by Blue Stockings | Sadly, No! has published what might be the definitive post on wingnut rage, fear, and screeching.
Why are they so afraid all the time? What are they so afraid of? Is chronic craven fear really the trait that distinguishes the crazy-asses of the Republican base from normal people?
So it seems. I've finally worked out the answer to the question: Why, oh why do they hate us liberals so?
They hate us for our fearlessness.
They're in a perpetual state of bug-eyed rage and panic, alternating with fear and fury. How it must gall them that liberals don't share their fear of the monsters under the bed; that we have, in fact, put away childish things and moved on.
Still, it must be exciting to be so excited all the damn time. Exhausting, though.
Still: why are they so frightened? Jude at First Draft has a theory.
These people live in a state of permanent panic. Frankly, I don't know how they do it.
But I'm sure there's more to some of these people's motivation. I say this because I'm related to lots of people like these men and women who have lined up to buy guns. And they are afraid. But they're not just afraid of the NRA's "tyrannical government" boogeyman (and ain't it funny how we didn't hear a peep out of them for the last eight years, when the government really did engage in an unprecedented power grab?). No.
They're afraid that black people are gonna come take their shit.
I know a lot of people--typically educated, middle- to upper-middle-class types--laugh when they hear this idea. "Oh, no one could believe that discredited myth."
Bullshit.
It's a powerful, longstanding fear in this country. Why, an educated person might even call it an idée fixe. I'll let you know if I run into one of those. You never hear this idea articulated among "polite" people; maybe it's just too shameful to face up to your own warts-and-all history. But damn if there aren't millions of terrified white people in this country. It's part of why our social safety net is the stingiest one in the industrialized world. Rich white people have managed to convince poor white people that poor black people are taking their shit (via progressive taxation). And this strategy has worked like a charm. This is a very important part of why poor white people continually vote against their economic interests. It's ugly, and it's petty, and it's short-sighted. But there it is.
Yes. There it is. They are too blinded by rage to see their enemy (and, um--to paraphrase Pogo--they are them).
And if we have a race war, it'll be the Joe Sixpacks and the crazies who attended McCain's rallies who start it going. Fortunately, one of the blessings of the internet is that it gives them a place to vent their spleen so it doesn't build up to dangerous levels.
Meantime, some of them are gearing up to impeach Obama. No doubt, a number of them assume he's president now. Well, whatever keeps them off the streets is good. Jude again: "I suppose this is the winger equivalent of introspection: screech, puff out your chest, maybe toss a few verbal rocks, threaten yet another "enemy"...and reach for some more supersize fries."
Anyway, First Draft gets the final word.
You people got beat. Badly. I know it hurts, but that's the way it is. The people rejected Republicans and conservatism. So we're gonna do things our way for a while.
And here's a free electoral tip, slick: As long as you let the lunatics run the asylum, you'll stay in the minority. If you want to be anything more than a rump party, you'll let go of this stupid "culture war" shit. The old-school Republican "less government involvement in people's lives" philosophy appeals to a lot of Americans. But to do that, you've gotta stop caring about who consenting adults fuck and who they marry. You've also gotta stop pushing a narrow interpretation of religion as your party's bedrock principle.
Actually, don't listen to me. Keep doing all that shit. Like I give a fuck if conservatives stay in the minority for all time.
Good advice which none of the ones who can be "energized"---in the GOP, the good lack all conviction and the worst are full of a passionate intensity--will ever take.
Like all crazy people, the "base" will most certainly continue to do the things that didn't work before and made sane Republicans repudiate them, and to do them even harder.
RECENT IDLYE POSTINGS
Snark O' the Day: The Palinites
Has the Victory Palled Yet? Let's All Join the New, Fun, Young Republican Par-tay!
Comments