Posted by my friend Suzie Forrest: This goes a long way in explaining why many of you on the Right wont listen to anyone who offers facts counter to your beliefs. From Conservative Psychology: To the amazement of many people, entrenched conservatives often seem more than willing to deny any facts and figures that challenge their conservative beliefs. This is especially true, not surprisingly, when their current beliefs serve to bring soothing relief against uncertainty, change, and/or a lack of closure. It is much easier, psychologically, to deny the possibility of uncertainty and change than it is to accept their possibility. The reader might accurately feel that the above statement is actually true of everyone. This is true, and in fact we discuss this on our page that describes “The Conservative Pull“. However, some conservatives, despite being thoughtful and insightful in many areas, allow themselves to be completely closed to debate and discussion about the possibility that any new information could be true. They seem irrationally fixed in their beliefs, and instead of being open to hearing those who disagree, they instead search out only those who agree with them. We aim to explain this with our theory of there being a conservative denial cycle. The powerful force which we choose to call “the conservative cycle of denial” or “conservative belief cycle” operates something like this: 1. First corporations and politicians have a desired view on an issue, whether it is healthcare reform, global warming, business regulations, or something else. What these issues have in common is that at their core they have the potential to introduce some sort of uncertainty or lack of closure. When those who do not favor healthcare reform repeatedly talk about spiraling costs and government making medical decisions, or those who do not want to see global warming addressed talk about government overreach that could destabilize the economy, what they are really doing is stirring up uncertainty through powerful but misleading and exaggerated black and white arguments. 2. Knowing that repetition is key, that the more something psychologically soothing is repeated the more likely it will be believed, these corporations, politicians, or other political interest groups organize a set of myths that are presented as “facts”. These myths are often cherry-picked pieces of information, questionable scientific claims, or otherwise misleading statements that become oft repeated and highly well-known. Many entrenched conservatives watch the same TV news programs and listen to the same radio personalities – those who agree with them – and thus they continually hear these facts. 3. These myths satisfy the psychological needs of these entrenched conservatives, as we discuss here, such as the needs to reduce uncertainty, pursue closure, and consider only black and white arguments. This psychology leaves these entrenched conservatives truly believing each myth and ready to vehemently disagree with anyone who does not. Beacuse this process is less than conscious, it is not something that most entrenched conservatives are aware of or will admit. 4. A cycle is formed and these myths take on a life of their own within conservative communities. This ends up reducing the amount of money and effort the original political groups and corporations have to expend on these issues. After all, these entrenched conservatives become a wealth of people willing to provide ”free” PR behind the issue positions.
Posted on: Wed, 30 Oct 2013 05:30:51 +0000
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