# What's the worst thing conservatives have to fear? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [April 3, 2021, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-conservatives-have-to-fear/939345 "2021-04-03T20:55:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-conservatives-have-to-fear/939345/21 "2021-04-05T00:04:28Z")
The worst thing conservatives have to fear is the loss of what they believe is their privileged position in society. They base their view on a contrast with those who are not of their ethnic, national, and/or (but mostly and) heritage. There is no room in their poltics for “the common good” or even “of the people, by the people, for the people” when other people than those in their narrow definition are included. The great irony here, of course, is that those same “conservatives” would not have been included in said government or said position of privilege in the mythical past they idolize. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-conservatives-have-to-fear/939345/22 "2021-04-05T01:07:21Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > The worst thing conservatives have to fear is the loss of what they believe is their privileged position in society. They think they have already lost their position in society. And they are often right about that. As to whether it was a privileged position, they sincerely believe it was not. If a business executive, they are mistaken. But it is hard for me to see the average West Virginia or Pennsyltucky Republican as having a privileged position in society. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-conservatives-have-to-fear/939345/23 "2021-04-05T01:20:09Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > If a business executive, they are mistaken. But it is hard for me to see the average West Virginia or Pennsyltucky Republican as having a privileged position in society. I recall one Twitter post by a white male janitor at a university, who earned low pay - a conservative - sharing his experience of cleaning the blackboard of the chalk written there by a lecturing professor, a minority woman who earned $460,000 a year. The professor had been writing on the board about white male privilege and the like, and the janitor just wasn’t feeling it. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-conservatives-have-to-fear/939345/24 "2021-04-05T01:22:27Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > But it is hard for me to see the average West Virginia or Pennsyltucky Republican as having a privileged position in society. Did you ever see _Mississippi Burning_? There are some great lines there showing what that privilege was for poor white people. Also, do you know why the expression _white trash_ is racist against Blacks? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-conservatives-have-to-fear/939345/25 "2021-04-05T01:48:30Z")
There are some local policies here in the Seattle area that I’d dislike to see done on the national level. Many crimes aren’t being prosecuted, even repeat violent offenders, and I worry about something like that happening on the national level if the left had no pushback at all. Then again I’m not a conservative and I was a pretty strong supporter of Biden (still am) so I am not really the subject of this thread. But as a moderate that is the only thing I’m worried about happening if Democrats had absolute power. (That and taxes going up to ridiculous levels.) ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-conservatives-have-to-fear/939345/26 "2021-04-05T01:54:59Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I recall one Twitter post by a white male janitor at a university, who earned low pay - a conservative - sharing his experience of cleaning the blackboard of the chalk written there by a lecturing professor, a minority woman who earned $460,000 a year. The professor had been writing on the board about white male privilege and the like, and the janitor just wasn’t feeling it. Sounds super made up. ---
**Author:** ![Steven\_Maven](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steven_maven/32/3272_2.png) [@Steven\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steven_Maven)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-conservatives-have-to-fear/939345/27 "2021-04-05T02:01:19Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > > [@Velocity](#): > > > > What’s the worst thing conservatives would face under such a scenario? > > The incompetence of an overly-left government. No. The worst fear of Conservatives is that Progressive policies would work spectacularly well. (I’m not saying that they actually would.) ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-conservatives-have-to-fear/939345/28 "2021-04-05T02:18:14Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Also, do you know why the expression _white trash_ is racist against Blacks? Of course. Maybe I shouldn’t have used the word Pennsyltucky, if that’s what inspired your mention of trash — and even if not. I withdraw it. You can call me privileged. I am. My parents didn’t give me much cash, but they made sure I could obtain an outstanding education, and they paid for all of it. Now, when someone, including an average Trump supporter, who isn’t so clearly privileged, is told they are, it might reasonably feel to them not totally different from when they’ve been called trashy. I don’t know that it is exactly a worst fear, but no one likes being looked down on. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-conservatives-have-to-fear/939345/29 "2021-04-05T02:31:15Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Of course. > > Maybe I shouldn’t have used the word Pennsyltucky, if that’s what inspired your mention of trash — and even if not. I withdraw it. > > You can call me privileged. I am. My parents didn’t give me much cash, but they made sure I could obtain an outstanding education, and they paid for all of it. > > Now, when someone, including an average Trump supporter, who isn’t so clearly privileged, is told they are, it might reasonably feel to them not totally different from when they’ve been called trashy. > > I don’t know that it is exactly a worst fear, but no one likes being looked down on. Nope. The thing that inspired my mentioning of that term is the simple fact that the poorest, most disadvantaged white still has more privilege than Blacks in the United States. Are you white? Then, yes, you are privileged and I will call you such. Those trumpist supporters are quite clearly privileged, no matter how they feel. Over the last five years, we have seen how they have decided that their feeling trump facts. Yeah, they don’t like being looked down on, but they certainly are proficient at looking down on others. They wish for the past in which their version of themselves held all the power in society. To Hell with their feelings. