Letters to the Editor
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Dazed and Confused
Is that the movie we're watching here, or is it Dumb and Dumber? Either way, it's a quaint notion these folks have, that they can have the argument all to themselves if they can just define both sides of it. It's small wonder that they're sounding so hysterical these days. Can O'Reilly really shout shut up! loud enough to drown out the voices of 70% of the population before succumbing to his well-deserved aneurysm? I don't even play a doctor on TV, but I doubt it.
Untermenschen. A concept brought to you from the Nacht und Nebel of right-wing fever-dreams, make no mistake. It has nothing to do with us; never did, and never will.
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@Paul Rosenberg
Outstanding discussion of Altemeyer's work. No doubt I'll be finding occasion to link to and discuss that -- really excellent post.
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It reminds me .....
of the same mentality pointed out in a seminal book 'Europe' by Norman Davies. In it he points out the attitude of the people who lived in the mountains towards those who chose to live in the coastal areas is the same as the 'bushites' attitudes are towards the Middle East. Davies then goes on to point out it has affected European history for centuries in a negative way. Nothing really new just the sound of lazy thinking - again.
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Racism
Hasn't racism always formed a basic component of all imperial and/or colonial strategies? And haven't economics driven this strategy? Yes on both counts, I believe.
So by all means, bombing the wogs and getting that pesky oil law through the Iraqi congress is a practice completely consistent with tried and true western strategy.
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How Long Can U-Tenn Tolerate This?
Let's not mince words here. Reynolds is advocating genocide. I firmly believe in the principle of academic freedom, and in erring on the side of permissiveness in this area. But there plainly are limits, and if advocacy of genocide doesn't cross that line I don't know what does.
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narcissists
Curious how the traits of authoritarians are so similar to those of narcissists. Most tellingly are the detachment of thinking from reason, the rampant usage of distraction and avoidance in debate, and the general assertion of authority, including the presumption of superiority.
With Reynolds, we also see that projection is a tool to be used.
As for the chlorine truck: this is really getting tiresome. Did the US go to war to prevent Iraq from having chlorinated pools? Is bleach now considered a weapon of mass destruction? Just where is this line of logic leading to? Chlorine is a chemical that can be collected by a high schooler with a store bought chemistry set.
As Atrios is fond of saying when confronted with an argument of this ilk - oh, the stupidity, it burns!
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The Aggro Right
They cannot be trusted with power. They are beyond the mainstream of any truly American politics.
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Ledeen and Reynolds
Glenn, I'd agree that Reynolds fits into the authoritarian worshiping mindset. But I don't think Ledeen does. He is a smart and slippery operator, a proponent of PNAC, "destructive chaos" and Israel uber alles (even when, in a rational world, his actions and goals are clearly against Israel's interests). He knows very well what he is doing. He ain't no follower -- he is one of the architects of the neo-con world view that we are seeing in action. (Some people -- oops there I go -- like Justin Raimondo, believe he was either the forger or the architect of the forgery of the letters used to scam the Niger yellowcake deal.) "Faster please" he said, and he meant it and he's doing everything in his power to implement it. Don't make the mistake of underestimating him.
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Svensker:
Glenn, I'd agree that Reynolds fits into the authoritarian worshiping mindset. But I don't think Ledeen does. He is a smart and slippery operator, a proponent of PNAC, "destructive chaos" and Israel uber alles (even when, in a rational world, his actions and goals are clearly against Israel's interests).
No doubt. The mind of the right-wing follower on display here is Reynolds. They are share the same authoritarian warmongering mindset, but some do play different roles in how it's shaped, propagagted and consumed.
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Conservatism is NOT a mental disorder!
It's merely a prime example of George Orwell's Doublethink in action.
On the one hand, your generic neocon has to pay lip service to Wilsonian idealism ("we're over there to help those poor people!"), while simultaneously sticking to Ledeen's policy of picking up crappy little countries and throwing them up against the wall.
Not surprisingly, this lead to a great deal of double-tracking on the part of Michael, Glenn & The Gang, constantly veering between bogus concern over the hapless Iraqis (unlike those callous and bigoted lefties) and WASPy contempt for those dirty Third World camel jockeys who have nothing better to do presumably than to blow each other up.
Note the common denominator of both attitudes: you can use either or both without once thinking about what the US has been doing in and to Iraq over the past four years. Isn't that amazing! Not available in stores!
My point here is this: we don't have to reach as far as Adornoesque theories about The Authoritarian Personality to explain these guys. They're neither fuhrers nor followers, but merely spinners, caught in a web of their own making.
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And the way preferable to RWA is what exactly?
This is interesting stuff, let's hear about the ideal governing arrangement.
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Projection:
Main Entry: pro·jec·tion
Pronunciation: pr&-'jek-sh&n
Function: noun
1 a : a systematic presentation of intersecting coordinate lines on a flat surface upon which features from a curved surface (as of the earth or the celestial sphere) may be mapped b : the process or technique of reproducing a spatial object upon a plane or curved surface or a line by projecting its points; also : a graph or figure so formed
2 : a transforming change
3 : the act of throwing or thrusting forward
4 : the forming of a plan : SCHEMING
5 a (1) : a jutting out (2) : a part that juts out b : a view of a building or architectural element
6 a : the act of perceiving a mental object as spatially and sensibly objective; also : something so perceived b : the attribution of one's own ideas, feelings, or attitudes to other people or to objects; especially : the externalization of blame, guilt, or responsibility as a defense against anxiety
7 : the display of motion pictures by projecting an image from them upon a screen
8 a : the act of projecting especially to an audience b : control of the volume, clarity, and distinctness of a voice to gain greater audibility
9 : an estimate of future possibilities based on a current trend