The American Right, Paranoid

[midcan5]

Does the right wing in America ever change? Consider the great loss of freedom and the loss of our nation we are undergoing even as I write, and then consider in 1964 the same exact sentiments were present. It would seem if the first great loss was real, there would be no need to consider lost items. But that would involve reality and reality doesn't matter on the right.

The Paranoid Style in American Politics Harper s Magazine

"American politics has often been an arena for angry minds. In recent years we have seen angry minds at work mainly among extreme right-wingers, who have now demonstrated in the Goldwater movement how much political leverage can be got out of the animosities and passions of a small minority. But behind this I believe there is a style of mind that is far from new and that is not necessarily right-wing. I call it the paranoid style simply because no other word adequately evokes the sense of heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy that I have in mind. In using the expression “paranoid style” I am not speaking in a clinical sense, but borrowing a clinical term for other purposes. I have neither the competence nor the desire to classify any figures of the past or present as certifiable lunatics. In fact, the idea of the paranoid style as a force in politics would have little contemporary relevance or historical value if it were applied only to men with profoundly disturbed minds. It is the use of paranoid modes of expression by more or less normal people that makes the phenomenon significant." Richard Hofstadter

From Harper's, one of the best magazines in America.

 

[shart_attack]

The "paranoid style in American politics" is something which isn't exclusively limited to Birchers and Klansmen and others on The Far Right.

Members of PETA, ALF and ELF on the Far Left are just as paranoid, and quite possibly even more dangerous.

 

[midcan5]

I have to disagree, the right in America is always seeing the destruction of their perceived America. A few books below argue the same point and do so persuasively. The right does not feel comfortable in a diverse, changing society.

"Which are the arguments and how many are there? I must have an inbred urge toward symmetry. In canvassing for the principal ways of criticizing, assaulting, and ridiculing the three successive "progressive" thrusts of Marshall's story, I have come up with another triad: that is, with three principal reactive-reactionary theses, which I call the perversity thesis or thesis of the perverse effect, the futility thesis, and the jeopardy thesis. According to the perversity thesis, any purposive action to improve some feature of the political, social, or economic order only serves to exacerbate the condition one wishes to remedy. The futility thesis holds that attempts at social transformation will be unavailing, that they will simply fail to "make a dent." Finally, the jeopardy thesis argues that the cost of the proposed change or reform is too high as it endangers some previous, precious accomplishment." Albert Hirschman 'The Rhetoric of Reaction'

"Conservatives thrive on a world filled with mysterious evil and unfathomable hatreds, where good is always on the defensive and time is a precious commodity in the cosmic race against corruption and decline." Corey Robin 'The Reactionary Mind'

 

[Rotagilla]

blatantly biased...see all the negative words the author of the articles uses.....

only the most naive youth or rabid partisan would not see it for what it is. pure propaganda

angry minds
extreme right-wingers,
animosities
passions of a small minority.
paranoid style
heated exaggeration,
suspiciousness,
conspiratorial fantasy
profoundly disturbed minds.
paranoid modes of expression
mysterious evil
unfathomable hatreds

 

[whitehall]

You almost gotta laugh. The American left is in charge but refuses to acknowledge it. Instead they go through paranoid rants every day claiming that congress and Fox news is out to get them.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Does the right wing in America ever change? Consider the great loss of freedom and the loss of our nation we are undergoing even as I write

Yes, consider that and then consider that your party controls the White House, the Senate and all of the federal bureaucracies.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

But behind this I believe there is a style of mind that is far from new and that is not necessarily right-wing. I call it the paranoid style simply because no other word adequately evokes the sense of heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy that I have in mind.


It may not be “necessarily right-wing,” but there's clearly the greater propensity for this “style of mind” to manifest among conservatives – the evidence of which can be found on this very forum.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

I have to disagree, the right in America is always seeing the destruction of their perceived America. A few books below argue the same point and do so persuasively. The right does not feel comfortable in a diverse, changing society.


For the most part, yes.


Although not true of all conservatives, the majority of those on the right are fundamentally reactionary, hostile to change and diversity, and perceive change and diversity as some sort of 'decline' or 'threat.'


