Could someone PLEASE tell me why

[Peanutcat]

Anytime you question a conservative on anything, even the least little thing, they get so fucking angry? I've had this happen to me twice in two days, which is a record for me because I'm usually smarter than to challenge them on their beliefs. I still don't understand where all the anger keeps coming from, though.

[slackmaster]

1. People who have any kind of strong opinion do that

Anyone who has a sacred cow doesn't like seeing it gored.

[4 t 4]

2. Guilt! nt

[jrw14125]

3. they have only 2 options when questioned...

1. spout out long-debunked "talking points", or
2. act offended that you would even question them

[tcfrogs]

18. There's a 3rd

Blame Clinton.

[Peanutcat]

21. That's part of #1

And yep, Clinton was blamed! "Why didn't you get upset when Clinton commited adultery?"

[Peanutcat]

19. Exactly!

Those are exactly the attitudes I got! It's like they are all pod-people or something! I know we here at DU believe in a lot of the same things, but we all don't sound like zombies reading from a talking list. I've seen rip-roaring arguments here BECAUSE we all don't think exactly alike.

[Kare]

28. Our arguements are usually healthier too

We argue as thinking people with opposing views on things.

They argue with us because they have all been brain washed.
It still surprises me sometimes though

I watch them on tv every now and then and
I find it hard to believe that THEY believe what
they are saying.

These people really believe that Bush is a good president.

They cannot be found wrong either. They will not admit a mistake.

:crazy: :crazy:

[MadMaddie]

4. Because they know the truth...they have been had by

their great so called leaders...

Tom Delay going down is huge...
Soldiers dying every day....and no way out of the mess huge..
The American economy is starting to effect the Average Joe in big ways...gas prices..grocery prices...

Their ego's and pride will not allow them to admit the Fucked up!!

[Nickster]

5. You know what I do that really gets them going? Lay a 20 dollar bill on

the table and say they can have it if they can sit and discuss politics for a half hour without making personal attacks, hateful attacks, etc. Without hate and invective, they have nothing.

[tanyev]

8. Look at all the RW radio gasbags that have gotten in trouble lately.

The guy that got fired for his "slip of the tongue" about Condi, Rush calling the Duke rape victim a "ho", Boortz saying very rude things about Cynthia McKinney. Then they all apologize afterwards that the listeners heard them say it. Not that they said it, but that they were heard on the radio saying it. Perhaps the most amazing thing is that they manage to stay within broadcast guidelines as much as they do.

[bunkerbuster1]

6. Years and years of conditioning by example

An awful lot of nasty, in-your-face taunting and hateful rhetoric has gone unanswered over the years. Some of it coming from the very top (think Reagan).

[unblock]

7. because they view the world as right or wrong;affirmation or confrontation

they don't welcome debate. it's very tribal, actually.
you're either with 'em or against 'em.

so if you challenge their views, you are wrong and confrontational. your an outsider threatening their tribe, and they are under attack. hence the anger, they are readying themselves for battle.

to you it is just an intellectual exercise. to them it is war.
you are problem solving. they are fighting.

[Danieljay]

9. Don't argue with idiots...they will only bring you down to their level and

beat you with experience!"

[EstimatedProphet]

10. Because they're assholes

All of their opinions are better than anyone else's. They are superior. How dare you question them! You don't have the right to question them! They are gods among men! You owe your existence to them!

[kineneb]

11. Just remember this quote:

"I refuse to have a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent." Then walk off.

[Peanutcat]

23. That wouldn't work

Because I was the one who started it, and that would be a cowardly cop-out.

[sui generis]

12. character flaw; seriously

"conservatives", meaning social conservatives, usually have authoritarian personality disorder to a greater or lesser degree.

They follow authority mindlessly, whether that is "the bible" or "the prezadent" or "the majority" because it gives them a sense of power in their own out of control lives.

They have control issues and not controlling the "ultimate truth" puts them in fight or flight mode.

It's a learning issue too. They don't want to expend the energy to continuously revise their opinion based on current information - they just want to learn once and never have to revisit their thinking, and they react aggressively to anyone who inadvertantly forces them to do so.

They are the "kill the messenger" type, in the flesh.

[BurtWorm]

13. Could be that they're watching their grip on power slipping

through the fingers of the idiots who "lead" them.

[geiger]

14. they cant accept anything that doesnt fit into their paradigm of "truth

iness"

[Atman]

15. It's getting nearly as bad as when you question a fellow DUer!

:hide:

[Tesha]

16. They don't *GET* angry; they simply *ARE* angry.

They don't *GET* angry; they simply *ARE* angry. All the
time, everywhere.

All these years, they've been promised that things would
be just ducky when they were finally running things (instead
of all those uppity liberals, women, {rude word for gays},
{rude word for African Americans}, etc.).

Well, now they *ARE* running things and pretty much anywhere
they look, things are running to shit.

