Reply #29: I don't think their hosts have to work very hard [View All]

[Julien Sorel]

at convincing them of anything. I agree with you posts above much more than this one.

I used to work with a bunch of Sean Hannity fans. They would turn his program on, and it was amazing to watch them -- how Hannity would get them nodding their heads at the stupidity of the liberals (much like you see people in this thread doing about the stupidity of the conservatives, but I digress), by knocking down absurd straw man after absurd straw man. But those people never thought past the absurdity of the things Hannity said, because they didn't want to, because Hannity was telling them what they wanted to hear. They were perfectly intelligent people, but when it came to politics they became stupid as rocks -- willfully so. I think this is because it's pleasing to hear how stupid and illogical people who hold different points of view and subscribe to a different value system than you have are, because it frees you from the responsibility and hard work of thinking things through and challenging your own assumptions. Very few people want to do this (on our side of the fence as well), so the Hannitys and the Limbaughs and so on thrive. It's politics as entertainment, and politics as religion. No wonder something like that is popular. What I don't fully understand is why the left wing equivalent of the right wing gabbers produce such a frail sound by comparison. The difference in numbers is one reason (there are almost 2X as many "conservatives" as there are liberals in this country), but there have to be other reasons.