"Conservatives thrive on a world filled with mysterious evil and unfathomable hatreds, where good is always on the defensive and time is a precious commodity in the cosmic race against corruption and decline." Corey Robin 'The Reactionary Mind'


Exactly.


For example, we see most conservatives hostile to immigration and immigration reform, hostile to the rights of same-sex couples and transgender Americans, and most conservatives exhibit an inane and unwarranted fear of, and animosity toward, Muslims – with ridiculous references to 'jihad,' 'sharia,' and a 'caliphate.'

 

[whitehall]

We should be seeing the radical left dancing in the streets with a socialist president and senate dominated by democrat ideology but they continue to act like losers. They whine about a single news network like Fox and that "corporate America" is out to get them and they constantly complain that they only control 2/3 of the federal government instead of 3/3. If anybody in the history of politics is paranoid it's the modern democrat party.

 

[bigrebnc1775]

Does the right wing in America ever change? Consider the great loss of freedom and the loss of our nation we are undergoing even as I write, and then consider in 1964 the same exact sentiments were present. It would seem if the first great loss was real, there would be no need to consider lost items. But that would involve reality and reality doesn't matter on the right.

The Paranoid Style in American Politics Harper s Magazine

"American politics has often been an arena for angry minds. In recent years we have seen angry minds at work mainly among extreme right-wingers, who have now demonstrated in the Goldwater movement how much political leverage can be got out of the animosities and passions of a small minority. But behind this I believe there is a style of mind that is far from new and that is not necessarily right-wing. I call it the paranoid style simply because no other word adequately evokes the sense of heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy that I have in mind. In using the expression “paranoid style” I am not speaking in a clinical sense, but borrowing a clinical term for other purposes. I have neither the competence nor the desire to classify any figures of the past or present as certifiable lunatics. In fact, the idea of the paranoid style as a force in politics would have little contemporary relevance or historical value if it were applied only to men with profoundly disturbed minds. It is the use of paranoid modes of expression by more or less normal people that makes the phenomenon significant." Richard Hofstadter

From Harper's, one of the best magazines in America.

Does the right wing in America ever change? Consider the great loss of freedom and the loss of our nation we are undergoing even as I write
Fucktard you do realize who is president and whose over reached his god damn authority?

 

[Disir]

Norman Cohn believed he found a persistent psychic complex that corresponds broadly with what I have been considering—a style made up of certain preoccupations and fantasies: “the megalomaniac view of oneself as the Elect, wholly good, abominably persecuted, yet assured of ultimate triumph; the attribution of gigantic and demonic powers to the adversary; the refusal to accept the ineluctable limitations and imperfections of human existence, such as transience, dissention, conflict, fallibility whether intellectual or moral; the obsession with inerrable prophecies . . . systematized misinterpretations, always gross and often grotesque.”

You're riding quite close to that.

Propaganda is propaganda. Is the goal to dissect propaganda or to feel intellectually superior? The problem is that it occurs on the left as well.

 

[bigrebnc1775]

This thread is nothing but liberal propaganda the stench is so strong china is in need of sewage treatment

 

[namvet]

Does the right wing in America ever change? Consider the great loss of freedom and the loss of our nation we are undergoing even as I write, and then consider in 1964 the same exact sentiments were present. It would seem if the first great loss was real, there would be no need to consider lost items. But that would involve reality and reality doesn't matter on the right.

The Paranoid Style in American Politics Harper s Magazine

"American politics has often been an arena for angry minds. In recent years we have seen angry minds at work mainly among extreme right-wingers, who have now demonstrated in the Goldwater movement how much political leverage can be got out of the animosities and passions of a small minority. But behind this I believe there is a style of mind that is far from new and that is not necessarily right-wing. I call it the paranoid style simply because no other word adequately evokes the sense of heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy that I have in mind. In using the expression “paranoid style” I am not speaking in a clinical sense, but borrowing a clinical term for other purposes. I have neither the competence nor the desire to classify any figures of the past or present as certifiable lunatics. In fact, the idea of the paranoid style as a force in politics would have little contemporary relevance or historical value if it were applied only to men with profoundly disturbed minds. It is the use of paranoid modes of expression by more or less normal people that makes the phenomenon significant." Richard Hofstadter

From Harper's, one of the best magazines in America.

who's the monkey's in your avatar your pets???

