Posted by
Icarus on Sunday, April 19, 2009 2:59:45 AM
What the Left sees when they imagine Conservatives. Is the short one John Adams?
I should not have been
skeptical when I first heard about the
DHS report on "Rightwing Extremism". Academics, after all, have been
pathologizing conservatism for years. Now that Left-wing academics control the White House and Congress, it should be no surprise that government policy reflects the academic tendency to dismiss political opponents as mentally deranged and one small step from violence and mayhem.
A University of Manitoba associate professor created the "Right Wing Authoritarian" scale. "[R]ight-wing authoritarians are cognitively rigid, aggressive, and
intolerant. They are characterized by steadfast conformity to group
norms, submission to higher status individuals, and aggression toward
out-groups and unconventional group members." I wonder how many conservatives have a watch file at DHS that notes their RWA score. Given Pope Benedict XVI's strong stance on abortion, his RWA score must be off the charts.
Not to be outdone, of course: "Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley ... linked to political conservatism [to] fear and aggression,
dogmatism and intolerance of ambiguity, uncertainty avoidance, need for
cognitive closure, and terror management that causes conservatives to
shun and even punish outsiders and those who threaten the status of
their cherished world views." So it's no wonder that conservative Americans is the only group in reference to which DHS Sec. Napolitano and White House Spokesman Nick Shapiro have both used the word terrorist and terrorism, respectively. Those "disaffected youths", who happen to be Islamic, in New York, England, France, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc, ad nauseum, are merely experiencing "man caused disasters" (even if the perpetrator was a woman, because men are at the root of all violence, dontcha ya know).
Ronald Bailey, writing in the Reason article linked above, suggests that it may be just a matter of time before conservatism is listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. He writes, "Reasonable people, such as the distinguished academic researchers cited
here, will no doubt agree that until effective treatments can be
developed, we should reconsider whether sufferers of conservatism, like
other mental defectives, should be allowed freely to exercise the
franchise." The current Administration and the bureaucrats at the Department of Homeland Security seem to be considering Mr. Bailey's advice, at least to the extent that these "Rightwing Extremist" mental defectives should be monitored.