You'd be angry too. ;-)

Tesha

[mondo joe]

17. Some people - and most conservatives - viwe being questioned

as an attack. Anything but absolute undoubting faith is an insult to them.

[liberal N proud]

20. Conservatives have heroes while liberals have ideals

[Jane Austin]

27. That's very insightful.

It's like politics is a cult of identity, rather than having to do with the kind of society we'll live in and leave to our kids.

[KurtNYC]

22. "How dare you!"

Mark Twain said "Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits!"

Also in the Ten Commandments it says "Thou" -- it doesn't say "me" or "I". It says "THOU shalt not bear false witness", etc. So whoever reads it aloud is off the hook. ;-)

Seriously, tyhe smallest amount of guilt coming their way is like holy water thrown at the Devil. They will shriek like Linda Blair while their head spins.

[DrGonzoLives]

24. That happens with any "true believer"

Question anyone who is hardcore anything - politics, music, comic books, salt shakers - and they will explode.

[donkeyotay]

25. Remember the "angry white man" and the conservative backlash?

Newtie Gingrich and the Republican takeover in 1994? They came onto talk shows and shouted down "the liberal media." It worked for them then, and they don't see why it shouldn't continue to work. Think Rush. Think loud, rude and therefore right. They're entitled.

[Jane Austin]

26. Be sure to open your eyes wide and ask,

"My Goodness! Why are you so angry?"

I like tagging them with the angry label.

[Mrspeeker]

29. yeah so true

I get stuff like this when I debate:
"Love it or leave it"
"Your unpatriotic"
F&*K You, You stupid hippie"
and my personal favorite "I am a fan of bush"

Of course I'm looking to sight my sources and keep to the topic, but that last about 2 seconds then its the old name calling and shut up game.

Why do you ask? Simple the people have been totally mislead and well we all know we hate to be wrong, so when confronted with facts which prove the obvious which is that they are wrong, the result is anger directed at the informer them self.

[July]

30. Unlike liberals, conservatives think disagreement equals disapproval.

They tend to black and white thinking, so if we don't agree with them, we are (in their minds) saying that we disapprove of them. It makes them very uncomfortable, insecure, and hostile. What they fear we are doing to them is actually what they do to us, ironically (Democrats aren't just different, we're evil).

Liberals practice "live and let live" a little better and often see disagreement as difference rather than disapproval, as long as the people we disagree with aren't trying to run our lives.

[underpants]

31. Do what you are told. Respect your elders. Respect your superiors.

Your place is identified by the rank they assign you.
You can only achieve rank through their approval.
You will never outrank them.
The Adults are in charge.
You don't know what they know so you are in no position to doubt them.
They can never be wrong.


Do what you are told. Respect your elders. Respect your superiors.


___You really do have to understand what is running through their head while you are talking. It is a form of brainswashing and yes it is based on the culture of the military_____

[ieoeja]

32. Agreeing with them makes them angrier.

In my experience I have gotten much angrier responses from Conservatives when I have given logical, rational (i.e. Liberal) reasons why they are correct in a particular situation. My theory as to why is that all the propaganda aimed at painting education and intelligence as unsensible leaves them feeling like a logical argument in their favor means they are wrong. But, of course, they can not be wrong because they are right, not because of some stupid, liberal elitist reason, but just because right is right and wrong is wrong. So the stupid, liberal elitist argument must favor something that is wrong. But in this case it favors something that is right, which must make it wrong. But it has to be right because they just know it is right and there therefore can not be a logical reason for it to be right because educated people are always wrong which means...

About this time they explode and start threatening to take me out to the alley and beat me with a stick.

[riona]

33. you got me

at a get strictly social get-together awhile back i was helping myself to a drink when a group of wealthy wingnut men (who knew i was a democrat) ambushed me on the abortion issue - i mean out of nowhere! you would have thought i was a serial killer. they showed a cruel side of themselves that i had never seen before, and it forever changed how i feel about them.

[Hamlette]

34. they are weak and insecure and anti-democratic

the GOP stands for strong military defense and small government. A recipe for totalitarianism. They don't trust their own people.

Nietzsche said:

"The less one knows how to command, the more urgently one covets someone who commands, who commands severely - a god, prince, class, physician, father confessor, dogma, or party conscience... for fanaticism is the only 'strength of will' that even the weak and insecure can be brought to attain, being a sort of hypnotism of the whole system of the senses and the intellect for the benefit of an excessive nourishment of a single point of view and feeling that henceforth becomes dominant."

He was talking about religion but to today's GOP, it's the same thing.

As an atheist I've long known some religious people get very angry just because I don't believe. The GOP has become the same. Their position is indefensible (with any emperical evidence), it is dogma, fanaticism. You revere someone/thing who commands severely so you emulate that behavior. To allow you to believe you are strong and in command.