 

[guno]

I have to disagree, the right in America is always seeing the destruction of their perceived America. A few books below argue the same point and do so persuasively. The right does not feel comfortable in a diverse, changing society.

"Which are the arguments and how many are there? I must have an inbred urge toward symmetry. In canvassing for the principal ways of criticizing, assaulting, and ridiculing the three successive "progressive" thrusts of Marshall's story, I have come up with another triad: that is, with three principal reactive-reactionary theses, which I call the perversity thesis or thesis of the perverse effect, the futility thesis, and the jeopardy thesis. According to the perversity thesis, any purposive action to improve some feature of the political, social, or economic order only serves to exacerbate the condition one wishes to remedy. The futility thesis holds that attempts at social transformation will be unavailing, that they will simply fail to "make a dent." Finally, the jeopardy thesis argues that the cost of the proposed change or reform is too high as it endangers some previous, precious accomplishment." Albert Hirschman 'The Rhetoric of Reaction'

"Conservatives thrive on a world filled with mysterious evil and unfathomable hatreds, where good is always on the defensive and time is a precious commodity in the cosmic race against corruption and decline." Corey Robin 'The Reactionary Mind'

They are reptilian like

 

[namvet]

I have to disagree, the right in America is always seeing the destruction of their perceived America. A few books below argue the same point and do so persuasively. The right does not feel comfortable in a diverse, changing society.

"Which are the arguments and how many are there? I must have an inbred urge toward symmetry. In canvassing for the principal ways of criticizing, assaulting, and ridiculing the three successive "progressive" thrusts of Marshall's story, I have come up with another triad: that is, with three principal reactive-reactionary theses, which I call the perversity thesis or thesis of the perverse effect, the futility thesis, and the jeopardy thesis. According to the perversity thesis, any purposive action to improve some feature of the political, social, or economic order only serves to exacerbate the condition one wishes to remedy. The futility thesis holds that attempts at social transformation will be unavailing, that they will simply fail to "make a dent." Finally, the jeopardy thesis argues that the cost of the proposed change or reform is too high as it endangers some previous, precious accomplishment." Albert Hirschman 'The Rhetoric of Reaction'

"Conservatives thrive on a world filled with mysterious evil and unfathomable hatreds, where good is always on the defensive and time is a precious commodity in the cosmic race against corruption and decline." Corey Robin 'The Reactionary Mind'

They are reptilian like

you mean your family

 

[regent]

Robert Reich claimed conservatism is based on greed and fear. We see this fear as a staple being used on these boards all the time, and that fear is probably the basis for the paranoia. It's hard to believe so many Americans are so fearful and they must explain this fear in various ways to make it manageable. One easy way is to have commies everywhere, and if not commies maybe dragons or something else.

 

[Bush92]

So I guess the liberal paranoia of the United States ad an evil empire never crossed your mind. You post a biased article from a now defunct piece of shit magazine from 1964. Oh, yes, that's right, liberals want it to be 1960's forever. A march, a protest, a complaint a day. Whoopee! Or as Rev. Wright said..."Goddamn America."

 

[Stephanie]

don't ya all love it being preached at by some progressive

the only paranoid ones I see, are the people who post these kinds of threads

 

[CrusaderFrank]

You almost gotta laugh. The American left is in charge but refuses to acknowledge it. Instead they go through paranoid rants every day claiming that congress and Fox news is out to get them.

They need their Emmanuel Goldstein, it's straight out of the book

 

[konradv]

The "paranoid style in American politics" is something which isn't exclusively limited to Birchers and Klansmen and others on The Far Right.

Members of PETA, ALF and ELF on the Far Left are just as paranoid, and quite possibly even more dangerous.

But they don't have their own media outlet like the paranoid right has in FOX.