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In response to an OP about a Teabagger couple who hate Obama and the Democrats, even though they are on the verge of losing their home because of Republican policies, I wrote this rather long post, which understandably was ignored.
But I do think it deals with an interesting psychological aspect of the virulent partisanship that has ruined public discourse in our country, so I hope DUers don’t mind if I post it as an OP. One point that I am still thinking about is the degree to which at least some Democrats and liberals (not all of whom are Dems, of course) are somewhat more immune to such reflexive thinking about issues. I don’t think we all are immune, or that any of us are completely immune, but I do think that in general, liberalism does help prevent automatic allegiance to “our team” and automatic rejection of anything associated with “the other team.”
Of course, we do see a lot of that sort of lock-step thinking on our side—and obviously here on DU, as well—but I also think that we need to be aware of it and to guard against it.
OTOH, I strongly believe that in its current incarnation the Republican Party is far too dangerous to be allowed to exercise power, so I always support Dems, even though I think some of them, especially Blue Dogs, are as bad as Republcians, because we still need to be the majority party in both houses!
Here is that post:Most Americans think in terms of "my team" and "the other team," without any real reference to the substance of policies. The Democrats are, quite simply, "the other team," so they are by definition the bad guys.
If they are like some, they might also be thinking that a Republican administration would not have put a Black family in the White House, but they don't even have to be racist to consider Obama to be the enemy just because he is a Democrat.
Let me offer an analogy.
The University of Kansas and the University of Missouri have an intense sports rivalry with its legendary roots in the Border Wars known as "Bleeding Kansas." Few of any of the people who go to either school today, and few if any of the fans of either school, have any actual connection to the Border Wars. Most of us are transplants of one sort or another, many quite recent.
Nevertheless, I am constantly horrified to hear of people in respectable positions (professors, administrators, some coaches in the past, perhaps even some today) here at KU (and I hear also of some in Missouri) spouting off loudly about how much they hate "those people” and how, quite simply, Mizzou and its people are "evil." (And, no, there is no hint of irony or humor in such pronouncements. They are almost always spoken quite seriously.)
Recently an 88-year-old former KU coach died after falling and hitting his head. Many of the op-ed columns and sports columns written to laud the man went on and on (admiringly!) about how he hated the University of Missouri, and how he would be invited by current coaches to give such spirited, passionate talks to the current players--talks in which he would rant about how "They are the bad guys and we are the good guys" and about how evil they are and how he hated them. He even told the players that Quantrill (whose gang burned Lawrence and murdered the town's men and boys) was an MU graduate (untrue, of course).
The writers of these laudatory columns also noted, obviously chuckling affectionately, that Fambrough would get so worked up in his hatred of Mizzou that spittle would actually form at the corners of his mouth and start flying.
See what I mean? An our team/their team sports rivalry has been elevated to passionate "hatred" of a group of people simply because they are official sports rivals of our university.
BTW, when the football games between the schools used to take place in the schools' hometowns rather than at Arrowhead Stadium, the Mizzou coach would make sure their vehicles were well gassed up before leaving Missouri, because he didn't want to spend one red cent in Kansas, because Kansas was the enemy.
Players and fans of either team don’t feel quite safe on the home turf of the other team: cars get keyed, individuals get jumped and beaten if they are recognized as one of the enemy, etc.
On the rare occasion that someone suggests that taking a sports rivalry into actual frothing at the mouth hatred is a bit over the top, the mouth-frothers will often reply with some reference to the Border Wars. Both sides actually did commit atrocities in that war (the original jayhawkers committed terrorism as well, though Quantrill's gang committed the most intense documented atrocities), so both sides today claim the evil actions of the other side during the Border War as justification for their passionate hatred.
But the reality is that people just like to belong to an in-group and to have an excuse to passionately hate "the other," however the other is defined. They just love to hate the enemy, and the enemy is whatever person or group the members of their own in-group has identified as the enemy. For most people, that means that the people closest to them in their family or community will tell them whom to hate. A few break free from this pattern (for example, many of us here on DU come from staunch Republican families), but most people simply continue to believe what they have grown up being told about who the enemy is.
Remember the old Star Trek episode, starring impersonator Frank Gorshin, from the original series in which the last two survivors of a planet that had warred itself to death continued to relentlessly pursue each other because each wished to kill the last survivor of the opposing race? The difference between the two races was merely that the faces of one group were black on the right side and white on the left side, while the faces of the other group were white on the right side and black on the left. That was enough of a difference to allow them to manufacture an immortal hatred of each other and to fight each other to the death--of their respective species and of all life on their planet.
These Republicans don’t hate Democrats because they deplore their policies. They don’t actually know anything about Republican and Democratic policies—and wouldn’t believe the information if it were handed to them on a silver platter. All they know is that the Democrats are “the enemy,” just as all new people here on the KU campus are informed during traditions night that Mizzou are the enemy and to be well and thoroughly hated. They have no real reason for hating them, but they are supposed to, so they jump right onto the bandwagon.
Every now and then I get a student from Missouri who finds that he or she has become persona non grata back in his or her hometown and school, simply because he or she has become a Jayhawk—by definition an “evil” person and “the enemy.” I imagine the same thing happens to Kansas kids who end up going to school at Mizzou.
Americans are, in general, low information voters, so this sort of sports team rivalry is the standard model for their politics.
It’s dumb in sports, but it’s deadly in politics.
Recently an 88-year-old former KU coach died after falling and hitting his head. Many of the op-ed columns and sports columns written to laud the man went on and on about how her hated the University of Missouri, and how he would be invited by current coaches to give such spirited, passionate talks to the current players--talks in which he would go on and on about how "They are the bad guys and we are the good guys" and about how evil they are and how he hated them. He even told the players that Quantrill (whose gang burned Lawrence and murdered the town's men and boys) was an MU graduate (untrue, of course).
The writers of these laudatory columns also noted, obviously chuckling affectionately, that Fambrough would get so worked up in his hatred of Mizzou that spittle would actually form at the corners of his mouth and start flying.
See what I mean? An our team/their team sports rivalry has been elevated to "hatred" of a group of people simply because they are official sports rivals of our university.
BTW, their when the football games between the schools used to take place in the schools' hometowns rather than at Arrowhead Stadium, the Mizzou coach would make sure their vehicles were well gassed up before leaving Missouri, because he didn't want to spend one red cent in Kansas, because Kansas was the enemy.
On the rare occasion someone (like me) suggests that taking a sports rivalry into actual frothing at the mouth hatred is a bit over the top, the frothers will often reply with some reference to the Border Wars. Both sides did commit atrocities in that war (the original jayhawkers were terrorists as well, though Quantrill's gang committed the most intense atrocities), so both sides today claim the evil actions of the other side during the Border War as justification for their intense hatred.
But the reality is that people just like to belong to an in-group and to have an excuse to passionately hate "the other," however the other is defined.
Remember the old Star Trek episode, starring impersonator Frank Gorshin, from the original series in which the last two survivors of a planet that had warred itself to death continued to relentlessly pursue each other because each wished to kill the last survivor of the opposing race. The difference between the two races was merely that the faces of one group were black on the right side and white on the left side, while the faces of the other group were white on the right side and black on the left. That was enough of a difference to allow them to manufacture an immortal hatred of each other and to fight each other to the death--of their respective species and of all life on their planet.
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