The whole grievance and victimhood complex point is well laid out here. But of course it's really nothing new. We've had at least three decades to see it coming and digest it. For most of us it began with talk radio and Rush Limbaugh by the early 1990s, stoked for political gain by Newt Gingrich in the political wing and others at the same time, under the guise that "political correctness" was an enabling device on the left that endangered the well-being of the right generally and white men specifically. Ever since then grievance has been a solution in search of a problem anytime those on the right don't like the outcome of elections or policy decisions by Democrats that speak to any sense of change and evolution. It is a gift that keeps on giving, a permission structure that not only encourages the lack of empathy for others that we see from DJT on down the pecking order, but now even rejoices in it, as seen via a certain guest who is overstaying his welcome in the White House by getting up on stage and gleefully waving a chainsaw around in celebration of causing thousands of public sector workers grief and anguish by throwing them out of jobs and creating both personal and professional turmoil for those who are perceived oppressors merely by existing within the established order.
I've long since given up trying to make sense of how otherwise rational adults in daily life can become such children in their political perspectives and behavior. But such is how cults operate -- the leaders create the toxic environment and the adherents, looking for someone or something to give them guidance and hope, play follow-the-leader without assessing the consequences of the actions. It all feeds off of itself until there is nothing left to consume. We can only guess as to how low we will go as a society as long as people are conditioned to accept that and even enjoy hurting others in the name of feeling sorry for oneself and assigning blame. Hopefully sooner rather than later the adults remaining in the room can take charge again. But I'm not optimistic that relief is around the corner, not as long as those on the right tasked with leadership both enjoy the ride so much and lack the backbone to say that, at some point, enough is enough.
And all those lies—spewed ad nauseam by a RW propaganda media machine that was allowed to grow bigger and dominate most markets thanks to deregulation—is why the “Dem brand is toxic.” Many places in America only get RW propaganda. I have been to small towns where you can’t get MSNBC or even the Comedy Channel to push back against the onslaught. And this has been happening for more than thirty years! So those “recommendations” really enraged me. Let’s not forget most of the Bulwark are GOP. Sure let’s replace the Dem party with the “real GOP” to fight against MAGA but just call them something else. I can’t start screaming because I may never stop.
It's a permission structure, but what's important to me is that it's a permission structure desperately needed by and clung to by religious leaders. They know they don't preach the Gospel anymore. Even non-Christian places of worship in America are being taken over by audience capture, and the audience is marinated in propaganda. But the religious leaders need the permission structure more than their audience. They need to be convinced to stay the course in spite of their consciences. So as long as religion depends on audience capture because they want people to write checks, religion will promote this permission structure. That's how to get the people donating.
"Audience capture" is an interesting way of looking at it, and as a general observation of religion it's not wrong. But, it misses the nuance of control and manipulation specific to evangelical Christianity that brought us down the path to Christian Nationalism. Kristin Kobes Du Mez documents it pretty well in "Jesus and John Wayne," but doesn't get into some details of how slimy the theologically out there, semi-independent preachers have been (feel free to Google books on TV preachers if you want to splash through mud). A lot of successful and less-than successful ones resemble Jim Jones (for good reason) when you look behind the curtain. Anyway, the whole business is a mind trap and consciences get tossed early on.
Maybe we are hitting (have hit) the limits of the human brain to grasp complex things. This is a huge country geographically containing 340 million people using technology that most people don't understand and communications systems...social media with its mysterious ability to cough up entries that reflect our recent searches for shoes or political news. Our brains are still in the fight or flight mode a lot of the time which worked well when a saber tooth tiger was going to eat us.
It takes a lot of effort to search out facts that help us to understand this complex interdependent world we live it. Many people don't try very hard when they aren't that interested in the topic. The result is people landing on and adopting the explanations that ping their emotions. And people remember things they don't like far better than they do things that went just ok.
I've thought much the same and there is historical analogs for this (reference "Dark Ages") where we, as humans, have yet to adapt to the pace of technology and pull back (both at the individual level and institutional level).
I'm all for transparency and access to information, however, for us all there is little to no ability to process, or understand, or synthesize all of the data we're being exposed. Just because you can Google something, doesn't make you an expert on a topic, nor even competent to have a discussion about it. Yet, this happens all the time, for example 20 something mothers, blowing off about the dangers of vaccines that have been in wide use for 2x or 3x their lifespans.
You're absolutely correct, we're still too tied to biochemical reactions that have their origins in our earliest history. Humans evolve at a slightly faster than geological pace, much slower than our technological/informational pace. We'd all do well to focus on improving our emotional evolution and tempering our technological one.
