US culture is an incubator of ‘extrinsic values’. Nobody embodies them like the Republican frontrunner
Many explanations are proposed for the continued rise of Donald Trump, and the steadfastness of his support, even as the outrages and criminal charges pile up. Some of these explanations are powerful. But there is one I have seen mentioned nowhere, which could, I believe, be the most important: Trump is king of the extrinsics.
Some psychologists believe our values tend to cluster around certain poles, described as “intrinsic” and “extrinsic”. People with a strong set of intrinsic values are inclined towards empathy, intimacy and self-acceptance. They tend to be open to challenge and change, interested in universal rights and equality, and protective of other people and the living world.
People at the extrinsic end of the spectrum are more attracted to prestige, status, image, fame, power and wealth. They are strongly motivated by the prospect of individual reward and praise. They are more likely to objectify and exploit other people, to behave rudely and aggressively and to dismiss social and environmental impacts. They have little interest in cooperation or community. People with a strong set of extrinsic values are more likely to suffer from frustration, dissatisfaction, stress, anxiety, anger and compulsive behaviour.
It’s because his base are fucking idiots.
I have lots of empathy for people and usually try not to judge people by demographics and happenstance, but this pestilence of right-wing mouth breathers all over the world is an absolute horror show.
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I have very little empathy with people who are wilfully ignorant and determined to destroy others’ education or quality of life.
And yet, you still blame the voters, and not those in charge of their education system, socialising, the media they consume, and so on… 🤔
Oh I am fully aware that they are the feckless recipients of the generous largess of their masters.
The dark money that has fuelled their descent into cultural and intellectual retardation (not a slur on congenital learning disabilities) is criminal.
Yet this section of society seems ravenously hungry to become worse and infect others.
But the people in charge are the people they voted for… I suppose this is a chicken/egg situation?
That assumes that they could have voted for anyone, when in fact the ruling elite preselects which candidates are even allowed to run, plus the media (also controlled by the ruling elite) make sure that you get no access to high-quality information about any candidate (least of all the “undesirable” ones).
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…so the voters? Who vote for their education system?
The popular vote went to Hillary. The current American ‘democracy’ is not very good and needs to be fixed with more democracy.
We are well past this. The damage has already been done and there is no quick fix for it.
I definitely think plenty of them are ignorant and uninformed. But it goes much deeper than that. Many of them feel that government hasn’t served or helped them in decades or even lifetimes. And they’re not wrong in that.
The real problem is they don’t view themselves as being part of the issue. They’ve externalized everything to the government and made it the government’s fault. Therefore there’s nothing they can do. Since they are blameless, in order to change it. They perceive themselves as having done everything right despite having done everything wrong. And so logically in their minds. The only solution they can see is to tear it all down. And hope the warlord that replaces this system will be slightly magnanimous to them.
It doesn’t matter that it’s a thing that never happened or lasted longer than a year or two when it did. Because the alternative would be to admit fault and learn from it. Something which culturally we’ve largely been conditioned to reject.
A very good analysis and much more generous than my hot late night take.
Oh we all feel like that sometimes for sure. Don’t beat yourself up over it necessarily. As much as we hate to admit it, sometimes though. We have more in common with them than we let on. The real problem is how to reach people like that. If we could we might be able to make actual change.
The main issue being American history and culture is all about whitewashing, hero worship and propaganda. What would be an effective way to go about disarming all that? If we could do that we’d be home free.
But being born in the 70s I know pretty well how deep and total it was for many. Hell I didn’t really break out of the brainwashing until my 30s. And I consider myself lucky for that. I know plenty still hobbling along using it as a crutch to this day.
Honestly sometimes it really feels like the older generations dying off might be the only realistic solution. Yes there are still a lot of shitty young conservatives. But the permiation of the internet in daily life has definitely loosened the shackles a bit for younger generations. Course, it’s also gaslit and radicalized plenty too.
Great take.
I too was born in the 70s and thought that “things were getting better”. Racism was disappearing etc.
Little did I know about the dark forces of Conservative thought and money control bubbling under the surface.
A slightly random angle on your comment: there’s a great episode of Decoder Ring (Slate) talking about Daniel Boone and the modern mythos of him created in the 50’s by Walt Disney. A very good listen.
Yes, Disney is definitely not innocent regarding whitewashing. Bloodless Cinderella was a real crime. But yeah Daniel Boone and all the things we collectively forgot about the Alamo.
Indeed !
They are extremely wrong in their perception of government though.
We’re living through a zombie apocalypse. The zombies just happen to be more high-functioning than they are in movies.
Yes! And the populist demagogues love it that way.
That’s true. But what is to be done about it?
Calling these people names won’t fix the problem. It won’t eliminate them and it won’t convert them. So what will?
As I’ve said. It was a moment of frustration.
but you don’t, and you are…
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Oh hey! I’m not saying that people with limited cerebral facilities are automatically bad. I’m saying that the particular conservative base are fucking idiots in a really determined and self-fulfilling way which feeds their own pathology.
Remember there’s that study showing that conservatives are literally neurologically different and physically primed for fear and disgust due to brain structure.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3092984/#:~:text=We found that greater liberalism,independent sample of additional participants.
Plus, to be honest, I’m really really frustrated reading about all these assholes and the damage they cause to what could be a progressive society.