I Know Things Seem Bleak, but there IS Good News:

[Frostlight]

The Reason Conservatives Have Never Won a ‘Culture War’… and Never Will

(Yes, I have permission to share the whole thing.)

Most of what makes conservatives what they are, I’ve already touched on here, here, here, here, and here. To try and sum it up, it’s like this: They are basically evolutionary throwbacks with neural architecture that lends itself to tribalism and authoritarianism. While this is not unique to conservatives, it is a stunningly common trait that they share. They are literally hard-wired for prehistoric survival. Therefore they are out of time and place in modern civilization. They represent over 20 million years of evolutionary strategy based on fear and tribalism that really was quite successful. Once civilization came about, all the ‘weird’ people who didn’t fit in with their tribe and would normally have been fed to wolves were suddenly able to thrive. These ‘new people’ tended to be intellectually curious, highly creative, and became the force that drove civilization from a wheel to a spaceship in the blink of an evolutionary eye. In less than 6000 years, we made vast strides that our tribal ancestors could not have imagined. I like to informally, non-academically refer to these people as ‘Homo-Meta-Sapiens’ due to their more complex awareness… starting with their ‘awareness’ of their awareness. I like to think I’m one of them because I know for a fact I’m not a conservative. If you’re reading this and made it this far, you’re probably meta-sapient too, because conservatives don’t tend to read this much.

Ever wonder why conservatives treat politics like a sport? Why they all seem to own and wear Trump paraphernalia? Why they’re almost universally white, Christian, and ‘straight’? That is the ‘tribalism’. To a conservative, everything is ‘us vs them’. They tend to be unable to think outside of exclusive dichotomies. So for them, there are ‘two sides’ to everything. Everything is either ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, or ‘good’ or ‘bad’, and their ‘side’ believes it is the ‘good and right’ one just because it’s their ‘side’. Wearing the hats and shirts is to affirm the tribal identity that makes them feel ‘secure’. So anyone who isn’t a white, straight, Christian conservative is ‘suspect’. That brings us to the what of the why:

Due to their tribal ‘fear’ wiring, conservatives are motivated by old evolutionary impulses. Among those are tactics that were part of a cognitive function that helped our ancestors avoid threats. Those are ‘negativity bias’ and ‘apophenia’. Apophenia and negativity bias are actually related, but not quite the same. ‘Apophenia’ is the tendency to associate a false cause to an outcome or event due to a flawed perception of a link between something that is extraneous and an observed outcome. This is where we get ‘superstition’, ‘conspiracy theories’, and to an extent, ‘religion’.
Know anyone who ALWAYS wears the ‘lucky hat’ (Jersey, sunglasses, underwear, etc.) to watch sports because they were once wearing it when their team won the championship? Even though they know it’s a superstition, they still wear it because at some level they believe it will have an effect on the outcome of the game.
Conspiracy theorists (for the most part) operate on something similar: There’s a big scary power out there so devastating that event ‘x’ must be caused by them!
When we saw lightning, it was really scary. So what did we do in our ignorance? We invented ‘sky gods’ to explain it away… and we believed in them. Those are all examples of ‘apophenia’.
Negativity bias is simply how we have a much greater tendency to react to negative stimuli than neutral or positive stimuli. If you get in a beautiful luxury car with a hot date, but the inside of the car smells rotten, you’re going to focus more on the smell than the nice stuff. This was a good evolutionary strategy because by paying more attention to the things that were ‘scary’ or ‘gross’, one was more likely to avoid a potential hazard. Today, negativity bias is much stronger in conservatives. This means that conservatives tend to react to anything they don’t like or understand with greater hostility than non-conservatives. Yeah, I’ll bet you’re shocked, right?

*Shocked*

Negativity bias was a good evolutionary strategy because it meant our ancestors would just kill things they thought were a threat rather than taking any chances. It’s not a coincidence that so many conservatives are chomping at the bit to resort to violence to ‘eliminate’ anything they don’t like.
When we add up negativity bias and apophenia, suddenly we can see why conservatives are so much more susceptible to the Lie Machine that uses fear to condition people, and to things like Q-Anon conspiracy theories. It doesn’t help in the slightest that conservatives can’t understand how evidence works. The combination results in their tendency to blame scapegoats for anything they don’t like. Again, 10,000 years ago, this was just being extra-cautious in a hostile world. Today it is a serious threat to civilization. Remember why the Nazis killed so many Jews? They were absolutely convinced that Jews were an existential ‘threat’ to Germany. That is that ancient hardwiring that tells the throwbacks they have to ‘eliminate’ anything that might be a threat. Today’s conservatives are being similarly brainwashed to believe that everything they don’t like about society is a ‘threat’ to them. That means non-Christians, LGBTQ+ people, Muslims, Immigrants, Liberals, and anyone else that isn’t suitably similar to them. To the conservative brain, ‘different’=’dangerous’. That is part of the negativity bias function.

