Fearing Fear Itself

Nicholas Kristof is talking about how conservatives and liberals may be hard-wired differently:

We all know that liberals and conservatives are far apart on health care. But in the way their brains work? Even in automatic reflexes, like blinking? Or the way their glands secrete moisture?

That’s the suggestion of some recent research. It hints that the roots of political judgments may lie partly in fundamental personality types and even in the hard-wiring of our brains.

Researchers have found, for example, that some humans are particularly alert to threats, particularly primed to feel vulnerable and perceive danger. Those people are more likely to be conservatives.

One experiment used electrodes to measure the startle blink reflex, the way we flinch and blink when startled by a possible danger. A flash of noise was unexpectedly broadcast into the research subjects’ earphones, and the response was measured.

The researchers, led by Kevin B. Smith of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, found that those who had a stronger blink reflex at the noise were more likely to take such conservative positions as favoring gun rights, supporting warrantless searches, and opposing foreign aid.

That makes intuitive sense: If you are more acutely sensitive to risks and more fearful of attack, you also may be more aggressive in arming yourself and more wary of foreigners.

It also would explain the conservative response to terrorism-namely, abject fear and cowardice, which is manifested in its willingness to sacrifice the Constitution, the rule of law, and the ideals of America in exchange for the mirage of security.

It would explain why they are too afraid to hold a public trial of accused terrorist Khalid Shiekh Mohammed, and insist that he is some sort of scary superhuman who will break out of his cell and kill us all in our beds. Or something.

It would explain why they are so afraid of the terrorist bogeyman that they are willing to soil the reputation of the United States by demanding the torture of even innocent people, on the off chance that they might know something about something.

It would explain why right wing politicians and pundits, almost without exception, decline to join the military (even though they are of prime military age), choosing instead to demand that others fight and die in the wars they constantly agitate for.

It would explain why they are so afraid of change that they believe that Obama, a centrist if there ever was one, is preparing to turn the country into a giant Gulag, and why they would prefer that the U.S. return to the nice, quiet, un-scary 19th century.

It would explain why they are so paranoid that they insist the government be given the power to spy, without warrants or even the pretense of probable cause, on the phone and email communications of its own citizens.

It would explain the irrational fear conservatives have of anyone with different colored skin, or with different sexual preferences, or different accents, or pretty much anybody that doesn't look, talk, think, or belong to the same religion as them.

It would explain the irrational fear of drugs, when in reality, they know nothing about drugs.

Obviously, this is painting with a wide brush. I realize that there are many conservatives out there who haven't really thought through their positions, and if they took the time to do so, would realize that they are wrong, and would not be afraid to admit it.

But there are are a lot more who realize that they are trashing the Constitution, and the rule of law, and are supporting truly evil things like the invasions of helpless countries, and torture, and endless warfare, etc, but who just don't care because they are so scared they can't help themselves.

These people won't help reform a broken health care system because they are scared that the country will turn into Stalinist Russia if they do.

They fight tooth and nail against reforming our insane drug laws, because they are frightened that zombie potheads will be roaming the land, feasting on the bodies of the weak and old that they rape and kill.

They are so terrified of criminals, particularly of black criminals, that they scream out for executions; the chance that someone could escape from a life sentence in prison is just too frightening for them contemplate.

 

They are so scared that the Banking Masters of the Universe will intentionally crash the system, that they refuse to take the necessary steps to reform and save it.

They are so scared of gays in the military, a military that they would never join themselves, that they insist on kicking vitally important soldiers out of the service because gays make them sexually insecure.

I could go on all day. It certainly explains why right wingers are so eager to call liberals soft, even though many liberals (JFK, George McGovern, John Kerry) are genuine war heroes, while so many conservative heroes (Reagan, Bush II, and just about every single neo-con out there) has avoided military service. Projecting your own cowardice on others probably makes you feel better for a few minutes. 

The supreme irony is that in many cases, their reactions to these imagined threats threats makes them less secure in the long run.

I guess there isn't much that can be done to change the way these people think. Frightened, irrational people are always dangerous and prone to panic, and we will have to learn to live with them. And it might also help us to understand them, because they are our families and neighbors and coworkers and friends, and they deserve our support. 

But it would certainly help if the rest of us realized that the manifestations of fear listed above are simply the irrational reactions of a small but loudly shrieking group of truly frightened people.

At least this might keep us from following them down the rabbit hole.