog

Well-Known Member
[
Really, who gives a motherfuck what they do?Let them accelerate into a death spiral that ends with them splattered on the pavement...It'll just be one last mess of theirs that the rest of the nation has to clean up.
All we have to do is keep an eye on them and keep them from causing as much collateral damage as possible in their death throes.
The reason their continued drift away from reality concerns me is they aren't just doing it on their own. They are being guided that way. Their propensity for violence is increasing too. Our democracy is being put at risk by a large extremist faction that is controlled and manipulated by leaders who care only for power.

I'm trying to understand them.
 

Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
[

The reason their continued drift away from reality concerns me is they aren't just doing it on their own. They are being guided that way. Their propensity for violence is increasing too. Our democracy is being put at risk by a large extremist faction that is controlled and manipulated by leaders who care only for power.

I'm trying to understand them.
Why? Exterminate them. Problem solved.
You can take a high moral stance, you can say that it is a sickness and they deserve compassion...They are fucking sick, and incurable. Time to cull the sickness from the herd, so the healthy can stay healthy and not be damaged by the collateral damage fascist-itis causes.
 

cannabineer

Ursus marijanus
Why? Exterminate them. Problem solved.
You can take a high moral stance, you can say that it is a sickness and they deserve compassion...They are fucking sick, and incurable. Time to cull the sickness from the herd, so the healthy can stay healthy and not be damaged by the collateral damage fascist-itis causes.
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cannabineer

Ursus marijanus
[

The reason their continued drift away from reality concerns me is they aren't just doing it on their own. They are being guided that way. Their propensity for violence is increasing too. Our democracy is being put at risk by a large extremist faction that is controlled and manipulated by leaders who care only for power.

I'm trying to understand them.
It strikes me as the consequence of the deregulation of news media. When I was a kid, crackpottery did not make it into TV. It was also hard to find it at the local library. Now, entire alt-news networks are displaying a coordination that is nowhere near random.

I hate to say it, but internet and social media have become a fertile breeding and dissemination ground for ideas whose obvious crapness used to take my breath away. Apollo deniers and flat-earthers were not the aberration I imagined, but the nose under the tent flap of the sort of delusion long-game totalitarians are nourishing with the same sort of attention we give our indoor grows.

Unless we succeed in regulating these new immediate-release delusion mills better, I don’t know what to say, let alone do. John Birchers used to be fringe. No longer.

Perhaps it is my own confirmation bias in play, but I see the ongoing promotion of libertarian ideas as central to the bind we are in.

Needles (!) to say, I don’t think Roger’s solution works in a world with any sort of moral restraint. The putatively sensible among us know that atrocity causes more harm than it fixes.

So, I share your worry.
 

Fogdog

Well-Known Member
Why? Exterminate them. Problem solved.
You can take a high moral stance, you can say that it is a sickness and they deserve compassion...They are fucking sick, and incurable. Time to cull the sickness from the herd, so the healthy can stay healthy and not be damaged by the collateral damage fascist-itis causes.
Murder about half the people in this society?

You don't mean that, do you Roger?
 

Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
I don’t think Roger’s solution works in a world with any sort of moral restraint.
go ahead and morally restrain yourself, while your enemy enjoys the freedom to do as they will...
i'm sure "stood the moral high ground" will look great on the tombstone of democracy...lets wait a year or two and find out
 

cannabineer

Ursus marijanus
go ahead and morally restrain yourself, while your enemy enjoys the freedom to do as they will...
i'm sure "stood the moral high ground" will look great on the tombstone of democracy...lets wait a year or two and find out
If removing monsters requires becoming one, we have already lost.
 
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