Can anything stop America’s savage gun epidemic? By Mark Morford

[HereSince1628]

10. It's also completely consistent with the psychology of conservativism

What I mention herein draws on a professional papers published by Jost whose career has focused on cognitive motivations for conservative behavior.

A dominant feature, Jost calls it a core feature, of conservatism is Fear of Death, aka Existential Fear. Conservatives also greatly troubled by uncertainty, and persons with dominant conservative cognition, rely on simple answers easily picked up from 'authority'.

Manachean explanations that reduce a very complex world into two components, which typically represent good vs evil, but which also fall neatly into 'us' vs 'them' thinking are favored by conservative thinkers.

And because conservative thinkers recognize and endorse authoritative statements, dominant/celebrated conservative voices in the media can provide very simple answers that readily identify the 'them'. And them are variously "monsters among us" (from Wayne LaPierre), or Muslims (Murdoch media).

Without delving into the details developed by Jost across his career, it's fair to say that the current Islamic increase in xenophobia is well anticipated by informed understanding of conservative thinking that responsds to the message "They Intend To Kill Us"

It's important to appreciate that conservative mindset and it's perception isn't operating on a preponderance of evidence, but rather 'resonance' of internal biases with simple answers provided by authority.

Consequently, evidence-based argumentation, about numbers of people killed by terrorists in the US, or the risk of a home invasion, or the statistical likelihood of a good guy with a gun stopping a mass-shooting, doesn't matter.

Narratives at hand, true or false, that stimulate their cognitive framework are what is important. Trump, the NRA, Murdoch media, are virtuosi at getting the minds of conservatives to vibrate.