Serious question : Are the current Republican/Conservatives mentally ill?

[Tripper11]

And please understand, I've lived with a family member with some severe mental health issues and I don't mean this to demean any mental health issues in anyway.

But the way they are, no accountability. Blaming others for their own actions/words. Not taking any responsibilty. Projection(a biggie on them in my book), the list goes on and on.

It just seems that they keep coming out with sicker and sicker ways to treat people, speak to people and literally, imho, try and bring the country down, yet blame everyone else for doing it?

Thoughts?

[BumRushDaShow]

1. Those who are left as "self-identified" GOP appear to be.

the rest now consider themselves "independents".

[ohheckyeah]

11. Or

Libertarians. Which, by-the-way, they can't spell most of the time.

[left coaster]

2. Narcissistic personality disorder... The GOP seems to be a magnet for people thus afflicted. nt

[gailc31]

20. gail31

live with it every day! some of my extended family say im going 2 hell 4 being democrat. think it is fox news scaring them.

[mdmc]

3. forget it

Last edited Mon Mar 5, 2012, 09:26 PM - Edit history (1)

love the sig line however.

[Tripper11]

7. Like I said, I don't mean any disrespect to anyone who suffers from any mental illness

And sadly, there is plenty to go around in all forms, mild to severe.
It just seems to me that with all the things they say and do with no sense of consquence, as was with my step-son, it was an honest, legitimate question is all.

[mdmc]

10. I hear you my friend. Seems like the jury agrees

Very sad that political beliefs are equated with illness. Looks like the jury sees it your way. Peace to you.

[stopwastingmymoney]

36. As the daughter of a mother with personality disorder (imagine my therapy bills)

I understand the OP perfectly.

These characteristics listed are symptoms of personality disorder:

"no accountability. Blaming others for their own actions/words. Not taking any responsibilty. Projection"

I don't think it demeans those with mental illness to ask these questions.

I think it is a "Serious question" and worthy of discussion.

edited to add a couple more characteristics: insistence that they are right despite all evidence to the contrary and violent reaction to challenges to world view

[mdmc]

58. dems never act that way..

[mdmc]

13. here is how the jury voted

read the last juror - and perhaps self delete.. Otherwise, no worries.. The mentally ill will trudge on and carry their burden.. Would your mentally ill family member want all conservatives to be considered mentally ill?

JURY RESULTS

A randomly-selected Jury of DU members completed their review of this alert at Mon Mar 5, 2012, 07:49 PM, and voted 3-3 to LEAVE IT ALONE.

Juror #1 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: The alert sums it up, but could simply respond accordingly. I don't think it violates DU rules.
Juror #2 voted to HIDE IT and said: No explanation given
Juror #3 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: No explanation given
Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: I think the post's wording could have been softer, but the question is valid. May be should have been said.....
Have all current republicans lost their sense of direction.

Juror #5 voted to HIDE IT and said: No explanation given
Juror #6 voted to HIDE IT and said: The suggestions that people we don't agree with must be mentally ill is using individuals with mental illness as a insult. It doesn't "work' unless belong to that group is perceived as bad, which is bigotry against a lot of good people who are living with mental health conditions. The fact that the OP has a family member who is mentally ill is not a "get out of jail free" card, and suggests that s/he has better reasons than most to know how hurtful it is to use this particular suggestion as an insult.

[mdmc]

8. there are all sorts of diagnosis

and they can effect anyone on the political spectrum..

Being against human rights (reproductive, gay, minority) or supporting the 1% are lifestyle choices, not illnesses.

I don't think ill of the OP. I just think that equating republican ideals to mental illness demeans those that suffer daily.

I think the OP's handle and sig line are kool and the gang. I just didn't like post. So off to a jury.

[provis99]

4. I guarantee you Newt is an undiagnosed narcissist.

Ron Paul is a paranoid neo-Confederate with a persecution complex, Santorum is obsessed with sado-masochism in the Catholic "suffering is good for you" mode, and Romney has a Napoleonic complex.

they are all nuts. Even the crazed John Birch society people might be a little leery of them.

