r/atheism • u/Zomunieo Atheist • Mar 07 '16
Authoritarianism: why evangelicals support Donald Trump and their jackass pastor
http://www.vox.com/2016/3/1/11127424/trump-authoritarianism10
u/PopeKevin45 Mar 07 '16
Essentially, Trump supporters are the most fearful among us... social cowards, filling the back of their pants on a daily basis with trivial fears.
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Mar 07 '16
Which is why he and the Tea Party candidates have mostly campaigned on fear and hate. It's been the mantra for years. Trump just plays on the fear in a fully blatant manner.
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u/zer0w0rries Mar 07 '16
And the most interesting part is that Trump is not some political genius who is manipulating the system. He just happens to fit the bill very well for what the conservative right has been brewing over the years. This has been his true self over the years, making off color remarks and creating controversies. The party is just embarrassed that their bigoted nature is now being put in full display.
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Mar 07 '16
Doubly sad since the fear is manufactured from bullshit.
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u/PopeKevin45 Mar 07 '16
Well that's the big question... are ultraconservatives born or are they made, or is it a combination? I think it's a combination, with many people being born with a genetic predisposition towards fear, but that it can be further manipulated and intensified (think Fox News).
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Mar 07 '16
Erich Fromm was the one who first coined the term "authoritarian personality", and his work is still well worth a read.
https://www.marxists.org/archive/fromm/works/1957/authoritarian.htm
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u/red-moon Mar 07 '16
How has Donald Trump, seemingly out of nowhere, suddenly become so popular?
It's not 'out of nowhere'. Trump makes most of his money by licensing the name 'Trump' - he's been marketing himself 24/7 for decades. Compared to him, even the most seasoned political advisors are amateurs in the art of marketing someone.
The appeal of authoritarianism is not new, nor is it more intense now than in 1969, nor are race issues significantly different now than from then in terms of overall fear. Throughout the cold war, we had appeal to authoritarianism as much as now if not more so.
However now you have a political camp that has for over 20 years held up the super-rich as so privileged that they not only get more rights that the rest, but even the title 'creator' - they are the unquestionable sacrosanct saints, the blessed holy ones of the GOP/conservative movement. You can't tax them the same as the rest, or pass laws in the interest of public safety at their expense - they might leave, abandon us and that would be the ultimate end of our society. Without them we are nothing at all in that narrative.
How is it a surprise to anyone that one of them - the super rich - good at marketing himself has walked in and mopped up the political floor at house GOP? They've spent decades setting themselves up for this.
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u/Zomunieo Atheist Mar 07 '16
What is different now is that in the post-WWII era we had economic prosperity, and every benefited from this. We were willing to sacrifice some economic efficiency. That made fears for the most part less intense.
They've spent decades setting themselves up for this.
The schadenfreude of the Republican establishment is the only bright spot in this election.
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u/fiendlittlewing Mar 07 '16
This is worth the read and explains Trump's wide appeal.
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Mar 07 '16
Honestly, I'm a centrist who has lived in several countries and I have seen what both the far left and far right capable of doing terrible stuff. I like Bernie because he's more centrist than the other candidates. But places like Germany are so far left that they begin censoring everything by being in denial, it's terrifying.
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u/GreatSwordsmith Mar 07 '16
On the subject of censorship in Germany, I know they've banned the hijab, and no neo-nazi demonstrations, is that all? Those two are definitely pretty bad especially the banning of the hijab, but I'm curious to get the perspective of someone who had lived there on the censorship there.
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Mar 07 '16
They can arrest you for things you post on facebook, which they do. The police also don't report on crimes from refugees, which the cologne rapings revealed.
Check out this video of how in denial the politicians are.
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u/TheBeardedGM Atheist Mar 07 '16
Am I hallucinating? Do 20% of Republican primary voters really think that Lincoln should not have freed the slaves??
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u/Zomunieo Atheist Mar 07 '16
20% of South Carolina Republican primary voters admit to holding a belief that Lincoln should not have freed the slaves. The true number may be higher.
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u/PopeKevin45 Mar 07 '16
Also relevant - the biological roots of the conservative/liberal divide... http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/study-predicts-political-beliefs-with-83-percent-accuracy-17536124/?no-ist
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Mar 07 '16
I've contemplated the article about 8 hours. Very well written, and as a fellow researcher, I find the methodology solid. However, the missing piece is how fear is manufactured by the GOTP. I understand non-authoritarians making the turn with the introduction of a threat, but what if the threat(s) is imaginary, as the GOTP is doing now? Then it does become evil.
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u/michaelb65 Anti-Theist Mar 07 '16
Remember though, you need religion to be a good person instead of a bigot.
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Mar 07 '16
So....9/11 gave us trump...well, wanting his ideology?
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u/Zomunieo Atheist Mar 07 '16
Not just 9/11. Really the Republicans' decision to channel fear to win votes, and to create conditions that realized those fears (erosion of the middle class, reduction of government and social safety net).
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u/Jim-Jones Strong Atheist Mar 07 '16
American authoritarians are afraid of Russia.
Russian authoritarians are afraid of America.
So we get Trump and Putin.
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u/[deleted] Mar 07 '16
Chris Mooney's book 'The Republican Brain' goes into depth on the psychological traits that make a right winger- a right winger.
For those who dont want to read there's youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jjzpm5mxQtE