Things that made you smile today (Political Version)

[cwolff]

That could be true. I honestly believe that at least in high positions that they view private possession of weapons as a hurdle to complete subjugation/control. I believe that the higher ups seem to think that most people simply aren't smart/wise/good/responsible/whatever enough to own weapons.

It's no hurdle. Wether people own guns or not is irrelevant. For now its helpful to the right so they use it.

The GOP is the minority party. They can win by suppressing the vote and campaigning on fear. Using guns as a wedge issue works for them so they'll keep pretending to care. Its a tribal identifier. You can't run on fear if you're also taking guns, right?

When they get you to give up your rights they do it by making you ask them to and no one in a position of power makes any decisions based on the possibility of an armed uprising.

Debbie Lesko won the Arizona special election.

She won. Is that good or bad for the dems and republicans

[Gelston]

She won. Is that good or bad for the dems and republicans

It is good for America.

[drauz]

It's no hurdle. Wether people own guns or not is irrelevant. For now its helpful to the right so they use it.

The GOP is the minority party. They can win by suppressing the vote and campaigning on fear. Using guns as a wedge issue works for them so they'll keep pretending to care. Its a tribal identifier. You can't run on fear if you're also taking guns, right?

When they get you to give up your rights they do it by making you ask them to and no one in a position of power makes any decisions based on the possibility of an armed uprising.

Both sides use fear, you can't try to take the moral high ground there.

[cwolff]

Not really. Fear is way more critical to the viability of the GOP than it is for dems. The right can't survive in its current state without it. The left can and will.

[drauz]

Not really. Fear is way more critical to the viability of the GOP than it is for dems. The right can't survive in its current state without it. The left can and will.

Negative. Dems couldn't survive without it.

[time4fun]

Both sides use fear, you can't try to take the moral high ground there.

They use it in incredibly different ways because their voters respond to fear in incredibly different ways.

Conservatives have much stronger reactions to personal fear. So the narratives are: immigrants are coming to murder and rape you, immigrants are coming to take your jobs, gay people are coming to recruit your children, trans people are coming to molest your children in bathrooms, "they" are coming to take your guns, "they" after going to take away your right to defend yourself, universal health care secretly means death panels and the government letting you die because it's cheaper!

Look at the Fox News website, and you see them very intentionally painting the world as a threatening place. That's because the more fear their readers feel, the more they embrace conservative positions.

Those narratives don't work on liberals. The liberal positions AREN'T: if we don't get guns off the streets, your family could be next, if we don't welcome immigrants with welcome arms, the may try to deport your family next!

Instead, liberals respond more to fear FOR others, rather than OF others.

If we don't welcome immigrants with open arms, we'll break up families. If we don't welcome them, they are more vulnerable. If we don't protect gay people, they will lose their jobs and become targets of violence. If we don't get Universal health insurance, people will die. Etc. Or it's more existential anxiety: what about our 1st amendment rights? What about Democratic norms?

This is why liberals think conservatives are irrational and hysterical, and it's why conservatives think liberals are impractical and idealistic.

[Gelston]

Instead, liberals respond more to fear FOR others, rather than OF others.

Yeah, that is 100% bullshit.

[Wrathbringer]

Yeah, that is 100% bullshit.

This is correct.

[cwolff]

They use it in incredibly different ways because their voters respond to fear in incredibly different ways.

Conservatives have much stronger reactions to personal fear. So the narratives are: immigrants are coming to murder and rape you, immigrants are coming to take your jobs, gay people are coming to recruit your children, trans people are coming to molest your children in bathrooms, "they" are coming to take your guns, "they" after going to take away your right to defend yourself, universal health care secretly means death panels and the government letting you die because it's cheaper!

Look at the Fox News website, and you see them very intentionally painting the world as a threatening place. That's because the more fear their readers feel, the more they embrace conservative positions.

Those narratives don't work on liberals. The liberal positions AREN'T: if we don't get guns off the streets, your family could be next, if we don't welcome immigrants with welcome arms, the may try to deport your family next!

Instead, liberals respond more to fear FOR others, rather than OF others.

If we don't welcome immigrants with open arms, we'll break up families. If we don't welcome them, they are more vulnerable. If we don't protect gay people, they will lose their jobs and become targets of violence. If we don't get Universal health insurance, people will die. Etc. Or it's more existential anxiety: what about our 1st amendment rights? What about Democratic norms?

This is why liberals think conservatives are irrational and hysterical, and it's why conservatives think liberals are impractical and idealistic.

Good explanation. Probably falling on deaf ears but a nice comparison anyway.

[time4fun]

Yeah, that is 100% bullshit.

Except it's been supported by decades of studies from behavioral psychologists. Later I'll go get some citations for you.

Long story short, increasing personal anxiety over even completely nonpolitical things (one study used anxiety over flu shots) makes people more socially conservative temporarily. Likewise, the degree to which a child responds to fear has been shown to correlate to conservative social ideologies later in life, in a statistically significant way. Cultural anthropologists have also done some fascinating work demonstrating the different fear-based narratives used on both sides of the American political spectrum.

Side note- these correlations only exist for socially conservative values. They don't hold true (at least that I've seen) for economic positions.