Thursday, August 14, 2003
Conservatism 101
Dayalan sent me this piece earlier today. Admittedly, it's from the left-leaning Guardian who have good reason to publish such a story, but the study itself was underwritten by the U.S. government. I think there's more than a kernel of truth to the results of the study.
A study funded by the US government has concluded that conservatism can be explained psychologically as a set of neuroses rooted in "fear and aggression, dogmatism and the intolerance of ambiguity". As if that was not enough to get Republican blood boiling, the report's four authors linked Hitler, Mussolini, Ronald Reagan and the rightwing talkshow host, Rush Limbaugh, arguing they all suffered from the same affliction.
The authors also peer into the psyche of President George Bush, who turns out to be a textbook case. The telltale signs are his preference for moral certainty and frequently expressed dislike of nuance.
Will the administration now underwrite a similar study on liberals? More importantly, is there a need for such a study given that Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly intuitively know the results?
A study funded by the US government has concluded that conservatism can be explained psychologically as a set of neuroses rooted in "fear and aggression, dogmatism and the intolerance of ambiguity". As if that was not enough to get Republican blood boiling, the report's four authors linked Hitler, Mussolini, Ronald Reagan and the rightwing talkshow host, Rush Limbaugh, arguing they all suffered from the same affliction.
The authors also peer into the psyche of President George Bush, who turns out to be a textbook case. The telltale signs are his preference for moral certainty and frequently expressed dislike of nuance.
Will the administration now underwrite a similar study on liberals? More importantly, is there a need for such a study given that Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly intuitively know the results?
