Comments on: Conservatives Go Nuts Over Obama

By: N.S. Palmer

N.S. Palmer — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 18:15:06 +0000

I think that some of them have. Others are just hoping that President Obama’s economic recovery efforts fail (with a little help from them) so that they can blame it on him and re-take Congress in the 2010 elections.

However, as a recovering conservative/libertarian myself, I can tell you that many of them believe in what they say and are trying to do what’s best for the country. They are simply mistaken. That’s what I think is so brilliant about President Obama: he just keeps deploying calm, conciliatory logic in an attempt to win over his critics. He makes it possible for them to change their minds and admit they were wrong without feeling like they “lost” the argument. The ones who are just unprincipled political operatives will never cooperate no matter what. But the majority of conservatives and libertarians are idealists: they can be reached, and Obama is doing it.

By: Neon Vincent

Neon Vincent — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:23:57 +0000

Thanks for posting the link to this post on Krugman’s blog. I found it well worth reading.

So, have the Right become even more unhinged during the past three months? Looks like it to me.

By: N.S. Palmer

N.S. Palmer — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 01:55:16 +0000

Those are pretty scary examples, doubly so because they’re not surprising. We all base our judgments on information that is incomplete and partially incorrect. When our emotions and prejudices get in the way, it skews our perceptions even more.

The conservative media are partly to blame. Even intelligent, rational people reach the wrong conclusions when they’re consistently misinformed. Some members of my family are a case in point.

I didn’t know the things you mentioned about Ahmadinejad. I knew that he had a Ph.D., but apart from that, he’s always impressed me as an Iranian doppelganger of George W. Bush.

Thanks for the great comment!

By: Mason

Mason — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 21:21:02 +0000

Kudos on the great post. I too have been mystified by the well-educated, well-spoken people I have met who:
- believe that the evolution of higher species is a myth (e.g. an Asian-American ex-gf with a law degree! revealed only after we broke up)
- believe that the earth is 6000 yrs old (a high school history teacher with a Master’s degree)
- believe that global warming is a liberal hoax (a large portion of American self-described conservatives)
- Took the word of the CIA over Nancy Pelosi (60+% of the Washington Establishment)
- Refuse to believe that one of our surveillance ships was knowingly attacked by a certain MidEast ally-state of ours, and that the hundreds of deaths were covered up as an “accident” (the 1967 incident)
- Believe in a mythical “free market”

And so on.

The phenomenon reveals much about the nature of human intelligence. Being a misogynist, or a religious fundamentalist, or a bigot, often does not bespeak an inability to reason or express oneself. They are more of an emotional disease or personality malformation, largely separate from one’s analytic and communication skills.

Prime example: Ahmadinejad, who has a PhD in transportation engineering and claims to have been in the top 200 out of 400,000 participants in Iran’s national university entrance exams; yet has denied the specifics of the Holocaust out of personal and political ideology.

By: N.S. Palmer

N.S. Palmer — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:11:39 +0000

Thanks for your kind comment!

It’s hard to criticize people whom I respect (even if I disagree with them), but I tried to keep it balanced.

By: Lone Primate

Lone Primate — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:49:33 +0000

Nicely researched and laid out, as always. I appreciate the way you brought it in for a smooth landing there at the end… no bombs dropped, just an overview, the lay of some ugly land, and an explanation for why it’s so barren and forbidding. What a real shame it is for us all there aren’t more people like you in the halls of government in the US.