[Ganja Ninja]

30. Newt reminds me of Hitler.

He has the same mix of over inflated ego coupled with the delusional sense of destiny and entitlement.

[etherealtruth]

6. Self centered ass holes ... yes

Mentally ill? diabetic? IBS?

I suffered a sever bout of depression following divorce ... that's depression, that's mental illness.

as far as I know being an ass-hole isn't a diagnosis

[DirkGently]

9. They specialize in rationalizing the irrational.

Rush's ability to to somehow transform a woman's desire to speak from her life's experience as to women's healthcare needs into "She wants to be paid to have sex" is an extreme case, but only one of many.

They've disconnected argument and reason. Everything is rhetoric, bumper sticker talk, slogans. It's fact proof, sympathy / empathy-proof, and gleefully vicious.

The only analogy I can think of is sports fans who would, for example, beat up a kid in the marching band of the other team.

Pure, mindless, zero-sum tribalism. They die or we die. (Their attitude, not mine).

[Jack Sprat]

12. Anger, envy, resentment of everyone

with a different point of view. All these traits are respresentative of so many of them. When it comes to mental illness, I am not qualified to judge whether these traits exemplify mental illness. But, they certainly seem to lead to violent thoughts and conduct. The willingness to promote lies to support their point of view, regardless of how absurd the lie is. I think that maybe an earlier generation of Americans would have regarded them as mentally ill, but there are so many of them now that they just seem like faces in a crowd.

[jillan]

14. I've lived with a faux news, limbo listening republican for years....

and yes. He would actually verbally rage against the Unions while receiving assistance from the union (he was a blue collar worker);
would rage against gov't handouts while our special needs daughter receives gov't assistance, would rage against gov't run healthcare while receiving VA benefits.

He should have been thankful for the help he and his family was receiving, but instead chose to give with one hand and take with the other. Hypocrisy at it's best.

[Wind Dancer]

24. Wow!

Don't know how you've lived under those conditions.

[socialindependocrat]

15. I keep seeing Taliban mentality

They want to be "conservative"
(follow rules - self deprived)

They don't want anyone else to do what they forbid.
(death to infidels) (no freedom of choice)

Belief in a religious reality
(they act on the writings of the bible (and then a miracle occured)
and then they laugh at astrology - what's the difference?)

They can't be happy that they are leading a pure life
They need everyone else to live the same life
(misery loves company) and they would hate to see that
someone else is doing what they restrict themselves from
doing (but they're not immediately getting struck by lightening!)
(so they may get away with it!)

Poor tortured souls. They truely live in a hell on earth!

[OffWithTheirHeads]

16. What's the question.

[LuvNewcastle]

17. I don't think they're necessarily mentally ill.

They just have some very undesirable personality traits, most notably, bigotry and selfishness.

[sarcasmo]

18. I don't think there is any one leader or any one issue they all believe in.

They are like an episode of Benny Hill, one old white guy chasing around another old white guy.

[RZM]

19. We've all known plenty of people who do all of those things in everyday life

Blame others, don't take responsibility, and project. They aren't mentally ill, they are just selfish and disrespectful. Change the context to politics and the diagnosis is the same.

[Fumesucker]

21. They are authoritarians..

Practically everyone in the Republican party is an authoritarian these days..

If you read this free e-book, "The Authoritarians" by Dr Bob Altemeyer you'll have a lot better understanding of what they are about.

http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/

OK, what’s this book about? It’s about what’s happened to the American government lately. It’s about the disastrous decisions that government has made. It’s about the corruption that rotted the Congress. It’s about how traditional conservatism has nearly been destroyed by authoritarianism. It’s about how the “Religious Right” teamed up with amoral authoritarian leaders to push its un-democratic agenda onto the country. It’s about the United States standing at the crossroads as the next federal election approaches.

“Well,” you might be thinking, “I don’t believe any of this is true.” Or maybe, you’re thinking, “What else is new? I’ve believed this for years.” Why should a conservative, moderate, or liberal bother with this book? Why should any Republican, Independent, or Democrat click the “Whole Book” link on this page?

