User:Woozle/right-wing mentality

This is a brief explanation of how the Right ("conservatives" / authoritarians / US Republicans / UK Tories) works, and why they consistently believe and do the most outrageous and awful things.

Their top priority is always maintaining systems of power. They like their society hierarchical, and they like their hierarchies deep. They often have a certain sadistic streak (because they only feel safe when they're hurting someone else), so they not only don't have a problem with people being oppressed and suffering (as long as it's not them or their in-group) -- they actually kinda like it.

This means they don't care how badly their leaders are leading, as long as the leaders who are leading are their leaders, and not someone else's.

This is why they will rally behind someone who is, to everyone else, obviously incompetent and criminal: it's vital to keep "their" people in power, no matter what they've done. They do not respect the rule of law when it applies to them. They do not respect the principles of democracy, unless they can use those principles against their enemies.

I have a friend who has a "conservative" friend who supports Trump despite having a handicapped child. When reminded that Trump publicly made fun of a handicapped reporter, she dismissed it as "fake news", and says that anything bad people say about Trump is made up or taken out of context. Evidence doesn't matter; to her, if it's against "our side", it's a malicious attack.

This is the mentality we are up against.

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adapted from my comment on a private Facebook post