US culture is an incubator of ‘extrinsic values’. Nobody embodies them like the Republican frontrunner
Many explanations are proposed for the continued rise of Donald Trump, and the steadfastness of his support, even as the outrages and criminal charges pile up. Some of these explanations are powerful. But there is one I have seen mentioned nowhere, which could, I believe, be the most important: Trump is king of the extrinsics.
Some psychologists believe our values tend to cluster around certain poles, described as “intrinsic” and “extrinsic”. People with a strong set of intrinsic values are inclined towards empathy, intimacy and self-acceptance. They tend to be open to challenge and change, interested in universal rights and equality, and protective of other people and the living world.
People at the extrinsic end of the spectrum are more attracted to prestige, status, image, fame, power and wealth. They are strongly motivated by the prospect of individual reward and praise. They are more likely to objectify and exploit other people, to behave rudely and aggressively and to dismiss social and environmental impacts. They have little interest in cooperation or community. People with a strong set of extrinsic values are more likely to suffer from frustration, dissatisfaction, stress, anxiety, anger and compulsive behaviour.
Conservatives believe in a hierarchy and stratification of society.
They simply place themselves as the leaders and arbiters of that order based on their self-appointed superiority. They will always place themselves at the top of the totem pole.
Therefore, even if they were to completely acknowledge their failings (not a chance), their failings will never be reason to upset that order; but everyone else’s failings, perceived or real, will be more than sufficient to be kept to the end of the totem pole stuck in the dirt.
I agree with everything you said, except I think you chose a weird example. Burning flags especifically is a nuanced issue. I’d argue that a lot of liberas would be in favor of not burning flags, because of the harm principle you mentioned. There is no non-viopent situation in which you burn a flag, therefore laws like these tend to be supported by both sides.
- The internet makes people feel that they are actually smart - Like they possess a lot of knowledge just because they have access to it, in theory
- This country was founded in part, by very deeply racist people. That racism never actually “left”, it’s just had moments of quiet, but it’s always there because we didn’t punish the traitors behind the civil war hard enough. We also allowed the daughters of the confederacy to attempt to literally rewrite history.
- trump is a poor person’s idea of a rich person. They also see him and think inside, quietly, “he’s an idiot, so that means if I wanted to be the president, I could be the president, I just don’t want to right now”. Then when people attack trump, they feel personally attacked and defend him.
It’s somewhere in the balance of these three points.
This isn’t anything that hadn’t been said before. What they are describing is shitty people and assholes. Folks have been saying that for awhile now.
The type of people breed by suburbs; under-socialized and lonely.
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It’s true. I’m GenX, and I’m 50% plastic, 10% Styrofoam, and 5% lead.
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Inb4 you realize geriatrics love fox news and vote according to whatever the current Fucker Carlson firmware version tells them to.
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Oh thank God, that means trump doesn’t have any support /s
Every rule has an exception
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Thanks for refusing reality 🤷
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Why people fall for demagogues is part of oroblem. Understanding why they listen to them will help us make that firebrand we need.
All this pseudo-analysis comes across as failing to see what Trump is a symptom of and instead presumes Trump is the root of the ailment.
This sentence is out of place. In the rest of your post you’re agreeing with the article.>
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I would be careful about descending too deeply into any kind of populism tbh. Politics should be more technocratic than liturgical, without being too much of either.
The grievances of the people need to be heard, and it is inevitable that the elite class will grow deaf to those needs over time.
This isn’t because technocrats will act out of malice; rather it means the system that they serve will be bought out by oligarchs who will bend all existing structures to serve their own goals rather than the goals of the people.
A strong judicial system can help to prevent that. Unfortunately judiciaries can also be bought, as the United States has recently seen
I don’t know about a populist but what we need are a lot more progressive, pro-labor types along the lines of Bernie and AOC.
We need major FDR style New Deal reform (assuming I understand what that was): economic security, health security, more power to the working class and less power for corporations, among many other things.
What we need less of is pro-corporate, neolib types (e.g., Pelosi), fascists, crooks, reactionaries, and zealots (e.g. …well, any GOP politician).
We need major FDR style New Deal reform (assuming I understand what that was
You’re talking about the below:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_democracy
And its contemporary application:
Why yes. Yes I am.
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only because billionaire Taylor Swift has been wronged by it
Wait what? I’m not sure I believe this. Do you have proof?
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Honestly you don’t even have to go that far. Democrats have spent the last 20+ years dismissing or ignoring problems. All they really need to do is acknowledge they are problems and maybe some lip service about helping them.
The big thing is just stop offering non-solutions that may be well intentioned, but sound like leave your shit hole town and get some education.
I disagree about the lip service part. Because that just gives them ammo for years from now. But do SOMETHING to help.
My problem with saying do something is that the something democrats routinely choose ends up being worse than doing nothing.
What is the evidence of this?
The New Deal and The Great Society seem to disprove this notion.