Most people don't read or listen to the news. Many hear something from a friend, who heard it from a friend, who heard it from her mother who heard it on Fox News, or from their sister who saw a video on YouTube, or a cousin who got it from their brother in law on FB or the radio or a bullyboy podcast.
People are lazy and choose to be ignorant when it comes to topics that are actually VITAL to their lives. And I don't want to hear, "but their lives are so hard and they struggle working two jobs" yada yada yada. They can't tell you who their rep in Congress is but they can give you the breakdown of the PSU or Eagles game or which Philly should be traded. And don't get them started with WWE or what's happening with the Kardashians or the Housewives or any other reality TV inanity. I hear these conversations in the local public laundromat (unfortunately, I can't afford to redo my kitchen right now), from my idiot cousin, and from a close friend who gets it from people she knows.
Many Americans have lost interest in actually intellectually (and spiritually) bettering themselves and in being informed and knowing how to critically think. Learning is BORING! Trump is FUN! Elon is a GENIUS. Working class supporters think Trump is the epitome of how the rich live, while his middle and upper-middle class supporters think his cheating on his taxes and stiffing workers is shrewd business.
But you are correct. The one thing they love above all else is to bitch. They revel in it and love to blame and hate everyone else, especially liberals and Dems. It feeds some dark need in them.
I always knew who the "conservative" parents were when my kids were growing up because they were the ones who bitched about everything and never gave any grace to teachers or coaches. Their children were always the ones being persecuted, they weren't first team because the coach didn't like them, etc. Grievance has been the GOP's first language for decades.
Hence the reason the Fox bubble is alive and kicking. It is far easier to just sit and listen than to dig in and research. I know, I was that way some years ago. I work hard to find independent sources of info (this is how I found Bulwark and Richardson), balance the bubbles I visit now and then, verify sources of info I see. To be honest, it's exhausting and sometimes results in mindless doom-scrolling. People in general don't have that motivation and I get it, but that's why we have sheeple.
“I've long since given up trying to make sense of how otherwise rational adults in daily life can become such children in their political perspectives and behavior.”
Honestly Deitchmeister, it’s really not that hard to understand. It’s the epitome of the mob mentality, and the work of sheeple, who lack any semblance of original thought.
In a hearing yesterday, Comer wouldn’t even allow Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley to enter statistics into the record during the “sanctuary cities” hearing. He continued to shout her down, obstructing his own hearing.
Trump has set the tone, and the sheeple have their marching orders. Fight, lie, fight some more, lie even worse, and never admit defeat!
Karl Marx was right about one thing. “History does in fact repeat itself; first as tragedy, and second as farce.”
Trumps first administration was a Tragedy by any other name: his election, COVID and J6th. The wholesale takeover of the Republican Party.
And his second election is a total farce: SOTU! Grown men and women groveling, while chanting USA, as Dear Leader lied relentlessly, in what can only be described as a true “Emperor has no clothes” moment.
What has become of Congress? It was attacked on J6th, and now it operates as a political attack dog, filled with the most unqualified, anti-democratic clowns ever to represent this nation. Good times!…:)
The number of memes on FB these days that are a laundry list of everything they perceive that Joe Biden did wrong is off the charts. In my mind, it's pushback against the "WTF are they doing?" memes about the opening salvo of the Trump administration.
Part of me thinks is a not so subtle sign that they like sharing grievances more than actually governing the country. One is much easier than the other.
Silly me, pointing out to those people who keep pushing the Biden narrative that, even if their arguments may have some merit, they hired DJT to fix the problems that they identified, not merely to wave the finger of blame while saying that all of those campaign promises made were not intended to be taken literally -- a sort of escape hatch from accountability for their own tribe. They are an unserious group of people, unworthy of being taken seriously as long as they believe that only one side ever is right and only one side ever is wrong. But we all must live with the consequences of their choices. Six weeks down, 202 to go. Keep stating the rallying cry: "Had enough yet?"
Such great points in this thread. Maybe it's just the grievance that attracts these people (i.e. don't actually WANT to solve anything; having grievances is the point). Call it an Archie Bunker state of mind; we are all the meatheads in that narrative.
