It's a study that conservatives would rather have everyone forget. In September of 2008, a study published in the journal Science found that there was a major physical difference between conservatives and liberals -- conservatives were more prone to be fearful. Subjects in an experiment were shown a "series of images that included a bloody face, maggots in a wound, and a spider on a frightened face" and their physical responses were recorded."Compared with staunch liberals, people with strongly conservative views were three times more fearful after factoring out the effects of gender, age, income and education, which can all affect political attitudes," reported the LA Times.
This study was widely reported as being proof that liberals and conservatives are "born that way." Liberals can be pro-gun control, for example, because they aren't afraid of being attacked and see no need to be armed. On the other hand, conservatives are anti-abortion because photos of aborted fetuses really freak them out. I don't think many who aren't conservative would argue that the conservative movement hasn't historically been paranoid. From the Red Scare to Saddam's non-existent WMD, conservatives have always been in a hurry to eliminate threats that don't actually exist.
But I don't think that liberals and conservatives are born, not made. I think the fearful drift toward conservatism because the right has learned to exploit fear. Joe McCarthy wasn't afraid of communists in our midst, mostly because he knew he'd made it all up. But he convinced others to be afraid and used that fear to become more powerful. George W. Bush knew or suspected that there weren't any WMD in Iraq -- he certainly knew there were no ties to al Qaeda -- but he exploited fears of mideast terrorism to invade Iraq. In both of these cases, the message from the exploiter was clear, "be afraid." Is it any wonder that the fearful would be drawn to those who promise to protect them from threats -- real or BS?
But what happens when the right is told to be afraid of the right? We're finding that out right now, in an unintended experiment. The answer is that the right becomes incoherent, inconsistent, and hypocritical. At least, more so than usual... [CLICK TO READ FULL POST]