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-conservatives-have-to-fear/939345/30 "2021-04-05T02:45:02Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > Sounds super made up. Yeah. Academics who make $460,000 a year are _extremely_ rare, and mostly not in fields where it would make sense for them to be lecturing about white male privilege. (I would buy that salary if the professor were a Nobel-prize-winning physicist or something, but in humanities / social sciences fields, that would be so far outside of the norm that it really wouldn’t serve as a plausible example of _any_ general principle even if it happened to be true in this one case.) ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-conservatives-have-to-fear/939345/31 "2021-04-05T02:50:03Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > Yeah. Academics who make $460,000 a year are _extremely_ rare, and mostly not in fields where it would make sense for them to be lecturing about white male privilege. (I would buy that salary if the professor were a Nobel-prize-winning physicist or something, but in humanities / social sciences fields, that would be so far outside of the norm that it really wouldn’t serve as a plausible example of _any_ general principle even if it happened to be true in this one case.) My apologies. I checked again, it was $400,000, not $460,000. Still, though, in the income stratosphere. [![](https://media.notthebee.com/articles/article-60573e348742a.jpg) ](https://media.notthebee.com/articles/article-60573e348742a.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-conservatives-have-to-fear/939345/32 "2021-04-05T02:55:41Z")
Poor Xavier - the world must shit on him every day. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-conservatives-have-to-fear/939345/33 "2021-04-05T03:00:34Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > My apologies. I checked again, it was $400,000, not $460,000. > > Still, though, in the income stratosphere. Yeah. Still sounds super made up. ---
**Author:** ![Temporary\_Name](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Temporary\_Name](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Temporary_Name)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-conservatives-have-to-fear/939345/34 "2021-04-05T03:59:26Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > The present version of the Republican/conservative “team” seems to be most strongly motivated by liberal tears, so the lack of liberal tears would probably be very distressing to them. I think you are mistaking cause and effect here, liberal tears are how they keep score but it is not the motivation. The motivation is to stop this politically correct idea that “all men” means those who are not just like them (white, privileged Christians of at least some means) or those women and people of color who emulate their view of typical or ‘real’ American to the greatest extent possible. Examples here would include Clarence Thomas and Phyllis Schaffley; to the conservatives I know personally (and none of them think they are the least bit racist or sexist) true Americans are stamped out in a plant in the Midwest. They are all white, either manly men or demurring women, all devoutly Christian (Catholics and Mormons are only Christian if they are hyper conservative members of the Republican Party- otherwise they are Papists or cultists), all hard working, mostly professionals- entrepreneurs- or highly skilled tradesmen, and they believe they are blessed by god because they were born that way. They don’t seem to feel compelled to live their religious ideals, just oppose all other religions and all resistance to the tenants of the faith they profess. All social programs are evil (even the ones that support them like Social Security for the elderly) and smacks of communal societies and they KNOW for a fact Communism and Socialism are not just wrong but EVIL because they deny the existence of God Almighty. Every true American knows the default setting is: white, Christian, conservative; all others pretenders to the American dream. (I did not mention their views toward LGBT above but they feel opposing “perversion” is their duty.) They don’t fear the absence of liberal tears- they fear what that absence would mean. (Namely, a fair and free society.) > [@flurb](#): > > I don’t think it’s Venezuela they fear – it’s Zimbabwe. In their heart of hearts, they assume that if marginalized peoples are ever able to truly take the reigns of power, they will come after their oppressors. That they will be, at a minimum, dispossessed, driven from their homes and forced into subservience. At worst, they’ll be subject to pogroms and concentration camps. > > It may sound ridiculous, but a sizable segment of the right thinks this way. And they are so convinced this will happen **because it’s exactly what they would do if they were in their place**. I have to agree that for many of those conservatives I know this is kinda true and for the very reason you state and that I bolded above. They definitely have an us against them world view and don’t want to be part of a true melting pot – they prefer the kind of melting pot where those added _assimilate_ immediately and completely. I see the occasional e-mail where they state that they cannot believe they have to live in an America where White and Christian are not the default settings. “Real Americans” are those coming from England and Denmark to establish a free CHRISTIAN nation. Period. > [@Velocity](#): > > That was pretty much illustrated in the pandemic. The liberals were, by and large, the ones trying to create and maintain a system of order and protocol for people to follow. The conservatives were by and large the ones trying to disrupt it and make things more chaotic. Isn’t this truth ironic coming from the group who feels they are the true establishment ordained by God? > [@Icarus](#): > > Many conservatives are deeply driven by fear. Fear of the other, the unknown, change, and ironically both chaos and conversely too much order (imposed by “the government”). It really doesn’t matter what the specific topic is, if it elicits a fear response (which are frankly a knee-jerk baseline), then it must be opposed. Amen! That has been my experience also. > [@Monty](#): > > The worst thing conservatives have to fear is the loss of what they believe is their privileged position