Because if you do, you’ll begin an easy-ride journey through some very relevant scientific studies I have done on authoritarian personalities--one that will take you a heck of a lot less time than the decades it took me. Those studies have a direct bearing on all the topics mentioned above. So if you think the first paragraph is a lot of hokum, or full of half-truths, I invite you to look at the research.

For example, take the following statement: “Once our government leaders and the authorities condemn the dangerous elements in our society, it will be the duty of every patriotic citizen to help stomp out the rot that is poisoning our country from within.” Sounds like something Hitler would say, right? Want to guess how many politicians, how many lawmakers in the United States agreed with it? Want to guess what they had in common?

[hifiguy]

29. +1, Fumesucker.

Reading that book convinced me that authoritarian conservatives are simply not right in the head.

[Leftist Agitator]

22. Mentally Ill? Maybe. Usually not, but...

They are absolutely, 100% incapable of experiencing compassion, or empathizing with their fellow man. Their days are filled with hate, pure, visceral, undefined hatred and rage at their enemy, whoever the enemy du jour is... They live to hate, they eat it, they breathe it, their world is defined by it. They don't know what life without hate is, or that such a life can even exist.

Are some of them mentally ill? Yes. But all of them are mentally deficient in that they lack the connection to their fellow human beings that most of us possess. They only care about themselves, and to a lesser degree, those people immediately in their life.

Everyone else in the world is a parasite to them, who should be divested of all of their ill-gotten gains that the government has taken from they, the virtuous.

[Little Star]

25. Mentally Ill, I think not. Have Personality Disorders, maybe....

http://www.focusas.com/PersonalityDisorders.html

Personality disorders are not illnesses in a strict sense as they do not disrupt emotional, intellectual, or perceptual functioning. However, those with personality disorders suffer a life that is not positive, proactive, or fulfilling. Not surprisingly, personality disorders are also associated with failures to reach potential.

Currently, there are 10 distinct personality disorders identified in the DSM-IV:

Antisocial Personality Disorder: Lack of regard for the moral or legal standards in the local culture, marked inability to get along with others or abide by societal rules. Sometimes called psychopaths or sociopaths. Known as conduct disorder for persons under age 18.

Avoidant Personality Disorder: Marked social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and extremely sensitive to criticism.

Borderline Personality Disorder: Lack of one's own identity, with rapid changes in mood, intense unstable interpersonal relationships, marked impulsively, instability in affect and in self image.

Dependent Personality Disorder: Extreme need of other people, to a point where the person is unable to make any decisions or take an independent stand on his or her own. Fear of separation and submissive behavior. Marked lack of decisiveness and self-confidence.

Histrionic Personality Disorder: Exaggerated and often inappropriate displays of emotional reactions, approaching theatricality, in everyday behavior. Sudden and rapidly shifting emotion expressions.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Behavior or a fantasy of grandiosity, a lack of empathy, a need to be admired by others, an inability to see the viewpoints of others, and hypersensitive to the opinions of others.

Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder: Characterized by perfectionism and inflexibility; preoccupation with uncontrollable patterns of thought and action.

Paranoid Personality Disorder: Marked distrust of others, including the belief, without reason, that others are exploiting, harming, or trying to deceive him or her; lack of trust; belief of others' betrayal; belief in hidden meanings; unforgiving and grudge holding.

Schizoid Personality Disorder: Primarily characterized by a very limited range of emotion, both in expression of and experiencing; indifferent to social relationships.

Schizotypal Personality Disorder: Peculiarities of thinking, odd beliefs, and eccentricities of appearance, behavior, interpersonal style, and thought (e.g., belief in psychic phenomena and having magical powers).

[EFerrari]

43. The problem with this definition of PDs is that if you look carefully

at the individual definitions, they all include emotional and/or perceptual dysfunction.

This definition has worked only for the Pentagon when they exclude people with PDs from benefit eligibility. They really don't work for anyone else.

[Brickbat]

26. No. Why does this keep coming up? They're assholes, not mentally ill. If they're "mentally ill,"

that gives them an excuse to act the way they do. Hold them accountable. Some are assholes, some are evil, some are willfully ignorant, some are generally good people who think they're doing the right thing. I'm tired of this "mentally ill" crap.

