The shrill and guilty denials of right wing politicians that their violent metaphors motivated the killer ring very hollow. The denials are needed because the politicians know they have summoned demons from the depth of the human psyche. If not this killer, it could well be the next.
Right wing politics are highly predictable. A cynical leadership rallies a foolish yahoo mob to act against their own interests, through idiot muscular metaphors, policies designed to preserve the advantages of a selfish few, and the intellectual poverty of those who vote for them. A climate of fear, domestic and international, not only helps intimidate opposition, it surges hormones that supress thought and motivate mindless acts.
It is convenient for politicians that fools cannot tell us what dark voices within move them to act. The act may be to pull a trigger, or to pull a lever on a voting machine.
That is the dark electoral secret of the Repugnant party.
NYT’s01-14-1Page A17
” In AZ people can be sent involuntary for a mental health exam after any concerned party-teacher-parent-friend applies for court ordered evaluation which can lead to mandated treatment” “Requires only some evidence of danger”
The Pima community college is soley responsible for allowing Jared L Loughner to become a threat to the general public–a tragedy—they didn’t understand the law.
He is a very mentally sick human being.
The guy appears unstable. That does nothing to absolve Sarah Palin and others their own summoning of the same dark forces.
We are learning more, each day, about how humans actually decide things, be it research by Dan Ariely , the insights of “behavioral economics” or the exciting reports from the cutting edge of brain imaging. We now know, unequivocally, that humans’ decisions are emotional, social and held together by narrative.
The Right is delivering a coherent package – where “coherent” is “an orderly, logical, and aesthetically consistent relation of parts” (and not necessarily” and not necessarily “congruent with reality” or connected to any higher purpose of being human). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MHEuudJ-o0 And they are using that coherent narrative as intellectual justification for an old tactic: scapegoating the Other in order to define Us.
The Scapegoating inevitably concludes with a “call to action” that must be motivated by high emotional content – resentment of the Other, feelings of US being victimized, desire for revenge and the full range of martial motivations that armies have used for centuries to make young men go kill and be killed.
We want our politicians to “fight” for the policies. To “do battle.” That rhetoric gets larger followings and more results than “solving problems.” Is it no wonder that the rhetoric gets more extended, more graphic, more bloodthirsty?
The “enthusiasm gap” is simply a measure of passions unleashed by this narrative. Fanning passions fires up an electorate otherwise demoralized and in pain, but it also denies the humanity of the Other. One’s political opponent becomes an “enemy.” Finding common ground becomes treasonous. Sprinkle in some religious passion (see American Taliban) and finding common ground becomes sinful and damning.