Something nobody ever says about right-wingers ...

[Jeebo]

Last edited Mon Oct 28, 2024, 03:36 PM - Edit history (1)

They're GULLIBLE! They're gullible as hell! Look at all the CRAZY stuff they seem to actually BELIEVE! Hillary Clinton is running a child sex ring out of the basement of a D.C. pizza restaurant. Haitian immigrants are eating their neighbors' dogs and cats. Your little boy goes to school one morning and comes back in the afternoon a girl. A mere 15 or 20 years ago anybody would have thought that one side of the political spectrum descending into madness and spouting this kind of NONSENSE had gone INSANE, and yet, now, it almost seems normal for these right-wingers. We need to start confronting these crazy right-wingers by telling them, are you really GULLIBLE enough to actually BELIEVE that stupid shit? Grow up, you idiot, or go seek psychiatric help!

On edit, I perceive that there is some need for me to explain the nuance behind my original post. I'm not talking about the nonsense right-wingers believe. I'm talking about how EASILY they come to believe that nonsense. They have lost all ability to think critically, if they ever had that ability to begin with. That could serve as a definition of the word "gullible". Believing things much too easily. I wish Kamala Harris would have used that word during her debate with the orange con man. When he started talking about Haitian immigrants eating their neighbors' dogs and cats, she laughed, but I wish she would have also said, "Donald, do you REALLY believe that nonsense? Are you really that GULLIBLE? If you really are that gullible, you belong not in the White House, but in the nut house, under the care of a psychiatrist in a white coat." I would have LOVED to hear that line from her in that debate.

Have I now adequately explained the nuance between just believing crazy shit, and being so GULLIBLE as to easily accept and believe crazy shit?

-- Ron

[H2O Man]

1. ?

I think people have said that for many years.

[Jeebo]

3. I've never heard anybody say they're GULLIBLE.

I've never heard anybody use that specific word to describe them, or the very specific concept that word represents. I've never heard anybody say what that word means, that they believe nonsense too easily. That's what the word "gullible" means. I hear it said all the time that they're stupid, that what they claim to believe is crazy shit, but never the concept of believing bullshit too easily. That's what the word "gullible" means. Not that what they believe is crazy, but that they believe that kind of craziness too easily when they hear it. That's an important distinction.

-- Ron

[H2O Man]

7. That's fine.

I know exactly what the word "gullible" means. I know exactly what the word "gullible" means.

We travel in different circles. I've heard it numerous times.

[grumpyduck]

8. "Gullible" is a pefect word for these individuals.

I wrote in a previous post that what I've been seeing here is equivalent to faith: you believe something because someone tells you it's true, even if they don't offer any proof.

A Republican friend of mine said that there were photos of Haitians killing and eating their pets. Had he seen them? No. So how did he know? Because "they" said so. With all due respect to a good friend for fifty-plus years, that's gullibility.

[SoFlaBro]

2. I've been saying that MAGA is stupid as fuck for a long time. Braindead rapist, racism fuckstains. All of them.

[mahina]

4. Therein lies the opportunity to crack open the coconut. One day they will understand they have been hustled

Maybe trying to balance their checkbook while surrounded by trump gold sneakers, trump water, trump hats and flags...slowly the light dawns. Be there for them.

[Wounded Bear]

5. Problem: It is far easier to fool somebody than to convinve them they have been fooled...

[Fyrefox]

6. The craziness has been normalized...

We're all familiar with right-wing craziness, but for years it was restricted to bars, hateful communities, and talk radio; they were isolated and fragmented. Then Trump exposed, validated, and celebrated the worst side of human nature, and gave them a star around which to openly orbit. Hate became great and mean was keen; reality was processed through heavy perceptual filters that blocked out anything that they didn't personally want to believe, and facts be damned!

[3catwoman3]

9. I can never decide whether to feel sorry for or...

...scornful of people whose thinking is so screwed up.

[Metaphorical]

10. A bit of analysis here

Over the last several decades, Republicans have become increasingly extroverted, in comparison to Democrats, who for the most part tend to be pretty much evenly split across the introvert/extrovert spectrum, maybe with a bit more lean toward introversion.

There is a fairly strong correlation between extreme extroversion, low intelligence (broadly), and narcissism/psychopathy. They share a lot of common traits:

* They are very status conscious and tend to see the world in terms of hierarchies. Success is being at or near the top of their respective hierarchy, and those below them in the hierarchy are their inferiors.
* They are frequently bullies, preferring to intimidate inferiors as one way of establishing social position
* They are very linear thinkers, and have trouble dealing with abstractions and systemic thinking. They have poor reasoning skills, and tend towards more "magical" thinking that makes them especially gullible.
* The further one is from the ideal at the top of the hierarchy, the less value they have to members of that hierarchy
* They are close-minded to ideas outside of those in the in-group, even when those ideas more closely align with reality.
* Position in the hierarchy is far more important than whether they do good or not, and they have difficulty seeing people in the outgroup as having any good qualities.
* Weakness is not a problem to be solved, but a trait used to discriminate.
* Cheating is perfectly acceptable as long as it is not done within the in-group - this is seen simply as "gaming the system".
* They are not empathic, though they can feign it by appearing magnanimous in public.
* They are not stupid, but they tend to score lower on traditional measures of intelligence (and, oh, do they hate this).
* They generally do not recognize their own lack of competence, and have trouble in gauging the competence of others.
* They are willing to do anything to get ahead, which is why they usually do well financially in the short term (in the long term the mistakes they make mean they are as likely to lose their fortunes as to make them bigger). Introverts generally do better financially over their lifetime, as it represents increased competence and a more measured approach to wealth acquisition.
* They are gullible, in part because they lack critical thinking skills and are more easily led by greed or avarice.

Good extroverts recognize these tendencies, and usually tend to surround themselves by more introverted advisors, however, this also requires a degree of self-awareness that is usually lacking towards the extreme end of the spectrum.

[harumph]

14. My daughter and I were just discussing this today.

“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”

They're joiners. Interestingly, some have high technical skills - but very low social intelligence.

[eppur_se_muova]

11. "In private, he turns out to be a really nice guy. " nt

[Aviation Pro]

12. Marks

Fucking marks.

[sanatanadharma]

13. Gullible, maybe. Confused, certainly

Did you hear about the magas found frozen to death in their car?
No, what happened?
Apparently they went to see "Closed for the Season" at the drive-in.

[GenThePerservering]

15. We've been calling them "gullible" for years

It's almost the first word that comes to mind.