[hifiguy]

27. Authoritarian conservatism is, IMO, a mental disorder.

People who consistently deny objective and extrinsic facts, cannot think for themselves or use the most elementary tools of logic, and in some cases hear voices in their heads are NUTS. Add to that a heaping helping of shrieking paranoia, projection, and their willingness to believe in things for which there is ZERO evidence and forcibly impose those beliefs on others and you have a boiling stew of mental pathologies.

[NightWatcher]

28. If psychopathy, sociopathy, and other personality disorders are illnesses..

Yes.

Many of them are blinded by sheer anger and appear to be suffering from extreme interpersonal disorders.

[dynasaw]

31. They are just FINE

Fucked, insensitive, Narcissistic and egotistical.

[libtodeath]

32. I vote

for just greedy and evil.

[Bandit]

33. They are followers of a major CULT and suffer from CULT mentality

I would say that they definitely fall under some form of psychosis.

[mainer]

34. Cats can turn men into tea-baggers. Honestly. Here's the science:

"The subjects who tested positive for the parasite had significantly delayed reaction times. Flegr was especially surprised to learn, though, that the protozoan appeared to cause many sex-specific changes in personality. Compared with uninfected men, males who had the parasite were more introverted, suspicious, oblivious to other people’s opinions of them, and inclined to disregard rules. "

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/03/how-your-cat-is-making-you-crazy/8873/

[kctim]

35. No, and it is a ridiculous idea

It is only a difference of ideas and opinions, not an illness. They believe things like accountability and personal responsibility lie with the individual, not government and treat people as such.

EVERYBODY blames others and EVERYBODY projects.

And they believe losing individual rights and freedoms is what is bringing the country down, not the loss of government mandates.

And just as you, many on the right believe it is the 'other side' who has a mental disorder.

The country isn't going to get better if all we do is shout that the other side is crazy.

[hifiguy]

37. Oh boy

[HughBeaumont]

38. They also believe things like "The US was founded on Christian teachings and ideals".

They also believe in "Peace through Strength!" instead of the other (and far less costly) way around.

They also believe that an obvious 31 year failure of an economic plan is still the most perfect system in the world.

They also believe that money spent killing people is far more important than money spent helping people.

When they say "Big Government", it's pretty much dog-whistle for "LIB'RULS!", as if no conservatives are in government spending no money needlessly on wasteful shit.

Yeah, I'm so "MENTAL" for wanting health to be treated as a human right instead of a profit avenue, like every OTHER country treats it as. I'm "MENTAL" for wanting to prop up the only thing keeping the CEOs from the torches and pitchforks. I'm so "MENTAL" for wanting people who ruined the economy be made to PAY for it through investigations or excess taxation (you know, because what they did was "perfectly legal" )

The country isn't going to get better while people that were hatched from the ass of Ayn Rand are still running it.

[kctim]

40. None of those opinions justify the mental disorder rhetoric

anymore than their opinions about you justify their cries of mental disorder.

[Ganja Ninja]

39. "They believe things like accountability and personal responsibility lie with the individual ...

not government."

Since when? I don't see any of them stepping up and taking responsibility for the disaster that was George W Bush. Remember how he was gonna be the "MBA President" How he was gonna "run the country like a business." How did that work out? Their collective amnesia on just how bad a president GWB was is pathetic. They ought to tear up their voter registrations and never set foot in a voting booth again.

"they believe losing individual rights and freedoms is what is bringing the country down"

And yet they have no problem taking away a women's right to choose.

Sorry but their actions don't match their rhetoric and most of the time are the exact opposite of what they profess.

[kctim]

42. The point is

a different belief is not a mental disorder.

And sorry, but the action doesn't match the rhetoric from both fringes and both fringes suffer from severe hypocrisy.

[EFerrari]

45. The two sides of this are not mirrors of each other

and pretty much any argument you mount based on that premise is not going to work.

The right pretends that the sides mirror each other to justify their anti-social behavior, much as Rush blamed the left yesterday because he mounted a personal attack on Ms. Fluke. The truth is, there is no one on the left that does anything like that.

