My analysis: Right-wingers don't regard children as human beings.

[DetlefK]

Let's analyze their mental disconnect.

- "Pro-life" is supposedly about the sancticity of life.
- Abortion is equated with murder.
- Alex Jones and his ilk are accusing HRC of helping pedophiles, they accuse NASA of literally(!) enslaving and eating children, they accuse homosexuals of being pedophiles. They accuse schools of brainwashing kids.
- If you don't go along with their failed domestic security policy, you hate children.

That's nice and all. Except:
- Republicans have no interest in funding education.
- Republicans have no interest in supporting poor families so they can feed their kids.
- Republicans have no interest in giving health-insurance to kids.
- Republicans have no interest in helping Dreamers.



Why the disconnect? The disconnect comes from how these people see children.

How do they see women?
Women are precious objects, to be adored and protected. But they are still objects and don't have a right to an own opinion.
(Kelly wants to go back to a time when women "were protected".
And all those pussyhat-protesters don't even know what they are protesting about.
And she got raped because of her clothes: We are one step away from protecting women from being objectified by men by men forcing women to wear dehumanizing burkas.)

How do they see kids?
Kids are precious objects, to be adored and protected. But they are still objects and don't have a right to an own opinion.
(These stupid kids cannot possibly have an opinion on gun-violence without being coached.)



They do not see kids as human beings. They see them the same way as others see pets: "Be cute and shut up."

[alarimer]

1. They lack empathy at all for anyone other than themselves.

They cannot mentally put themselves in anyone else's shoes. They only care about an issue if it happens to them.

I don't have any idea how to instill empathy in people who lack it.

[Zoonart]

2. The notion of a safe... secure and

sheleted childhood that stretches into the teen years is a 20th century. construct. Before that children were expected to pull their weight in the work force fro the age of 9 or 10.

They are Dickensian Capitalists. "Are there no work houses?"

[Orsino]

3. Only dollars and Republican voting blocs are people.

All others go to hell.

[smirkymonkey]

14. Don't forget corporations!

The most important "people" of all!

[world wide wally]

4. Only before they are born

(Try to digest that for.a minute)

[Caliman73]

10. Not even then.

A fetus is just a tactic for them. They actually do not care about the fetus. They just care that women get punished for having sex and getting pregnant, except they cannot say it like that so they focus on "the poor unborn life..." horse crap.

[spooky3]

5. They do NOT see women as precious. They just like to

say that they do.

[ProudLib72]

6. I don't know if I'd give them that much thought

Seems to me they are only interested in something/someone as long as it fills their purpose. In other words, it's all about them.

-Abortion laws have nothing to do with protecting children and everything to do with regulating and controlling women.

-Their answer to school shootings is not to protect children but to make everyone carry a gun, thus giving more business to their partners in the gun industry.

Using "those poor children" as a meme is just an appeal to emotion. They are very adept at swaying their base with emotion.

[The_jackalope]

7. It's worse than that, even

They don't regard any of the rest of us - all those who are not right-wing adults - as human.

I'm seeing more calls these days on the site I will not name for the deliberate slaughter of liberals, immigrants, intelligentsia. Add that to their utter disregard of the human rights of kids, and you have something that is creeping disturbingly closer every day to Rwanda or Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge. Sorry to sound extreme, but that's what I see.

I sure hope the rule of law holds.

[lagomorph777]

8. Right wingers don't regard anyone as human beings...

except for billionaires and Caucasian fetuses.

[hfojvt]

9. it is easy to see teenagers as mouthy little knowitalls

I do not generally regard children as human beings who know sh*t from shinola.

There are a lot of amazingly amazing kids, but at the same time the following are usually true

1. they are often arrogant - they are amazed with themselves and think they know more than they do
2. they do not have the life experience of an ancient like me, nor have they studied as much as an ancient like me

Hence, if they talk too much and too disrespectfully, well I am probably going to tell them to shut up - as nicely as possible.

I wonder how you see right wingers. Do you see them as human?

Who are these Republicans anyway? Voters or politicians?

You know that all of these are strawmen.

- Republicans have no interest in funding education.
Well, 1. they are perhaps not always keen on throwing more money at public education and
2. they sometimes feel that public education a) isn't very good and b) does too much left-wing indoctrinating
- Republicans have no interest in supporting poor families so they can feed their kids.
Well, 1. they think people should work for their food and shelter. They have no interest in supporting moochers.
2. it is one thing to give a person food so they will not starve, it is another thing to give them money for soda, and at
some point many of us have seen people buying soda with food stamps
- Republicans have no interest in giving health-insurance to kids.
I notice that SCHIP originally passed in a highly bi-partisan vote (Roll #345: 346-85) and Senate (Roll #209: 85-15), not sure what is holding up renewal.
- Republicans have no interest in helping Dreamers.
I know this is heresy, but I am not hugely interested in helping Dreamers either. Not sure how that proves that I hate kids. I just tend to think that my own monkees* are more important than the children of illegal immigrants.

monkee is the word I have coined. It means "niece and/or nephew". After all, if I am a monkey's uncle, that makes them the monkees.

[Caliman73]

12. That is a very conservative way of looking at the world.

Of course most people favor their own children and families to that of strangers, but it is decidedly conservative thinking, to believe that "there is just not enough to go around" so the children of undocumented immigrants must starve or be deported so that I can get my child the extra Nintendo Switch. Dreamers are American. They have participated in American culture since they were children. They are typically higher achieving and more motivated to give back to their community than the average American kid. They have rarely been given any special consideration or advantage over the children of citizens and yet they continue to perform at high levels. I am not sure what the animosity is. Because they did more with less? Afraid of the competition even after overcoming an uneven playing field?

