Thursday, November 7, 2013

On Beyond Amygdala

Further indication that the reactionary mind is physiologically & psychologically predisposed to foolishness, idiocy, group-think, hypocrisy & authoritarianism/fascism.
One of the things that we understand about authoritarians is that they have a stronger sense of the importance of loyalty to one’s own in-group. How does that factor into this equation, do you think?
Mooney: Again, this is an area where liberals and libertarians differ from conservatives markedly. Liberals and libertarians aren’t particularly tribal in the sense of having loyalty to their group, and they aren’t particularly authoritarian in the sense of thinking you have to follow a strong leader. And basically, authoritarianism is also associated with sort of black and white, ‘you’re with me or you’re against me’ thinking. But it’s also about deference to authority, whether that’s the police officer or your father or God. You must obey authority and if you don’t, that’s a moral wrong.
They would also seem to be predisposed to child abuse.
Holland: Jonathan Weiler at the University of North Carolina did a study which found that you can predict a person’s ideological leanings by how they answered just a few questions about child rearing. And one of the questions was whether someone values obedience or creativity more in a child. It’s really — it’s telling stuff.
Mooney: Yeah, this is another way of measuring authoritarianism, because the theory is — and it seems pretty sound to me — that if you’re an authoritarian, one of the places it’s going to come out is in how you view child rearing. That is a situation in which the parent has to exert some level of authority, but parents interpret that differently. And if someone interprets parenting as sort of a strict father model — you need to obey the rules — then that’s an authoritarian style of parenting. So he’s just saying, ‘let’s ask about parenting and we’ll figure out who our authoritarians are,’ and what’s good about that as a scientific method is that you’re not actually asking anything that seems politically tinged. You could be confounding your variables if people get the sense that you’re asking them something political, but that’s not the case here — you’re just asking about parenting. That’s what’s nice about it.
How much more proof is needed to state that these people are psychologically as close to the concept of "evil" as is humanly possible? And when will something be done about such severely disturbed people, if only for the sake of the children these little Hitlers are raising/brutalizing? (Oh, yeah. We keep forgetting that America eats its young & doesn't give a shit about its living children other than their utility as cannon fodder & grist for the machine, just because most nations & societies on this planet aren't that way. Screw you, American kids!! You're daddy's property & as long as he doesn't cause too much permanent damage, he can do what he wants w/ you.) Did Reagan de-institutionalize California's mentally ill so they could vote for him?

P.S.: Don't make us clean this mess up by ourself. You wouldn't want us mad at you.

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