Don2 (Don1 Revised)
Contributor
http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/14/us/kentucky-state-lawmaker-death/index.html
Read full article. I have a hard time believing him if he killed himself, but who knows...
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Pastor Politician accused of rape who compared Obamas to monkeys kills self
- Thread starter Don2 (Don1 Revised)
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Read full article. I have a hard time believing him if he killed himself, but who knows...
ruby sparks
Contributor
It's arguably a bit sad, especially for their families, when anybody feels they need to kill themselves. In this case, I don't know enough about the guy to know if the allegations were likely true or false. I'm guessing more evidence or 'facts' may still emerge.
SimpleDon
Veteran Member
The changing roles of men and women reflected in the current exposures of continuing incidents of sexual harassment is the kind of monumental shift in society's mores that conservatives can't handle. The dominance of the white male in our society is ending, in an ongoing process in place since the 1950's. As women and minorities claim their place in society the white males feel increasingly insecure because they are afraid of being displaced and subrogated to the rear as women and minorities were in the past.
It is extremely difficult to convince these insecure people that society isn't so limited that it can't expand to accommodate the advancement of minorities and women without pushing white males back. It is the same as we see any time we talk about the economy, which reacts in the same way as the rest of society, expanding to accommodate the increased prosperity of previously disadvantaged groups of people. That the economy like the society in general isn't a zero sum game, in which no one can get ahead unless someone else is pushed back.
(Yes, I take every opportunity to denigrate conservatives, even tragic events like these. Unless we all pitch in and do the same, we will never be able to do what we must do, to learn to ignore conservatives like we once did. There is just so many ways that we can listen to "No" and to pretend that it is somehow more profound and truer than the last time we heard it.)
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sharon45
Veteran Member
The keyword here is insecure, because there are certainly insecure people of all stripes.
Don2 (Don1 Revised)
Contributor
It's really the removal of privilege that is going on. So, there is change and they/we are rightly insecure to have those privileges removed. What can a guy get away with now that all these changes are occurring?
It does seem that the only thing that men can get away with these days is acting like a decent human being who displays a minimal level of respect and consideration towards their fellow human beings.
I don't even recognize the world anymore.
couch_sloth
Member
Hardly seems like it’s worth living!
It does seem that the only thing that men can get away with these days is acting like a decent human being who displays a minimal level of respect and consideration towards their fellow human beings.
I don't even recognize the world anymore.
sharon45
Veteran Member
That's fine if one doesn't mind playing the victim card, but being secure isn't about thinking one is anywhere near invincible. It should be concerned with knowing one is able to defend or fight against practically all problems, even if one still loses in the end.
Don2 (Don1 Revised)
Contributor
what do you mean by that? You do hear white males playing a victim card a lot lately. Is that what you're talking about or something else?
The method people use to feel secure and how they ought to be secure are two different things. For example, A guy like Roy Moore could feel secure because of all the powerful institutional support he may have (President, Party, Church, Local and State Govt). What ought to make him secure are the positive things he's done in his life and his qualities as a person. See the distinction?
Don2 (Don1 Revised)
Contributor
Interestingly, this politician was responsible for getting some bills passed in Kentucky, such as teaching the Bible in public school. Now that he suicided, his wife is running for his seat. So this drama will be in the news for a long time.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...p-dan-johnson-says-shell-pursue-his-seat.html
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...p-dan-johnson-says-shell-pursue-his-seat.html
sharon45
Veteran Member
Yes, all sides can definitely cry the victim. I think this man became a Christian or claims to be a Christian because of the victim card.
Right, but these supply a crutch for him to merely lean against, as his religion also was.
Of course, hence why I said knowing instead of just claiming. Confidence and security should be honestly earned over time.
T.G.G. Moogly
Traditional Atheist
It seems to me that this guy took his life because he could dish it out but he could not take it. His cleverness and bullying took him so far. But up against more formidable foes he could not prevail so just shit his pants by shooting himself.
I'm glad he was just a coward, and not a mass murderer.
I'm glad he was just a coward, and not a mass murderer.
laughing dog
Contributor
Good riddance to Mr. Johnson.
It's not so much denigrating conservatives as it is criticizing and exposing certain weakness of human cognition and perception. There's a certain mentality based mainly in ordinary fear and ignorance that is exacerbated by group ideology. This is a problem of all humanity. It's maladaptive to the well being of a tribe of seven billion. The traits we call conservative -
authority over conscience, ingroup vs outgroup, fear of change, fear of other, insistence on conformity, fear of nonconformity, need to control the world, and willingness to take the easy comfort of allowing authorities to punish the feared - all work against the possibility of a peaceful humanity.
We all have the capacity for these responses and attitudes. Those of us who recognize them and put our efforts into cultivating different responses and attitudes, and who give a shit about humanity as a whole as opposed to social dominance of an ideological identity, have every right to talk about this in whatever terms we like.
Your first paragraph bears repeating:
sharon45
Veteran Member
I would like to see a conservative agree with this assessment.
If you can find conservatives who have read and understood the literature, they're probably ex-conservatives now.
T.G.G. Moogly
Traditional Atheist
The conservatives I know cannot comprehend Floof's post.
sharon45
Veteran Member
Maybe they might just disagree, yet also harbor their own comic book definition of a progressive.
Do you understand the research? Things like how it was done, why these traits are prevalent among conservatives and the religious, why those who think this way are identified as "authoritarian followers," and what kind of behaviors and choices can be predictably expected among those who demonstrate these traits? The link in my signature goes to a free ebook on the topic.
It's not a black and white topic. We all have the capacity for these traits. But not all of us exist in an ideological in-group that reinforces them or prohibits us from exposure to education, questioning, or other ways of thinking.
If someone who shows strong traits of right wing authoritarianism actually reads and understands the research, they'll most likely think it only applies to others, or possibly, in a rare moment of openness rather than defensiveness, might begin to change their way of thinking. That's IF someone of high RWA tendencies should even read it. People of this mindset will typically not read it at all, or at best, read a little bit and instead focus on discrediting it without understanding it. The literature explains all this, too.
