Conservative playbook-Annoy and provoke progressives-does it work?

[submerged99]

I've been reading some articles about the wingnuts and they have been dispensing some advice that I find to be very curious.

They recommend that wingnut activist engage in provocative actions and inflammatory rhetoric so as to make progressives lose their cool and, according to them, react with irrational anger.

Here are a couple of examples.

>The Leadership Institute teaches the same principle. Controlled controversy -- making your point in a manner so bombastic that your opponents blow their cool -- is a Blackwell specialty. Before the 2004 Republican Convention, the conservative elder personally went to a drugstore and bought little pink heart stickers, bandages and purple nail polish. At home, he made the "Purple Heart Band-Aids" that he later distributed in Madison Square Garden to mock John Kerry's war wounds. From Blackwell's perspective, the Kerry camp's outrage at the gag was a tactical disaster. Democratic Party chairman Terry McAuliffe, Blackwell says, kept the story alive for days by "running around like a chicken with its head cut off." <
www.salon.com/news/feature/ 2005/05/25/blackwell/index_np.html

The next excerpt is about the right wing bake sales and how progressives play into the hands of the right by getting incensed.
>Dinesh D’Souza, the conservative author who is credited with coining the term "politically correct," came up with another phrase "harpooning a liberal," which he describes in his book Letters to a Young Conservative.

"One way to be effective as a conservative," he writes, "is to figure out what annoys and disturbs liberals the most and then keep doing it."<
http://www.boulderweekly.com/archive/021904/coverstory.html

Here is what I don't understand. The right wing goes ballistic over trivial issues-and nonexistent issues like the "war on xmas"- all the time and they manage to galvanize their base by doing so. They manufacture controversies and make progressive actions rallying points for their counter-demonstrations. They get redfaced wingnuts frothing at the mouth and physically confronting people over their progressive stances. In short, they react with irrational anger on a daily basis, from wingnut organizations to the right wing media yakkers.

I guess what is confusing me is why irrational anger works to their advantage but not to ours, if Blackwell and Souza are to be believed.

The purple heart controversy is a case in point. Blackwell thinks it's funny when progressives reacted to the way the RNC denigrated the medal. But, I remember the right wingers were outraged when the "Wedding Crashers" website had cut out copies of the purple heart.

I know it's hypocritical and that double standards are at play here. But it seems like this double standard would only be effective if the right wing somehow decides what anger is legitimate and what anger deserves ridicule.

I don't think we're quite at that sorry point yet.

[journalist3072]

1. I definitely think this is the M.O. of the wingnuts...

And sometimes, I hate the person I become when I engage in dialog with them.

I have tried to have intelligent, decent debates with the freeper wingnuts who frequent my blog.

But their rhetoric really gets to me sometimes, b/c it's so outrageous. And it causes me to loose my cool and become someone that I normally am not.

I ended up banning a lot of them from my blog, so they cannot comment anymore.

[submerged99]

4. Yeah, so the Ann Coulter types

Yeah, I've had run ins with people like that.

It seems to me, however, that these type of people and those type of actions would only alienate people instead of winning them over.

The wingnut MO seems to be that THEY are the ones who get outraged and then parlay that into fundsraising and recruting efforts.

[booley]

2. that's a strategy?

I thought they were just being ignorant assholes.

Well it's common enough I guess it could be purposeful. But I stil don't what they think they can gain except for a rep as idiots.

[phaseolus]

3. re: "what is confusing me ..."

"...what is confusing me is why irrational anger works to their advantage but not to ours"

Maybe because they're good at controlling/leveraging the media?

If the powers that be in the conservative movement want to create buzz about something, there WILL be a buzz. At present, our side ain't nearly as good at this.

[submerged99]

6. Thats really the only way it makes sense to me

I was struggling to comprehend how that could possibly be an effective strategy and then, as you've stated, that would probably work if they controlled the media exposure.

I know that the popular and very passe' reply from wingnuts, in response to a protest or action, is to "get a life."

However, they can stage protests over things like the war on xmas and they don't seem to get the same type of ridicule.

[BillZBubb]

5. It works for them because it gets media attention.

They attack, Democrats react. That is the dynamic that they love. The media loves controversy, so the media covers the exchange. The wingnut is seen attacking, relentlessly. The Democrat is seen trying to play defense. Once this theater is repeated a million times, the public sees the Republicans as strong and unwavering in their beliefs (even though they lie, exaggerate, and smear). The Democrats are seen as defensive, unsure of themselves, and without a plan.

That's what our leaders never have grasped and why the Republicans, in spite of unpopular positions, continue to win. It's not the subject or hypocrisy that is weighed by the public, it's the dynamic of strength and aggressiveness versus timidity and defensiveness.

[stevietheman]

7. I think we should keep in mind...

we don't have to win over the right-wingers, and we don't even have to listen to them. They're just always wrong, and they can't be convinced of anything, so why bother?

I say let's just communicate with liberals, moderates, independents, and a significant number of liberal/moderate Republicans and shut out the extreme right. And when the right wing does something outrageous, say "well, isn't that cute!" or "more antics from people who don't have a life". Pity them, and move on.

Let's be clear: The extreme right is irrational even before they are angered. So why do we need to let ourselves ever get worked up over them?

Vehemently oppose the right wing in the arenas that affect policy and the passing of new laws, but socially and in the general political arena, ignore the heck out of them. They're just not worth our time.

[linazelle]

8. I heard this very thing about three weeks ago on a "religious"

radio channel. The political guest said that a primary tactic IS provoking and evoking anger to get liberals off topic--off point. It's the same thing trolls do here all the time and it's so obvious to me but people still take the bait.

On edit: when it comes to controlling the media--don't forget DU is part of the media too. They want to post looney threads and then draw attention to them to discredit anything stemming from "the internets". They want to get a rise out of our politicians and all rational people to take them away from very meaningful messages which they cannot respond to.

Too many times I have found myself here urging people to stay focused when I see the baiting happening. All I get is something like "we can walk and chew gum at the same time" (probably a troll responding).

[meow2u3]

9. Conservos need to GROW THE HELL UP!

Now we know the bratty children have taken over! Conservos, to a vermin, act like a bunch of 2-year-olds, and nothing is as infantile as repeatedly pissing off mommy to the point she loses her cool and lets the little bastard have it!