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who experienced this kind of reaction all along. I remember hearing similar comments even back in 2000, some of them from apolitical types who lacked any political bias against Bush.
It really stands out in my memory because of the official narrative being pushed by the media about Bush having the star power of a thousand galaxies and being so charming and all of us little folks being bowled over and wanting to have a beer with him. It was surreal, considering my own internal response was to feel alarmed and revolted. You couldn't really go online in those days to compare perceptions and do a sanity check. Real world acquaintances who expressed their own negative reactions were important touchstones.
I'm sure it's part of some primitive survival apparatus that sends a warning to our neurons when confronted by a dangerous sociopath. After all, there had to have been sociopaths among our ancient hominid ancestors, who would act all charming and then hit your over the head with a mastadon thigh bone when it suited their purpose.
John Wayne Gacy used to dress up in clown costume and perform for children in hospitals. While he successfully bamboozled a lot of people, maybe even most people, I'm positive there were those who saw beneath the mask (in this case a literal mask of clown makeup) and were mightily creeped out. I don't think I'm out of bounds in using Gacy as a comparison either. When I saw "Sicko" there were a couple of film clips of Busholini, where he was making comments about terrists, and on the big screen it was even more apparent that his psyche is barely held together with spit and bailing wire.
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