Because they’re basically the same thing.
The core dynamic is the deeply cowardly act of redirecting anger created by abuse by those above you (and therefore scary) onto those who are not only below you but actually the least powerful and therefore least scary targets around.
Shit flows downhill, as my late father used to say.
And it would be one thing if these people did it with the full knowledge that they are doing something rotten purely because they can get away with it and it feels good.
But of course, they don’t do that, because they are far too weak and timid to take that level of accountability for their actions.
Instead, they go through amazing mental contortions to actually convince themselves that the least powerful (and scary) people are actually to blame for their pain.
Thus the ability of billions of people all over the globe to blame the poorest people in society for things like national debt.
Because make no mistake : modern conservatism is abuse. Its entire underlying structure is about delivering the pleasure of hurting the weak to the masses and everything else is just window dressing.
That’s why it’s all so mean spirited. That’s the entire point. That’s the product. That is the addictive substance.
The right wind pundits and podcasters’ job is to use whatever means are necessary, no matter how blatantly intellectually dishonest, to remove all impediments to that sweet, sweet joy of taking your pain out on the only people you’re sure can’t fight back.
This is also why compassion enrages them so much. Compassion stirs actual tender emotions in people’s hearts and if you’re addicted to the joy of hate, that only reminds you that you’re actually being evil and that ruins all the fun.
The point is to have a great time hurting the very people Christ commands you to care for while also believing that you’re not just a good person but the best kind of person and definitely getting into Heaven ahead of all these heathens
I mean, why let that faggot Jesus spoil all the fun of being Christian, right?
And if you listen carefully, you can detect a solid note of panic in their voices when they are railing against compassionate measures. That’s the panic of a hate junkie who feels like their supply is being threatened.
Imagine the revolution that could be unleashed if all these people could swear off the hatred and became enough of a vertebrate to look above them for the source of their pain and suffering and direct that rage at the people actually hurting them.
But that would take courage and, like I said, these people are cowards. And that’s just as true for conservatives blaming the poor for the deficit as it is for your average schoolyard bully beating up a nerd for daring to be smart when they are dumb.
The entirety of modern conservatism makes a lot more sense when you realize that it’s all just an abuse delivery machine.
I have suffered from this effect myself because my own father would get shit upon and put upon at work by bosses who felt free to make messes they knew he’d clean up and who would dump nearly their entire workloads on him because they knew he would do it for them without a complaint.
And then he’d come home and take it all out on his wife and kids.
My childhood would have been a hell of a lot easier if he’d just had the balls to protest how he was being treated by lodging a complaint with his union, UPSE.
But no. Like a true conservative, he could only vent his rage on people who could not fight back – people he claimed to love – and where he felt the most safe – at home.
Makes you sick to your stomach, doesn’t it?
More after the break.
The problem of stupidity
Ordered me some Pizza Hut tonight.
A Melts (Bacon Chicken Alfredo, yum) and their new Golden Crispy Waffle Fries (meh, not crispy, boring) cost me only $20.66, which is only a few bucks more than what getting McD’s via Julian costs me. Not bad.
When the delivery arrived, I had to explain the concept of me buzzing her up to my Dasher (seasonally apropos) twice before it sank in.
She did get in eventually, though. Which is good, because I’m home alone and, gimp that I am, I would have been able to get my order if it’d been delivered to the lobby.
Anyhow, the whole thing got me thinking about stupidity and why it’s so infuriating.
Part of it is violation of expectation. You expect a certain degree of mental agility from people and when it’s not there it not only throws you off, it makes whatever you’re doing way harder because now you have to explain things.
And odds are, if this person is truly a dip, it will not be easy.
But in the broader sense, the herd is only as fast as its slowest member and that is certainly truly for society as a whole.
Especially if you’re intellectually gifted like myself. My whole school career was spent bored and frustrated at having to move at the speed of the slowest student in the class when all I wanted to do was rush forward like a heavy locomotive.
But anyone who has been saddled with a particularly dimwitted co-worker gets it.
When you’re as brilliant as I am, in a sense most of the world is that co-worker. On a purely intellectual level, the average person with an average IQ is like a child to you.
And the fact that you are stuck in the world where these children run everything can make even mild mannered liberal intellectuals pull their hair out.
Let alone passionate types like myself.
That’s why so many of us succumb to misanthropy. It’s a natural response to the problem of stupidity because it’s either dedicate yourself to leading the sheep (a job for which we are often ill suited) or resign yourself to being stuck on the same bus as everyone else when you can clearly see that the driver is drunk.
Myself, I reject misanthropy as a matter of deeply held belief. After all, you can’t exactly be a misanthrope and a humanist at the same time.
And I will choose my humanism over mere crankiness every single time.
I will talk to you nice people again tomorrow.