Idolize the wealthy and deplore the poor

[rhett o rick]

This is what the authoritarian followers do. They idolize the wealthy because they view wealth and power as the indicators of success. This is what they want so very badly. It doesn’t matter how the wealth is obtained. They idolize Dick Cheney because he has power and money and are willing to overlook whatever he did.

The authoritarian followers emulate the wealthy and look down on the poor as failures that deserve their fate. They rationalize that the poor don’t deserve help because of their lifestyles and behavior. The poor should just get a job and pull themselves us by their boot straps. And they will throw the code words “personal responsibility” into the argument somewhere.

And these same authoritarian followers will swear they live by the Bible’s teachings. Their brains can’t see the hypocrisy.

[slackmaster]

1. Only some authoritarian followers are that way

Specifically, right-wing authoritarian followers.

Left-wing authoritarian followers cheer when private businesses are nationalized and private property gets seized.

K&U for narcissism.

:kick:

[JVS]

2. You're off the mark. Most people (authoritarian or not) idolize the wealthy and deplore the poor...

and it is not because of wealth and power as indicators of success. The reason that they do this is that wealth and power are something they aspire to, while poverty and weakness are things that they fervently do not want to associate with. So suppose an individual who considers themselves "middle class" (and what fucking schlub doesn't assert at least this status) is presented with a conflict between the poor (possibly including the person in question, although he'd rather eat shit than admit this to himself) and the rich (who they consider to be in the position that they might be in eventually). This person will side with the rich because it feeds their sensation of partaking in wonderful things (Who wouldn't want wealth? Who does not desire power, at least power over their own lives?) while taking the side of poor forces them to identify with the lack of those desirable things.

[rhett o rick]

3. I don't think "most people" idolize the rich to the point of overlooking the torture

of children. Right wing authoritarians will. Otherwise, I agree with your message. Your words are better than mine.

[JVS]

5. Oh yeah. In the case of Cheney, most people don't like him much

I guess it takes a special breed of scumbag to support him.

[rhett o rick]

7. A poll in May indicated that over 1/3 of Americans have a favorable opinion.

I think that's over 100,000,000 people.

[snagglepuss]

19. Well said. nt

[Echo In Light]

4. "Prosperity Christianity." It's actually antithetical of its basic tenets.

[FiveGoodMen]

13. Which initially led me to believe that sincere Christians would fight it

After all, it's their faith that's being corrupted.

You've heard about all of the Christian movements to discredit Prosperity Christianity for the horrible lie that it is, right?

Right?

[rhett o rick]

14. I'd be interested in hearing your definition of "sincere Christians".

I am seriously interested. Not being snarky.

[FiveGoodMen]

17. Here's what I mean by sincere

You start with the belief that Jesus was actually the Son of God and savior of humanity...

You then read what he had to say while on earth...

You try to live by those teachings because, after all, you believe they come directly from God.

There's no reconciling "Sell all you have, give it to the poor and then come follow me" or "It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven" with "God wants you to be rich and if He loves you, then He will make you rich."

These people just worship themselves.

[rhett o rick]

24. Well put. Now do any religions actually teach that? nm

[Echo In Light]

15. Well, to be fair I've read from various people in those circles who are VERY wary of how....

....Christianity has been co-opted by fundies, authoritarians and fascists, and subverted as cover for snake-oil salesman's nefarious ideology. There are numerous books and articles on the subject. They don't like it at all, and sound the warning bell.

Along those lines I particularly like the work of David Ray Griffin (9/11 truth) in how he offers suggestions as to how Christians should respond to the actions of our govt/empire ...and it isn't anything remotely like the beliefs of "Prosperity" Christians.

[Locrian]

6. Bob Altemeyer's - The Authoritarians

http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/

Link to excellent free book on authoritarians, followers, double authoritarian, etc.

[rhett o rick]

12. I just finished the book. It helped with a number of things that were bothering me.

I sprung for the cost of printing at lulu.com. Approx $15

[snagglepuss]

20. Thanks for posting this link. nt

[anonymous171]

8. I think they like the bible because they like the idea of an ever present, omnipotent God

Kind of like a universal CEO that promises to grant them power if they kiss his ass long enough.

[Generic Other]

9. Blessed are the Greedy

A video I made.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Y4RZnAPotQ

[rhett o rick]

23. Great video. nm

[BolivarianHero]

10. They are ignorant of evolution too...

They fail to understand that it is as much a social process of nature as it is an invidual one. A disadvantaged Einstein free from the toils of the sweatshop or a frail genius or social butterfly free from the burdens of physical weakness has much to offer the human race.

[bridgit]

11. Idolize the wealthy or find yourself in G. Orwell's front-line typing pool at best...

"wealth and power (being) indicators of success" are the hard edged counterparts to hearth & home...which is part of why they don't want us to have any of them as a matter of being kept off balance

[autorank]

16. Excellent point

That goes for idolizing Warren Buffett on this site, which I see. He's the "best of the worst" but the hero worship
simply because he's an occasional moderate is part of what you're talking about.

The ability to let 40 million people suffer without care and 18-30 thousand die a year needlessly from no care
is just an outrage. The only way you can get there, other than indifference, is with the attitude you describe
so well.

[rhett o rick]

22. Well put. It is incredulous that "these people" can rationalize away their personal responsibility

for the deaths of thousands.

[old mark]

18. it's the American way....prosperity was thought a sign from god

that the rich were righteous, thus favored and made wealthy. The poor were obviously not any of those things. In America, this goes back to the pilgrims who were so obnoxiously "religious" they were driven from England to the Netherlands and then to here. When the Indians came to hate them, the Pilgrims just killed them. Note that the Pilgrim colonies did not accept other religions especially not Catholics and Jews. They also sent their own children out to other families to be raised as hired workers so as not to develop too much closeness between the adults and the child.

They are the basis for the US version of christianity.

mark

[jotsy]

21. So many factors have led us to this Pavlovian state.

Among the most significant are these two:

Advertising, in a word it's about envy. We are meant to feel inadequate so we buy what ever they're selling.

and

Education,if you have the stones to call it that. According to Greg Palast, our children are labeled and sorted by the third grade. School districts are inflexible and impervious to the notion that anything that might be wrong is due to something they did or didn't do.

We are taught in each and every way that to feed the machine is "contributing to society"

There are at least 4 or 5 more ways by which we, the less than affluent, have been conditioned to benefit those that are. I find it an offensive notion, given that the founders wanted each to have equal stake and opportunity. That more than 200 years later we would fight the same kind of oppressors who believe true independence is a threat to their self image as something superior, not by virtue of who they are, but how much they have.

As a society, the bulk of us have been literally programmed. Our identities are not a thing that can be stolen with an ATM card. I think most of us here at DU didn't take so well to the force feeding. We should remember to proud we have the courage to see things from outside the little box that's been provided for us.

Them? Save yourself the energy of pleading your case to an audience deaf to your tone. Just pity them. The day will come, probably not soon enough for us, that they realize who has more when money is what's irrelevant.