by robotilt » Fri Oct 13, 2006 2:09 pm
Seems very orchestrated and deliberate to me. I doubt the "fundies have found their long-forgotten consciences." They are valuable as a base because they are by nature followers with strong herding instincts.<br><br>A couple of days ago on Cannonfire there was this discussion of sociologist Bob Altemeyer's concept of the 'Right Wing Authoritarian Personality (RWA):<br> <br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>What Altemeyer has discovered empirically is that high scoring RWA individuals tend to favor conservative politics to a very strong degree. The kinds of statements endorsed on his measure by these folks prefer old-fashioned values, God’s laws, tradition, strong leaders, and the duty to follow them, while disagreeing with statements asserting the health of homosexuals, the goodness of atheists, and the admissibility of nudist camps and premarital sex. <br><br>The RWA is a constellation of traits falling into three distinct but converging categories, submission, aggression, and conventionalism. Scoring high on this scale indicates adherence to tight social and ideological circles, with inclination to accept without question what authorities have said. This of course leads inevitably to inconsistencies, double standards, hypocrisies, and dogmatism. <br><br>These individuals are hostile toward minorities while being unaware of their own bigotry because they can justify the contradictions according to whatever authority they subscribe to. In fact, they are able to ignore their own sins because they do not see themselves honestly and tend to prescribe to religious beliefs that have moral loopholes, such as divine forgiveness and confession, that let them off the hook. <br><br>RWAs also feel safer and not more vulnerable in the presence of someone in authority (hence their acceptance for surveillance), though they discern between “right” and “wrong” authority figures who do or do not adhere to their own dogma (hence their hatred of “activist” judges). Punishment is their preferred choice of behavioral control, and they have a decreased tolerance for leniency, targeting the unconventional and unfamiliar. They are intolerant of criticism and will aggressively support their chosen authority, yet this aggression is fueled by fear and self-righteousness, a combination research has shown to be particularly dangerous (think lynchings). <br><br>Another scale was developed (not by Altemeyer, but inspired by his work) to capture the authoritarians who run things, who lead; the Social Dominance Orientation (SDOs). The key dimension focused on here is equality, and the SDO feels this is a “sucker word in which only fools believe.” The statements they endorse are variations on the Animal Farm theme: Some pigs are more equal than others. Their world is competitive, dangerous, and threatening, where the powerful survive anyway they can, to hell with everyone else, and the ends always justify the means. They evidently suffer virtually no moral restraint, and feel allowed to do whatever they can get away with. They dismiss the Golden Rule and champion prejudice. They are ruthless and hedonistic, and do not care about harming others. Consequently, they gravitate to status jobs where inequality is the norm, such as corporate hierarchies and law enforcement, and research finds they are over-represented in positions of political power. Their personalities are “intimidating, unsympathetic, untrusting and untrustworthy, vengeful, manipulative, and amoral….power hungry, domineering, mean, [and] Machiavellian.” <br><br>The RWA and SDO personalities would seem to be somewhat orthogonal, one being more inclined to follow and the other to lead, but there are those who score high on both scales; Altemeyer calls these individuals “particularly scary.” These “Double Highs” are not submissive, instead seeking those who will be submissive to them. They are exceedingly prejudiced, exhibiting stark hostility against rights for ethnic groups, homosexuals, and women. This group, unlike the SDOs but more akin to the RWAs are extremely religious, tending to be Christian fundamentalists, who are also profoundly parochial, wishing to mingle only with their own kind.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>But the question remains, why are they being disengaged??</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=robotilt>robotilt</A> at: 10/13/06 12:12 pm<br></i>