Reply #140: Genetics + Environment

[FloridaJudy]

Some, though not all, right-wingers are sociopaths: people who may appear sincere and charming, but are completely incapable of of putting themselves in others' shoes, and relate to human beings only as things to be manipulated. You don't find the really intelligent ones in prison, but in the higher branches of business and government. Sociopathy is the product of genetics and environment. There's actually a gene for it, but if the person who has it is raised in a loving environment, he or she can be taught to care about the needs and feelings of others. http://www.ted.com/talks/jim_fallon_exploring_the_mind_of_a_killer.html

Some right wingers are just raised that way: they believe conservative talking points because their parents and grandparents - who might have been otherwise perfectly decent people - believed them and passed them on. Or they might have been raised in a fundamentalist religion that emphasized its own superiority. I know more than a few people IRL like that.

Some are just frightened people who are looking for easy answers, and the Glenn Becks and Ann Coulters are more than happy to provide them. The idea that what you have is due entirely to your efforts, and that it cannot be taken away from you through ill luck or one less-than-perfect decision is comforting. Walking past a homeless person or an addict shivering in an alley and thinking "There, but for fortune..." is a frightening thought. It's not surprising some people's minds do not want to go there.