2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Ended a friendship today. [View all]cer7711 -- Your view mirrors my own. I've wrestled with this for years. John Dean's book, "Conservatives Without Conscience," offers some explanation for the authoritarian mindset, which research has shown is one of the reasons the people of Germany allowed the rise of the Nazis. Another book by David Brock, "Blinded by the Right, traces the beginning of this vast right-wing network of media distortion to Nixon's appeal to Southern racists in the election of 1968. And another thing to keep in mind is that the polarization of today is similar to that of the 1850s right before the Civil War. The abolishionists were right, of course, but they were hunted down in the streets in some sectors for their belief that slavery was wrong.
So history clearly shows that what we may view as irritating and ridiculous can grow into something dangerous and evil over time. This right-wing nuttery which is obviously the result of brainwashing is dangerous and should be roundly condemned -- not presented as the "opposing point of view" on CNN as is too often the case.
Yes, shun them. But keep in mind that they have lots of guns and think that "liberals" are destroying 'Merica. All Rush or Hannity or Beck or Alex Jones have to do at this point to incite them to come after you is to *insinuate* that now is the time. And apparently, "liberals" are too rational and reasonable to consider such an outrageous possibility, but all one has to do is to look at history to see that such an outcome has happened before.