I've been saying it for years now: "An...autistic sociopathic indifference to the thoughts and feelings of others"
John Cole is the Last Honest Conservative.
My daughter is autistic. I have learned a lot about brain function and development as a result. And I am no longer befuddled by teabaggers and birthers and deathers and people who complain, after you give them a lapful of facts deriding the modern George W. Bush conservative movement: "I just don't like your tone."
These people are Dining Room Tables. There's no talking to them. They don't listen; they don't comprehend anything new; they don't care. They are complete, in their own little world.
I struggle to reach my daughter in her world. We have successes. By some measures, medical and scientific, she would be considered no longer autistic.
I wish I could say the same about reaching the FOX News conservatives I know personally.
My daughter is autistic. I have learned a lot about brain function and development as a result. And I am no longer befuddled by teabaggers and birthers and deathers and people who complain, after you give them a lapful of facts deriding the modern George W. Bush conservative movement: "I just don't like your tone."
These people are Dining Room Tables. There's no talking to them. They don't listen; they don't comprehend anything new; they don't care. They are complete, in their own little world.
I struggle to reach my daughter in her world. We have successes. By some measures, medical and scientific, she would be considered no longer autistic.
I wish I could say the same about reaching the FOX News conservatives I know personally.
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Couldn't agree more, Daddy-O. But this is willing stupidity we're seeing on the Right. Big difference from those who can't help it.
September 16, 2009 12:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
I humbly beg to differ, Ripper.
What, exactly, is the definition of 'willing stupidity'?
I think they really have no choice. They can't see any logic or reasoning outside a pre-determined outcome, whether from insecurity, fear of authority, misplaced anger, etc.
I think folks who follow Glen Beck just can't help it, for whatever reason. That doesn't excuse what they DO about it, which has real world consequences--like the failed-from-the-start invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, tax cuts for the super-rich, justifying illegal torture, etc.
September 16, 2009 2:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Willing stupidity means there are none so blind as they who will not see. Your thesis implies the impossibility of words like "education," "persuasion," and "redemption." Clearly all those have a body of historical meaning behind them, negating your theory.
September 16, 2009 3:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Seems like more broad-brush analysis to me.
A lack of empathy by extreme political ideologies is hardly a new story, and is one being played out on both sides of the aisle various degrees as this blog demonstrates, but that doesn't make 43% of the country into sociopaths.
Willing stupidity is no more attractive coming from people I voted with in November than from those who would never vote like me in a million years.
September 16, 2009 8:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
One man's broad brush is another man's attempt to explain the inexplicable.
I'm not saying my theories are ironclad. And no one's motives for being a devotee of Glenn Beck are identical to someone else's. But brain function is definitely in question here, and I have yet to see any data to contradict my chief thesis.
It's how their brains are wired. They're different, physically, chemically, synapsically speaking. The difference is amazingly similar to autism, when compared to neurotypical brains. You know, sane people.
Yes, it is quite within reason to suggest that 23% (not 43%; where'd you get that number? McCain voters?) of Americans are beyond critical thinking, beyond simple logic, beyond day-to-day reality, waiting for Jesus to Rapture them all Home.
September 16, 2009 2:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
43% of the country identifies as republican or leans republican while remaining an independent. I do not think that nearly half America is wired differently from me. If I did, I would moving to another country.
September 16, 2009 2:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Daddy-O, I agree with you. The 23%+/- is a reasonable approximation, and moving to another country wouldn't help because the percentage is across the entire spectrum of humanity and rises and falls depending on the nature/nurture ratio and who's doing the nurturing. Without your nurturing your daughter would be hopelessly lost to autism. We start out with certain synapses firing in certain sequences; some of the resulting behaviors are encouraged, others are discouraged; and we develop into who are. Over half of America is wired differently from the readers here; they're just not all registered voters so people don't take them into consideration when they want to generalize about behavior and attitudes; you have your Glenn Beck enthusists, your stoners, your murderers, your "The Secret" adherents. If you want to celebrate the diversity of our species, you have to accept that we're not all all that nice and never will be.
September 16, 2009 10:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
I too agree with Daddy-O. Here's why:
http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/20090915_teabaggers_march_on_washington_have_no_idea_why/
September 17, 2009 12:49 AM | Reply | Permalink