Wednesday, October 17, 2007

WONDER WHY WINGNUTS ARE LIKE THAT?

(Via Glenn Greenwald)

I posted before about Robert Altemeyer's work on authoritarian personalities and if you've ever wondered:
Yes, the research shows they are very aggressive, but why are they so hostile? Yes, experiments show they are almost totally uninfluenced by reasoning and evidence, but why are they so dogmatic? Yes, studies show the Religious Right has more than its fair share of hypocrites, from top to bottom; but why are they two-faced, and how come one face never notices the other? Yes, their leaders can give the flimsiest of excuses and even outright lies about things they’ve done wrong, but why do the rank-and-file believe them? What happens when authoritarian followers find the authoritarian leaders they crave and start marching together?


You can find the PDF's of his book here and get some answers.

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