in society Sorry, have to disagree here, but I believe you and I _may_ agree. They do have to fear losing their privileged position, but they do not see how privileged their place is. To them being privileged is just normal so when they are asked to be equal to Muslims and Jews and atheists and Hindus and Buddhists they are shocked and appalled. As I mentioned above, in their views, white Christian is the default and others must defer to them! They are _not_ to be asked to have these ‘lesser’ Americans on the same footing as themselves. > [@Monty](#): > > There is no room in their poltics for “the common good” or even “of the people, by the people, for the people” when other people than those in their narrow definition are included. The great irony here, of course, is that those same “conservatives” would not have been included in said government or said position of privilege in the mythical past they idolize. Yes, here we agree completely. I believe we agree above also but phrase things differently. > [@Steven\_Maven](#): > > No. The worst fear of Conservatives is that Progressive policies would work spectacularly well. (I’m not saying that they actually would.) You would have to say that nothing stings like the other side being so completely right! I sometimes suspect the Republican Party opposes some legislation because they did not think of it first. Hell, they even oppose Republican ideas when put forth by Democrats (for example The Affordable Care Act – aka Romney Care). > [@Monty](#): > > Are you white? Then, yes, you are privileged and I will call you such. Those trumpist supporters are quite clearly privileged, no matter how they feel. Over the last five years, we have seen how **they have decided that their feeling trump facts**. > > Yeah, they don’t like being looked down on, but they certainly are proficient at looking down on others. They wish for the past in which their version of themselves held all the power in society. White privilege is pretty obvious, if it is not for you I suggest you drive around in the backseat of your black friend’s car for a week. As a straight white male I will stipulate that all of those criteria have benefited me more than a time or two during my lifetime. Also, their subjective view of things is MUCH more important than reality it seems, as the portion of your post I bolded above states. There is no objective truth and no points of policy – only what THEY want to be true against all reason, sense, and Democratic opposition (what they call Socialism). > [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > Yeah. Still sounds super made up. When I read this I assumed the greater part of her income must not come from teaching. Perhaps, I thought, she also owned a factory that made her most of that income. But the idea of a good hardworking white guy down on his luck having to serve (clean up after) a woman of color making ten times the money he makes is one fear my multiple distant cousins live with daily. “How could this happen in America??” Of course one time their father (who was a Yankee but he married a southern gal when he was in the Army) sat me down and explained to me that: “Yea the KKK can be and usually is racist- but they also do some good. When a husband is beating his wife they go over and have a talk with him. If it ever happens again they show what it is like to be the victim of a beating. If someone doesn’t pay their bills and his kids go hungry, they use violence to encourage better parental ethics.” In other words keeping blacks ‘in their place’ (in his view) was just one of the many social services they provided. (Needless to say, this uncle and I have become estranged.) ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-conservatives-have-to-fear/939345/35 "2021-04-05T04:46:03Z")
> [@Temporary\_Name](#): > > When I read this I assumed the greater part of her income must not come from teaching. Perhaps, I thought, she also owned a factory that made her most of that income. When I read this I assumed it was a made up story because this is obviously a made up story. As an added bonus, I didn’t have to invent a factory to support my theory. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-conservatives-have-to-fear/939345/36 "2021-04-05T05:24:37Z")
Professors at the most expensive colleges in the US make about half what that professor at some mysterious “Christian” school is supposed to be making. > **[Here are the average salaries of professors at all 8 Ivy League schools](https://www.businessinsider.com/the-average-salaries-of-ivy-league-university-professors-2019-8#harvard-university-226394-8)** > > Ivy League professors are paid extremely well — here are the salaries of professor's at all 8 of the country's most prestigious universities. And religious schools usually pay their faculty less. > **[Professor pay is flat -- again](https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/04/08/professor-pay-flat-again)** > > Academic work is harder than ever, but professor pay was static year over year and probably won't be improving any time soon, according to the AAUP's annual salary report. Usual suspects offer biggest salaries. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-conservatives-have-to-fear/939345/37 "2021-04-05T05:32:40Z")
He said she was a **visiting** professor, though. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-conservatives-have-to-fear/939345/38 "2021-04-05T05:34:04Z")
So how did this janitor “look her up” to get her income? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-conservatives-have-to-fear/939345/39 "2021-04-05T05:36:52Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I recall one Twitter post by a white male janitor at a university, who earned low pay - a conservative - sharing his experience of cleaning the blackboard of the chalk written there by a lecturing professor, a minority woman who earned $460,000 a year. The professor had been writing on the board about white male privilege and the like, and the janitor just wasn’t feeling it. He felt that he was better than a minority woman, and the fact that she worked hard to get where she is had nothing to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-conservatives-have-to-fear/939345/40 "2021-04-05T06:01:10Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > He said she was a **visiting** professor, though. He said a number of unbelievable things. Why are you falling for it? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-conservatives-have-to-fear/939345.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-conservatives-have-to-fear/939345.md?page=3)