And Biden’s recent Inflation Reduction Act, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and American Rescue Plan Act are the strongest domestic investments in US history since the Great Society, which was 60 years ago at this point. Making Biden’s legislative wins the strongest accomplishments in most Americans lifetimes
Dems need to do way more, and Biden is still not sufficient. But idk if it’s true that his legislation has made things “worse”
Modern conservatives believe poor people have it easier than rich people and the majority ethnicity and religion are oppressed by the minorities. They are comfortable and uninterested in learning, but believe they should be treated with the upmost respect and consideration.
The factors are:
Lack of empathy
Stupidity
Fear
Utmost*
Its not just a lack of empathy.
its a downright terrified fear of empathy.
Because they think giving a shit about their neighbor might make them liberal, or gay, or whatever other weird connection their fucked up driven-mad-by-fox-news-brain comes up with.
Same reason they are terrified of trans people, because they are terrified of being attracted to a trans person cause, in their head, that makes them gay, which comes with the fear of being treated like they’ve treated gay people.
Honestly, almost everything comes back towards a baseless, ignorant fear. Mostly fear of having done to them what they’ve done or wanted to do to others.
This is just as false as saying “all liberals are snowflakes”. There are people who lack empathy, sure. But all people show empathy. The difference is that for liberals there is less of an out/in group mentality. And so they express empathy more widely. For conservative people (in the context of this article) they feel empathy just like everyone else, except it is only towards their in-group. Because of this idea of being different to out-groups.
Well then they must hide it really fucking well, Cause there sure hasnt been any outward signs of empathy towards their in-groups.
Just a cycle of no-true-scotsmaning themselves into smaller groups any time someone dares to have wrong-thought.
its a downright terrified fear of empathy. Because they think giving a shit about their neighbor might make them liberal, or gay, or whatever other weird connection their fucked up driven-mad-by-fox-news-brain comes up with.
It’s a fear of empathy, but not for the reasons you describe.
Working class conservatives are afraid of caring for their neighbor, let alone caring for a stranger, because they fear being taken advantage of. They fear being victims of a scam. They fear being deceived. They fear that the person asking for help is actually a rich person who is dressed up like a poor person because asking for handouts is an easier way to make money than working for a living. Where you and I see the unhoused and the genuine victims of capitalism, they see grifters and charlatans.
Which is all obviously a distortion of actual reality - the unhoused are not tricksters who are out to deceive us. But that is the narrative that needs to be addressed and countered if we want to build genuine empathic behavior
Decent summary, but I would put fear as no.1 reason. Everything leads back to fear and denial.
I don’t want to vote for either of them. They both suck.
Are you going to respond to the other comment below yours? Or are you just here to ensure Trump gets elected?
Wasn’t on my phone yet jackass
They may both suck but Trump and party made abortions a lot harder to get, have made life a lot harder for Trans people, tried to stop the transfer of power and are undermining the nations confidence in elections. In addition, some are now trying to undermine a bi-partisan deal on border security to have a talking point at the ballot box.
Elections a lot of times are a vote for the lesser of two evils. And because the President gets to nominate Supreme Court justices it’s critical to vote. every. time.
Saying ‘they both suck’ is a cop-out.
Both of them do suck. I hate both of them, not the leaders I’d want in office. I’d rather vote for RFK, but even he has his quirks. My family is right leaning, I’m not, but I’m sure as hell not voting for Biden to get relected.
I thought we went over this in 2016 and the answer was “Economic Anxiety”.
And the average person economic situation has drastically deteriorated since then, especially post-Covid
Source: grocery prices and housing costs
Well it certainly didn’t go away.
Mental illness
This is silly. The reason why people are voting for him is because he’s NOT a Democrat. It’s the same shit on both sides. Biden’s a fucking idiot, and most Demcorats know this…yet, they will keep voting for him because he’s NOT a Republican.
Nah, it’s because Trump is far worse. They are not equivalent idiots.
Toxoplasmosis.
People are stupid. Saved you a click.
Lead pipes
Gas leak?
This is the best summary I could come up with:
From the tower bearing his name in gold letters to his gross overstatements of his wealth; from his endless ranting about “winners” and “losers” to his reported habit of cheating at golf; from his extreme objectification of women, including his own daughter, to his obsession with the size of his hands; from his rejection of public service, human rights and environmental protection to his extreme dissatisfaction and fury, undiminished even when he was president of the United States, Trump, perhaps more than any other public figure in recent history, is a walking, talking monument to extrinsic values.
If people live under a cruel and grasping political system, they tend to normalise and internalise it, absorbing its dominant claims and translating them into extrinsic values.
If, by contrast, people live in a country in which no one becomes destitute, in which social norms are characterised by kindness, empathy, community and freedom from want and fear, their values are likely to shift towards the intrinsic end.
Ever since Ronald Reagan came to power, on a platform that ensured society became sharply divided into “winners” and “losers”, and ever more people, lacking public provision, were allowed to fall through the cracks, US politics has become fertile soil for extrinsic values.
Under the criminal justice bill now passing through parliament, people caught rough sleeping can be imprisoned or fined up to £2,500 if they are deemed to constitute a “nuisance” or cause “damage”.
If so, his victory will be due not only to the racial resentment of ageing white men, or to his weaponisation of culture wars or to algorithms and echo chambers, important as these factors are.
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