[kctim]

48. Sorry

but I don't watch or listen to Rush. I also don't give a rats ass what he says or does so I do not dwell non-stop on what he does or says. Pretty much why I don't comment on posts of him very often.

But, propaganda is propaganda and hypocrisy is hypocrisy, no matter which side it comes from, and there is no doubt that both sides are just as guilty as the other. Well, unless you are a blind partisan who chooses to ignore facts.

Fringies and their 'better than thou' attitude are funny.

[EFerrari]

49. You should be aware that you are promoting a right wing meme

which has no basis in reality.

There is no left wing cognate to the radical authoritarian right. There is no left wing talk show host that launches obscene attacks on private citizens. There is no left wing group that launches campaigns all over the country to deprive women, black people or gay folks of their civil rights. And you certainly won't find the right wing calling its own base dismissive names.

There is no comparison unless you accept the right wing position that there is.

[kctim]

53. Interesting

Because when I tell the far-right about how easy it is to compare them with the far-left, they tell me I am promoting a left wing meme that has no basis in reality.
That it is only the far-left who plays the comparison game.

The simple fact is that both fringes believe they are better than the other because they are the only ones with valid opinions. While the majority in the middle are sitting there thinking that both of them are guilty of the same thing they condemn the other for.

[EFerrari]

56. Exactly. The only way you can hold that position is to use a right wing meme.

"Because when I tell the far-right about how easy it is to compare them with the far-left, they tell me I am promoting a left wing meme that has no basis in reality."

[kctim]

60. So I have to be either

using a right wing meme or a left wing meme, depending on who I am talking to?

I can't just state the facts no matter which side they support, I can only use facts that support a particular agenda?

No thanks.

[HughBeaumont]

59. What would you consider "far left" "propaganda"? Just curious.

[kctim]

61. Whatever minority position or idea they try to pass off

as being embraced by the majority of Americans and, the intentional stereotyping of the "other side" in order to garner support.

[Shankapotomus]

41. I wouldn't say mentally ill

I would say brainwashed.

[Snarkoleptic]

44. We're witnessing the death throes of the republiclown party.

Please do keep in mind that this is the stage when it will be most dangerous and unpredictable.

[librechik]

46. No. They are genetically disadvantaged by having an enormous

fear center in the brain compared to others. It makes them likely to panic and make bad decisions. Then they try to cover up.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1342239/Brain-study-reveals-right-wing-conservatives-larger-primitive-amygdala.html

[Cleita]

47. I think a lot of it is not thinking things through and being frankly

brainwashed by MSM. Last thanksgiving, a guest at my family's home, actually a nice young man, engaged me in a political argument, an admitted Republican. First, I made a prediction that Mitt Romney would be the Republican nominee. He didn't like Romney. I told him that the Republican establishment needed someone who could beat President Obama so he was the most likely choice. He jumped on that and said that is why there should be only one party. I asked which one would that be, the Democrats? He blanched and said no, the Republicans.

I explained why we needed two parties to checkmate the other when they got extreme. He said that was why there was no progress in taking care of problems. So I went down a list of one party states, starting with Germany under the Nazis, the Soviet Union in Russia, Cuba, China, North Korea, etc. I asked him if those nations had acceptable governments under the one party system to him and he said no, but that they had gone rogue. So I asked him to name a one party nation that hadn't gone rogue. He couldn't. I believe I left him with something to think about and that he was basically not well informed by his sources.

[EFerrari]

50. I tend to think that John Dean was onto something

when he wrote "Conservatives without Conscience" and talked about authoritarianism.

That explains the right wing more efficiently than any other theory I've read.

[Cleita]

51. Yes, you are right.

He was right on the button. Having emerged from the snake pit, he knows better than most.

[slackmaster]

52. You are wrong. Most mentally ill people can and should be held responsible for their actions.

Only someone who has been legally declared as mentally incompetent are not accountable for their actions.

[mmonk]

54. They are to me. They live almost totally outside of reality.

[hobbit709]

55. I've dealt with clinically certified people who are more rational than a lot of GOPers.

[RagAss]

57. No...They have given the Low IQ sect a voice.

And when you give idiots filled with hatred a voice.......you only look mentally ill.