"Owning the libs..." Right wing motivators?

[Caliman73]

This is meant to stimulate discussion about what people's perceptions of the conservative mindset. This was my response to a question in another thread. Here is the original thread

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=12489585

Here is my response to the question:

There isn't really a rational basis for some people. Liberals have been painted as an embodiment of anything that people on the other side fear or hate. It isn't only that we "don't condone White Supremacy" it is that we are going to oppress White people and enslave them as revenge (or White guilt for the "race traitors) for the many injustices that have been "made up". It isn't that we "support gay rights" it is that we are going to make it so that all children are turned gay and that heterosexuals are going to have to sneak around and hide from the pink fascists to avoid internment for "being normal". It isn't "choice" it is that we want to murder all babies including as they are being born or just after, in the most heinous ways. Finally, "education" is "brainwashing" to people who follow Trump and conservatives in general. We lord our educations over them and think we know better with our, "scientific method" and we defy the will of God by questioning Him with our arrogant ideas about humanities and art.

People gravitate to a conservative mindset when they desire certainty and strength rather than curiosity and self-determination. They talk about freedom, but they appear only to mean the freedom to do things their way and not question. People who support Trump think that he is defending them against changes that have been and are being foisted upon them, like the idea that women are equal, that minorities have valid and different life experiences, that you can search for the facts and evidence through the scientific method, but can never be 100% sure of things because knowledge is contextual (postmodernism). Trump supporters just want to be at peace knowing that if they are White, they are still at the top of the social pecking order, if they are men, they have more power than women, and if they are Christian, they are the only true religion. While they continue to need those things, they will be susceptible to any con man who can put together the words they want to hear and they will continue to fear and hate us.

So, what in your mind motivates conservatives, right wingers, Trump supporters, and their ilk? I know there will be people who put in one word answers (the popular: greed, fear, money, power, etc....) but I am hoping for a bit more.

[Caliman73]

3. Thanks for the comment. Playing Devil's advocate...

So what motivates this "general hate"? Also, there are many conservatives who are college educated. Remember that one of the larger demographics voting for Trump were upper middle income college educated White men.

[struggle4progress]

2. "We have no real ideas. But if tearing families apart and putting kids in cages

makes normal people very unhappy, then we think it's fun!"

[Caliman73]

7. I think they have real ideas... horrible ones, but real.

I think Trump and people like Miller, are genuinely sadistic. Followers however, are likely bothered by some of the things going on (if they know about them) but continue to support them for something else. As I said in my OP, I think they have this twisted view of who Liberals really are and are motivated by fear and tribalism.

The leadership of the conservative movement has definite ideas and those ideas are horrific, which is why they try to stoke up their followers with dehumanizing ideas about the opposition (us).

[NCLefty]

4. Obama was respectful and smart. And black. GOP couldn't have picked a more opposite cretin to fling

at us as a backlash. Even worse, they tried to scandalize everything Obama did but couldn't find a reason to impeach him (and there were MANY calls by their base to impeach him over his terms). They were just so furious, and Trump was the loudest and most insulting (toward us) thing in their space. So yes, it was "owning us"... for daring not to be as corrupt as they wished so they could bring us down with a massive impeachment show-trial that would us un-electable for decades.

[Caliman73]

16. I think it is part of a larger strategy

Not necessarily by the base, but by the leaders of the movement. They stir up emotion (mainly fear and anger) based on false assumptions, exaggeration, and outright lies. The leaders of the conservative movement have a very specific end they want to reach and those who follow them, while necessary to carry it out, are not considered important except for the exploitation of their labor. Conservatism is about hierarchy and that hierarchy has a very distinct look. Ultimately there will be followers who liked "owning the libs" who will be on the other end of the equation.

[Moostache]

5. Racism. Pure, unadulterated racism.

Then add in a healthy dose of fear, given throughout the day on TV and radio and in conversations with like-minded individuals...

Fear of what? Someone (libs, gummint, minorities) taking from them and giving to someone else as if it were a 1-to-1 trade off. "You damn liburls are not gunna get my stuff and give it them illegal aliens with their taco trucks and lazy wives and anchor babies. I work hard for mine and you just want to give it away to lazy stoners on their mom's basement couch or that negro lady with 4 kids from 3 men at age 19....well, they ain't getting mine!!!"

It really is that simple. TV and Radio parroting concerted messaging on a daily, weekly, monthly and annual level helps reinforce this...then people who WANT to have their racism and their unearned privileged position upheld, latch onto it, weave it into their personal identity ("Us real 'muricans....not them invaders and their libtard supporters&quot .

Add in religion - preaching the false gospels of Christianity (prosperity or traditional) and the further breaking down from citizens to tribal members and you have a toxic stew.

But it is based on Racism, Fear and False Information...there's a reason a walking douchebag like Frank Luntz is a millionaire and able to command attention - he is one of their heinous enablers...but that is how they do it...

[C_U_L8R]

6. Own the libs?

These half-wits don't even own a complete wit between 'em all

[Caliman73]

10. Perhaps...

However, there was Lewindowski's aggressive performance at the hearing which had conservatives claiming victory. There was Candace Owens, who has no business ever being in front of congress as any kind of witness doing so for the second time in the last two years. There was a lobbyist MacDonald also in front of Congress pushing disgusting discredited studies during a hearing on Policing.

They aren't necessarily intelligent, but they have had success at framing the discussion. The question is what motivates them?

[C_U_L8R]

17. My sister is one.

Fear, ignorance, greed, and intolerance have made one hell of a maga mess.

[Cary]

9. Authoritarians

https://www.amazon.com/Authoritarian-Dynamic-Cambridge-Political-Psychology/dp/052153478X

They cannot handle complexity. A demagogue like Orange Hitler triggers their authoritarian tendencies.

[Baltimike]

11. Because "sticking it to the libs" makes them feel like WINNERS and

that's all the winning they get. they are racist...but they don't like to be called racist.

Really.

[coti]

12. Many are indeed trolls just trying to get an angry reaction out of people they perceive, or in

reality very much are, better than them. That's their big purpose in life, it's all they care about.

[world wide wally]

13. I prefer to own the magatards

[lame54]

14. The politics of spite

[JI7]

15. disagree, it's just bigotry. the fact that they supported a fucked up pervert like trump

shows what they are about.