Learning how the right-wing extremists think:

[The Backlash Cometh]

Who wants to tackle this one:

A right-winger got a hold of an article that criticizes green packaging labels, and probably justifiably so, but it's his diatribe that follows that I think is worth paying attention to. I just want to know what DUers think about it:

Here is the reuter article:

http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSN1941000020071120

Here is the diatribe:

But the gist of the whole drawn out "The Green Thing" is as reliable as the "Gorish Global Warming" fiasco. Both are unable to provide scientific study that supports this "wacko" movement. The climate changes of the world have been going on for centuries, and in fact at one time there were no global icepacks as exist in today's worldly environment. Why doesn't Al Gore tell you about the Dinosaur Age --- he can't !

One has to wonder at the actual intentions of those "left wing extremists" who shout "Global Warming" and "Think Green", but are unwilling to even debate the issues such as does Albert Gore. Remember it's the same Gore who took credit for discovering the internet. What kind of "wacky tobaccy" are such left-wingers smoking? It must be potentate --- he's way out in left field where hardly anyone hits the ball.

Gore whose power mongering own home is an example of extremists saying "do what I tell you -- not what I do", and his wealth can even be pointed toward his companies racking off of profits coming from issuing "tax carbon credits". How phony can such a "Hollywood Oscar Winning Groupie" be as represented by Gore?

Take for example the now touted "long life -- low energy bulbs" now replacing the incandescent lighting. They don't tell you that the "long-life energy-saving" bulb contains MERCURY --- an element is impossible to get rid of today in the recycling processes. You CAN'T DESTROY MERCURY! The Country will need another "Yucca Flats" in Nevada just to store the mercury residue from that touted "long-life -- low-energy" light source right beside our Country's nuclear waste underground vaults.

[theoldman]

1. The Right Wing Nuts don't think.

If they did, they would come up with the correct answers to things. I have learned not to argue with someone who makes one incorrect statement after the other. Although most of the people in my area are Republican, not all of them are total nuts. I can debate with them because they only tell one lie at a time. Generally it's just pure ignorance.

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. This someone is very loud.

The problem is, that he's such a noise machine that he attracts everyone who is trying to figure out what's wrong with this county. I don't feel like he's looking for solutions. I think the noise is what it's all about for him.

[Orsino]

15. They *have* to keep shouting...

...or their brains start to work, and their platform doesn't bear even a moment's scrutiny.

[ixion]

2. hmmm, let's see.. poor grammar, vocab and spelling: check...

complete, unabashed ignorance of the facts: check, wiseacre-ass clown: check

Yep, seems like a pretty typical GOP'er to me.

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. If you only knew...

...you do have him characterized correctly.

I keep looking for a nucleus of thought, but can never find one. One year he'll be berating the guv-mint for requiring developers to give property for uplands, and then the next he's berating government for allowing over-development. I don't get it. Is it that he is really a populist living in a schizophrenic county that doesn't realize that the more it supports property rights, the less control they have over development in their county?

[rucky]

5. It's called purposely missing the point so you can throw the baby out with the bathwater.

The "Welfare queen" myth is the gold-standard for this tactic.

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. What gives them the impetus to do this for decades without being called

on their mistakes?

[rucky]

9. The left is the only one with ideas.

We identify a problem (poverty). We propose a solution (welfare). We identify a problem (global climate change), and propose several solutions (consume less/recycle/etc). Then they just sit back and pick it apart - rejecting the entire premise if one smidge of the proposed solution isn't viable. I work with people like that. They bring nothing to the party, then complain about the hors d'oeuvres. Creating something is 100 times more difficult than tearing something down. What we're seeing in America is a dismantling without reconstruction, as evidenced by "ground zero" and New Orleans. Still in ruins.

Lefties don't respond well, because we hold ourselves to higher standards. If something is flawed we have a tendency to focus on it ourselves and try to make it perfect. We keep getting sucked into tiffs about silly details (not-so-green packaging) and don't bring our arguement back to the big picture.

[The Backlash Cometh]

10. When Newt came in with his contract on stupidity, his argument was

that the left had no new ideas. That was the only exception I ever witnessed where they came up with new proposals, but I absolutely do remember the lefties being too squeamish to work up counter-arguments for the reasons you point out. We were terrified to be just one eensy bitsy bit wrong.

[Toots]

11. All of the items on the famous "Contract for America" were research polled

America was polled on what issues they had strong feeling for. Almost every one of those ten items were heavily favored by the American people. That is why they came up with them. If the Democrats had any imagination at all they would use that famous "Contract" ,which was designed to show how Republicans keep their word, and hammer the crap out of them. Republicans broke their "Contract" time and time again. Especially with Congressional "term limits". They made promises they would honor the term limit provision even if it did not become law. They broke their "Contract" and no one bothers to bring it up...

[The Backlash Cometh]

12. Good points all around.

Surely, after the primaries, the winning Dem needs to start attacking the Repubs and this is where they should start. Use the last fifteen years to show how the Republicans have led this country astray by telling lies that mattered.

[Toots]

6. I bet if you asked, this person also doesn't believe in evolution

Yet they bring up the age of the dinosaurs and the earth's evolution of environment..

[The Backlash Cometh]

8. This guy says he's a Republican, but when you get to know him, he'll

say he's really a Libertarian. He does not like the religious-right. That's what makes him so peculiar. He wouldn't support the Christian Right, but he has no qualms using their arguments when needed. Once, I saw him successfully dismantle two opposing opinions, by pitting one against the other. That's the kind of thing that Libertarians are good at.

[blogslut]

13. Sounds like Mr. man is guilty of

"fixing the facts to fit the policy."

[The Backlash Cometh]

14. Always.

[DemGa]

16. The blustery facade of wing-nuttery

Proclaiming half and zero-truths, functioning solely to muddy rational discourse. Typical.

[The Backlash Cometh]

17. I just thought of a hidden agenda.

I believe this guy has a son in the Navy, and I have noticed some, otherwise intelligent, parents of Navy people poo-poo green science over the sonar argument. Maybe he's doing this too?

[Ezlivin]

18. For a very good explanation of this sort of "thought process", read "The Authoritarians"

It's by Bob Altemeyer and available as a PDF.

Here's an excerpt:

Chapter Three

How Authoritarian Followers Think

We meet again. If you are keeping track of my promises, as we roll along together on the internet, I said in the Introduction that we would figure out why authoritarian followers think in the bizarre and perplexing way they so often do. The key to the puzzle springs from Chapter 2's observation that, first and foremost, followers have mainly copied the beliefs of the authorities in their lives. They have not developed and thought through their ideas as much as most people have. Thus almost anything can be found in their heads if their authorities put it there, even stuff that contradicts other stuff. A filing cabinet or a computer can store quite inconsistent notions and never lose a minute of sleep over their contradiction. Similarly a high RWA can have all sorts of illogical, self-contradictory, and widely refuted ideas rattling around in various boxes in his brain, and never notice it.

[The Backlash Cometh]

20. If I can grasp the concept that they are short-term thinkers, I think that

I might begin to understand the discontinuities. They will grab any counter-argument that suits them to plug an idea they don't like, but as long as no one challenges them on the long-term ramifications, the flaws of their arguments will not be easily seen.

[Cheap_Trick]

19. you need a lobotomy first