I don’t mean this thread to be a pit or offensive… but recently I just can’t ignore how paranoia seems a staple with some conservatives. Especially some Brazilian conservatives I’ve been having contact in the net.
Obviously I don’t have specific examples to give here… still from the “Kerry is going to socialize stuff” to “America wants to take the Amazon from us” I hear way to much paranoic stuff from American and Brazilian conservatives. The military and the religious elements in Brazil especially. Some of these guys actually beleive the USA has plans setup to take over the Amazon at anytime. They discuss how operations against americans should be conducted. (The fact that the jungle would basically kill or sicken most invaders seems irrelevant… or that invading the Amazon is like taking possession of the Moon)
I’m part of a Brazilian pro-choice community in the Orkut site… and I regurlarly check on threads on our counterpart the anti-choice community. Every once in a while they mention foreign attempts at subsidizing new laws stimulating abortion (abortion is illegal in my backward Brazil). They also talk about abortionist leadership doing whatever to promote their cause. The stuff they imagine is really out of this world… it would be amusing if some of they weren’t experienced lawyers.
To make things worse… by Dad is becoming more of a conservative for some time and now he seems overly worried about the Avian fever headed our way. He even bought some tamiflu (expensive drug against viral action). I remember sometime ago in the SMDB a link about conservatism being a sort of pshycological disoder… but I never managed to locate that thread again.
So am I imagining things ? Is the UN really out to take over the world ? I’m being paranoic myself ? Or do many conservatives have this “trait” ? Naturally I figure many conservatives were bred into conservatism by their parents or community… so I doubt my observations are valid for all stripes.
I don’t think you are going to win that many friends on the SDMB by describing conservatism as a mental illness. The paranoia that you describe is a a fundamental trait of a typical election in the U.S. - on both sides. Negative ad campaigning to promote dissatisfaction or paranoia is very common.
I assume you are somewhat liberal yourself. It sounds like you are making the self-centered mistake of believing that fears by the other side are irrational and biased and any fears your side has are just common sense and rooted in hard facts. Also, the saying “Just because I am paranoid doesn’t mean that people aren’t out to get me” may apply somewhat here. It is healthy to have some skepticism about large change instead of just blindly accepting what others with their own biases are telling you. I don’t know much about Brazilian politics but perhaps some of the conservative concern is rooted in valid fears and they are the rational ones. I won’t be the first time. Change induced by liberal movements has gone bad many times in history.
The notion that an imperialistic and sinister U.S. is just biding its time and plotting an invasion is not something limited to conservatives or Brazilian conservatives. The primary stated reason behind Chavez’s build-up of a citizen militia several million strong is to fight back any imminent invasion by the U.S.
The somewhat recent Turkish novel “Metal Storm” depicts a US attack (for some reason) on Turkey. Many commentators have remarked that the book has become a best-seller because many Turks have come to distrust the US and they genuinely believe that the US may attack them. (Also see the Turkish blockbuster “Valley of the Wolves: Iraq”).
So, it seems that fear and distrust of the US is one of the few qualities shared by multipartisans the world over.
Yes and no. You do hear things from the right like “Hillary is a socialist”, which is an absurd exageration. But you hear exactly the same kind of absurd exageration from the left. Maybe you don’t think it’s absurd because you credit it with more plausibility. Do you, for example, think that Bush wants to turn the US into a theocracy? Do you think that Republicans are fascists or that Bush is the biggest terrorist in the world today?
If we were judging things solely by GD thread titles, I’d say the paranoia is more on the left than on the right. Of course, that might change as soon as a Democrat sits in the oval office.
If people are cynically uttering paranoid statements they don’t believe, their motivation is to pander to others who do believe. Thus, even the cynics point to the existence of the real paranoids.
Well, given that the US is in no position to invade any other medium-sized country and that the US has made no threats of military action or ominous nearby military exercises, it sure seems paranoid. Despite whatever de facto US support of the brief coup against him in 2002, Chavez has since gone out of his way to cast himself as the arch-enemy of Bush. In all likelihood, Bush certainly has had bigger fish to fry since 2002 and was probably only barely aware of Chavez at the time.
Instead, Chavez simply appears to be taking full advantage of America’s general unpopularity with the world and with worldwide leftists in particular. Chavez has made it a point to defend Iran’s nuclear program and accuses the US of trying to kill him (without offering much evidence to support this).
It’s not simply who is holding the presidency, but the impression that Republicans are ascendant these days. They control not just the presidency but both houses of Congress, the majority of state governorships and have a tenuous like-minded majority on the Supreme Court.
When people you support are in power, naturally you’re not too worried about what they are doing or what they might do in the future. When that power isn’t used to its full effectiveness or in ways you don’t want, then you have to come up with an explanation. For the Republican National Committe, it seems that the explanation is that the Democrats are the Evil Galactic Empire from “Star Wars” and must be defeated by the outnumbered, beleagered Republican majority.
Maybe not NOW. But in the past, we treated most of Latin America like our own personal playground. They have a LONG history of being controlled and invaded by us, so the paranoia isn’t entirely unfounded. Maybe a bit overreaction, though.
I can think of several, from the “vast right-wing conspiracy” to “Rove stole the election” and out into the fever swamps of “the CIA fostered the crack epidemic” and “AIDS was genetically engineered to kill black people”.
Paranoia is not “on the side” of some political ideas, it is right at the center of them. But they are hardly all on one end of the spectrum or the other.
Actually I believe we do, wait a sec…, yea here is it.
No really I though the US has plans ready for a takeover of any part of the world, not that they are planning on doing it, but it’s more of ‘just in case’, and a training excercise.
I find the irony of this thread on the same page as a thread talking about the US invading Canada (with several Canadians actually considering it) to be quite delicious. And attempting to point a finger solely at Conservative paranoia (and on THIS board to boot! ) has my irony meter maxing out.
But I do think that Bush wouldn’t necessarily care if the US were turned into a theocracy, so long as it’s a Christian theocracy and he still had lots of money. I think he’s genuinely apathetic about the US. I do believe that there are Republican fascists, just as there are Democratic fascists. And I do believe that a case could be made for Bush as a terrorist and, if he is one, he’s probably the biggest one.
Yes she was. I can accept that some very powerful Republicans were out to get WJC, but people can act toward a common end without being conspiratorial about it. One might as well say there is a vast conspiracy to buy automobiles or put U2 at the top of the charts.
So true… but Chavez is playing fear mongering rather than paranoic. IMO.
Still what many are saying is liberal paranoia examples… seem like just far fetched possible events if current trends continue. I don’t think Bush is actively trying to make the US a theocracy… but putting religion in the center stage and making it so strong a determinant of US policy and politics sure makes for some wierd future scenarios. But hardly paranoia.
Naturally most are aware of the current limitations of the US military “liberation” abilities. I know military planning involves creating scenarios that might naturally involve invading “friendly” countries. But some nutcases think americans already are staking out bases in the Amazon for military purposes. (They might be there for other reasons… but hardly military). I still think the best way to control the Amazon is invading the rest of Brazil… its kind of silly to “invade” a huge swath of jungle and claim possession.
I guess paranoia can be seen in a much wider scope…
) has my irony meter maxing out.