Yes, children can be annoying. Yes teenagers think they know more than they do. It is called NORMAL DEVELOPMENT. We all went through that phase even though we magically like to believe that we somehow passed those stages as fully humble, fully obedient people.

I get annoyed at my children often, but as soon as I start to think about "these kids don't know how good they have it... I remember all the stupid stuff I used to do and shut my mouth. The wisdom of age is supposed to give humility and understanding, not fill us with contempt for younger generations.

Republicans are both politicians and voters who believe that they are trying to conserve a past that is bullshit, that never existed except in their fantasies. The are flawed human beings like the rest of us, except that they have refused to learn from the past and fear progress toward a future.

They do not want to fund education because they want their children to get a good education, but they do not want "those other children" who they perceive as moochers, to get anything, even though those "moochers" are likely working more hours, but just earning less.

Public education is not very good because it does not get the funding and support it needs. The Finnish took education models developed at Stanford University after years of research into how to fix our schools. The Finnish have the best schools in the world based on OUR model.

People do work, most people on public assistance work more than 30 -40 hours a week, but do not earn enough to support themselves and their families. The idea of "mooching" is born of racism and hatred of the poor. They think that the poor are poor because they are inferior and that they deserve to be punished for their poverty and do not deserve any enjoyment in their lives. What the hell do they care if a poor mother or father buy a soda so their kids can be happy for a little while?

[hfojvt]

13. so?

Is a needle pulling thread.

Me, is a name I call myself.

Calling names is not an argument. If I say "I think X is true" you don't refute anything by saying "that's a conservative point of view".

Not unless you think it is a given that "conservatives are always wrong".

Is it a conservative point of view to think there is not enough to go around? Seems to me it is also the reality we live in. The unemployment rate is very low now. Still it is NOT zero percent. Therefore, even now there are NOT enough jobs to go around. It is even more true that there are not enough GOOD jobs to go around. Certainly I, myself, have not been able to find one these last thirty plus years.

I have no animosity towards Dreamers. I feel bad for them. However, I also do not feel like they are the most important people in the world., and that my own Representatives should be fighting for THEM instead of fighting for me. Can they do both? I suppose, in theory, they could, but to hear the media it is Dreamers, Dreamers, Dreamers. Dreamers first, Dreamers last, Dreamers uber alles.

Further, in my eyes, we have an illegal immigration problem, and maybe even a legal immigration problem. I am not convinced that our policy of 1) massive legal immigration and 2) seemingly uncontrolled illegal immigration and 3) birthright citizenship are good policies - are policies that will benefit me and mine.

You seem very certain about what THEY believe, and certain that THEY are not very good people. That, after years at DU, seems to me a very liberal mindset. The idea that there are two kinds of people in the world. There are people who agree with me, and there are bad people.

I dunno, maybe if I hung out at a conservative message board, I would find the same mindset there,

[Caliman73]

15. You are on a liberal/Democratic forum, perhaps you should check out conservative forums.

There, at least on the issues of immigration and the sum zero mindset, you will find more like minded people.

Yes, the idea that resources are finite and there must be losers is definitely a conservative mindset.

I am not saying that resources like water, land, etc... are not finite, but money, food, jobs etc... are not resources that are necessarily finite. It is the distribution and concentration that is the problem. Greed is the problem.

Dreamers are NOT the most important people in the world. They are however, people who are American by almost every definition of the word, except for a piece of paper. It is not Dreamers who would be keeping you and yours from receiving the full benefits of citizenship as they add way more to the economy and the community than they take out. Finally, the Democratic Party is doing a lot more than just fighting for Dreamers. My question is what specific damage have Dreamers of Dreamer issues done to you personally?

We do not have an immigration problem legal or illegal. Without legal immigration, there would not be sufficient population growth to sustain our economy and sadly, because of the way our economy is set up, without undocumented workers, the agricultural, food processing, and likely construction industry would be gutted. The problem again, is greed. Immigrants do not come to the US "just because" they are likely fleeing serious problems in their home countries, which in some part (especially in the Western Hemisphere) are a result of US economic policy and interference in the governance of said countries. There are employers waiting to hire and exploit them for cheap labor. Every attempt to significantly sanction employers who hire undocumented workers has been blocked, mainly by Republicans.

Regarding employment, We will NEVER, EVER be at zero percent employment. Most economists understand that Full employment is at a rate slightly below 5%. While it is true that there are not enough high paying jobs, that is not the fault of immigrants, that is capitalism. Employers will pay the lowest wage possible and the wealthiest people like the Walton family and the Koch's will often use their wealth and influence to promote legislation that prevents workers from organizing to bargain collectively for higher wages. They use technology to reduce their workforce, and they send factories to places where there is cheap labor. Again, immigrants come to the US because however bad we have it here with jobs, their situation is even worse in many cases.

I am fairly certain about what Conservatives believe because I watch Fox News and venture onto right wing sites. I have right wing relatives and we have the same lovely conversation I am having with you. I believe that they are wrong. I do not believe that most rank and file conservatives are bad people, just mislead and wrong. Some, however, those who are doing the misleading to retain their benefits and power, are bad people.

[salin]

11. I missed the NASA conspiracy theory - just looked it up.

Geez these folks are so stupid. The kind of 'so stupid' it hurts.

I know I am off topic - but geez.

[FSogol]

16. Yup, but they consider blastocysts and fetuses human beings. Once you are born, you're out of luck.

[Initech]

17. They view life as "every man for themselves".

And they don't want no dang gubmint interferring with prosperity!