Interesting Grievance timeline:
1971-1979 All in the Family (Archie Bunker)
1979-1999 Newt Gingrich is in Congress
1988-2021 Rush Limbaugh on air
2015-present Trump era
i.e. The Petulant Grievance Era has been evolving for decades
The whole grievance and victimhood complex point is well laid out here. But of course it's really nothing new. We've had at least three decades to see it coming and digest it. For most of us it began with talk radio and Rush Limbaugh by the early 1990s, stoked for political gain by Newt Gingrich in the political wing and others at the same time, under the guise that "political correctness" was an enabling device on the left that endangered the well-being of the right generally and white men specifically. Ever since then grievance has been a solution in search of a problem anytime those on the right don't like the outcome of elections or policy decisions by Democrats that speak to any sense of change and evolution. It is a gift that keeps on giving, a permission structure that not only encourages the lack of empathy for others that we see from DJT on down the pecking order, but now even rejoices in it, as seen via a certain guest who is overstaying his welcome in the White House by getting up on stage and gleefully waving a chainsaw around in celebration of causing thousands of public sector workers grief and anguish by throwing them out of jobs and creating both personal and professional turmoil for those who are perceived oppressors merely by existing within the established order.
I've long since given up trying to make sense of how otherwise rational adults in daily life can become such children in their political perspectives and behavior. But such is how cults operate -- the leaders create the toxic environment and the adherents, looking for someone or something to give them guidance and hope, play follow-the-leader without assessing the consequences of the actions. It all feeds off of itself until there is nothing left to consume. We can only guess as to how low we will go as a society as long as people are conditioned to accept that and even enjoy hurting others in the name of feeling sorry for oneself and assigning blame. Hopefully sooner rather than later the adults remaining in the room can take charge again. But I'm not optimistic that relief is around the corner, not as long as those on the right tasked with leadership both enjoy the ride so much and lack the backbone to say that, at some point, enough is enough.
And all those lies—spewed ad nauseam by a RW propaganda media machine that was allowed to grow bigger and dominate most markets thanks to deregulation—is why the “Dem brand is toxic.” Many places in America only get RW propaganda. I have been to small towns where you can’t get MSNBC or even the Comedy Channel to push back against the onslaught. And this has been happening for more than thirty years! So those “recommendations” really enraged me. Let’s not forget most of the Bulwark are GOP. Sure let’s replace the Dem party with the “real GOP” to fight against MAGA but just call them something else. I can’t start screaming because I may never stop.
It's a permission structure, but what's important to me is that it's a permission structure desperately needed by and clung to by religious leaders. They know they don't preach the Gospel anymore. Even non-Christian places of worship in America are being taken over by audience capture, and the audience is marinated in propaganda. But the religious leaders need the permission structure more than their audience. They need to be convinced to stay the course in spite of their consciences. So as long as religion depends on audience capture because they want people to write checks, religion will promote this permission structure. That's how to get the people donating.
"Audience capture" is an interesting way of looking at it, and as a general observation of religion it's not wrong. But, it misses the nuance of control and manipulation specific to evangelical Christianity that brought us down the path to Christian Nationalism. Kristin Kobes Du Mez documents it pretty well in "Jesus and John Wayne," but doesn't get into some details of how slimy the theologically out there, semi-independent preachers have been (feel free to Google books on TV preachers if you want to splash through mud). A lot of successful and less-than successful ones resemble Jim Jones (for good reason) when you look behind the curtain. Anyway, the whole business is a mind trap and consciences get tossed early on.
Maybe we are hitting (have hit) the limits of the human brain to grasp complex things. This is a huge country geographically containing 340 million people using technology that most people don't understand and communications systems...social media with its mysterious ability to cough up entries that reflect our recent searches for shoes or political news. Our brains are still in the fight or flight mode a lot of the time which worked well when a saber tooth tiger was going to eat us.
It takes a lot of effort to search out facts that help us to understand this complex interdependent world we live it. Many people don't try very hard when they aren't that interested in the topic. The result is people landing on and adopting the explanations that ping their emotions. And people remember things they don't like far better than they do things that went just ok.
I've thought much the same and there is historical analogs for this (reference "Dark Ages") where we, as humans, have yet to adapt to the pace of technology and pull back (both at the individual level and institutional level).
I'm all for transparency and access to information, however, for us all there is little to no ability to process, or understand, or synthesize all of the data we're being exposed. Just because you can Google something, doesn't make you an expert on a topic, nor even competent to have a discussion about it. Yet, this happens all the time, for example 20 something mothers, blowing off about the dangers of vaccines that have been in wide use for 2x or 3x their lifespans.
You're absolutely correct, we're still too tied to biochemical reactions that have their origins in our earliest history. Humans evolve at a slightly faster than geological pace, much slower than our technological/informational pace. We'd all do well to focus on improving our emotional evolution and tempering our technological one.
Most people don't read or listen to the news. Many hear something from a friend, who heard it from a friend, who heard it from her mother who heard it on Fox News, or from their sister who saw a video on YouTube, or a cousin who got it from their brother in law on FB or the radio or a bullyboy podcast.
People are lazy and choose to be ignorant when it comes to topics that are actually VITAL to their lives. And I don't want to hear, "but their lives are so hard and they struggle working two jobs" yada yada yada. They can't tell you who their rep in Congress is but they can give you the breakdown of the PSU or Eagles game or which Philly should be traded. And don't get them started with WWE or what's happening with the Kardashians or the Housewives or any other reality TV inanity. I hear these conversations in the local public laundromat (unfortunately, I can't afford to redo my kitchen right now), from my idiot cousin, and from a close friend who gets it from people she knows.
Many Americans have lost interest in actually intellectually (and spiritually) bettering themselves and in being informed and knowing how to critically think. Learning is BORING! Trump is FUN! Elon is a GENIUS. Working class supporters think Trump is the epitome of how the rich live, while his middle and upper-middle class supporters think his cheating on his taxes and stiffing workers is shrewd business.
But you are correct. The one thing they love above all else is to bitch. They revel in it and love to blame and hate everyone else, especially liberals and Dems. It feeds some dark need in them.
I always knew who the "conservative" parents were when my kids were growing up because they were the ones who bitched about everything and never gave any grace to teachers or coaches. Their children were always the ones being persecuted, they weren't first team because the coach didn't like them, etc. Grievance has been the GOP's first language for decades.
Hence the reason the Fox bubble is alive and kicking. It is far easier to just sit and listen than to dig in and research. I know, I was that way some years ago. I work hard to find independent sources of info (this is how I found Bulwark and Richardson), balance the bubbles I visit now and then, verify sources of info I see. To be honest, it's exhausting and sometimes results in mindless doom-scrolling. People in general don't have that motivation and I get it, but that's why we have sheeple.
Yup. And the www has fast tracked everything you describe.
Who are the “snowflakes” now? How are they so good at getting slurs to stick, when turning the tables is so obviously apt?
“I've long since given up trying to make sense of how otherwise rational adults in daily life can become such children in their political perspectives and behavior.”
Honestly Deitchmeister, it’s really not that hard to understand. It’s the epitome of the mob mentality, and the work of sheeple, who lack any semblance of original thought.
In a hearing yesterday, Comer wouldn’t even allow Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley to enter statistics into the record during the “sanctuary cities” hearing. He continued to shout her down, obstructing his own hearing.
Trump has set the tone, and the sheeple have their marching orders. Fight, lie, fight some more, lie even worse, and never admit defeat!
Karl Marx was right about one thing. “History does in fact repeat itself; first as tragedy, and second as farce.”
Trumps first administration was a Tragedy by any other name: his election, COVID and J6th. The wholesale takeover of the Republican Party.
And his second election is a total farce: SOTU! Grown men and women groveling, while chanting USA, as Dear Leader lied relentlessly, in what can only be described as a true “Emperor has no clothes” moment.
What has become of Congress? It was attacked on J6th, and now it operates as a political attack dog, filled with the most unqualified, anti-democratic clowns ever to represent this nation. Good times!…:)
The number of memes on FB these days that are a laundry list of everything they perceive that Joe Biden did wrong is off the charts. In my mind, it's pushback against the "WTF are they doing?" memes about the opening salvo of the Trump administration.
Part of me thinks is a not so subtle sign that they like sharing grievances more than actually governing the country. One is much easier than the other.
Silly me, pointing out to those people who keep pushing the Biden narrative that, even if their arguments may have some merit, they hired DJT to fix the problems that they identified, not merely to wave the finger of blame while saying that all of those campaign promises made were not intended to be taken literally -- a sort of escape hatch from accountability for their own tribe. They are an unserious group of people, unworthy of being taken seriously as long as they believe that only one side ever is right and only one side ever is wrong. But we all must live with the consequences of their choices. Six weeks down, 202 to go. Keep stating the rallying cry: "Had enough yet?"
Such great points in this thread. Maybe it's just the grievance that attracts these people (i.e. don't actually WANT to solve anything; having grievances is the point). Call it an Archie Bunker state of mind; we are all the meatheads in that narrative.
Interesting Grievance timeline:
1971-1979 All in the Family (Archie Bunker)
1979-1999 Newt Gingrich is in Congress
1988-2021 Rush Limbaugh on air
2015-present Trump era
i.e. The Petulant Grievance Era has been evolving for decades