Now, here’s the why of it:

There is no “culture war” anymore than there is a ‘rising Sun’ war. The evolution of culture, society, and humanity is simply inexorable. But conservatives have been very easily brainwashed, due to their wiring, to believe that there are ‘devious forces’ behind the changes in the social paradigm. Like blaming a sky wizard for lightning, conservatives can’t understand that what’s happening to society is natural. It is an outgrowth of human diversity stepping ever more out of the closet and into the sunlight. They can’t understand that the push for social justice, equal rights, and fair universal treatment is simply a human compulsion. In a nutshell; the evolution of humanity towards the embrace of diversity and improvement of civilization is never going to stop. Conservatives cannot understand this. Instead, as they have throughout the ages, they perceive these changes as a deliberate ‘assault’ on their tribe by malicious actors. This frightens them because to a tribal partisan, ‘other people’ getting equal rights means that their tribe is ‘losing’.

Let’s look at a few of the things conservatives are convinced are part of a nefarious plot to ‘change society’;

Potato Head.

About a year ago, Hasbro toy company dropped the ‘Mr.’ from “Mr. Potato Head” in a bid to be more ‘gender inclusive’. The Right-Wing media went apoplectic and its audience mindlessly accepted its characterization of the move: “Liberals Destroyed Mr. Potato Head!”. They ranted and raved about how the ‘socialist liberals’ somehow managed to ‘force’ Hasbro to cave in and emasculate a toy.
This is funny because Mr. Potato Head was already pretty gender-fluid depending on how you dressed it. So it’s kind of a microcosm for the concept of gender to begin with… which is complicated.
Of course there was no ‘movement’ or ‘push’ or literally any campaign or effort by anyone to get Hasbro to do what they did. Hasbro made their decision based on the disposition of society. That’s right; they did it because they recognize the inevitability of society’s acceptance of human diversity.
Similarly, the estate of Dr. Seuss discontinued printing books that they felt were outdated and offensive. Again conservatives blamed liberal ‘cancel culture’ for the move despite the fact that literally no one actually put pressure on the estate to do so.
They feel the same way about LGBTQ+ rights, BLM, Anti-Fa, Critical Race Theory, and pretty much anything that they perceive as a ‘threat’ to their primacy. It’s all a ‘conspiracy’ backed by George Soros, Obama, Clinton, social media, etc, etc, etc. They can’t understand that what’s happening is a result of very real but somewhat abstract things like biology, systemic racism, and a number of organic issues that drive people to seek security, equality, and acceptance.

They can’t win a culture war because they don’t understand what’s happening. They’re so tied up in looking for individuals or groups to blame because their ancient fear wiring forces them to seek ‘something they can attack’. They’re tilting at windmills, boxing with shadows, and chasing rainbows. They cannot grasp the fact that humanity is spectacularly diverse and that as society evolves, change is inevitable.

Now of course conservatives throughout history have fought against the evolution of society. In some cases they’ve succeeded… but it has never been permanent. They’ve never ‘won the war’ against progress, they’ve only set it back. We had the Dark Ages. If conservatives could have ‘won’ the culture war that brought about The Enlightenment, we’d still be in the Dark Ages.

The bottom line is this: They can’t tell the difference between the natural evolution of society and the deliberate manipulation of culture by individuals or groups. They are hard-wired to fight threats that have corporeal form, and they simply do not possess the cognitive empathy and the ability to learn and evolve in order to understand the complex dynamic of society and humanity. If they did, they wouldn’t be conservatives to begin with.




HMU on Twitter too! https://twitter.com/TheGarthThe1

For all the hyperlinks, pics&jokes:
https://bsbuzzsaw.com/2022/03/06/the-reason-conservatives-have-never-won-a-culture-war-and-never-will/

[secondwind]

1. Loved reading this. Wow!!!

Sharing this far and wide….

WOW

[Frostlight]

2. Thanks!

Feel free to share anything on that site (there's lots of stuff). There are some important points I think people aren't really talking about.

[Demovictory9]

3. harsh! but true

[SheilaAnn]

4. Wonderful and welcome to DU..n/t

[Frostlight]

5. Thanks! n/t

[markie]

6. interesting...

[Bernardo de La Paz]

7. Glad to see you posted this in your journal because it certainly is worthy. Thanks, and Enjoy DU. nt

[Deb]

8. Bookmarked

When conversing with GOP members I often reply with "Only dead things never change."
Thanks for sharing this to pass along!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

11. Similarly, "Dinosaurs are very proud of their heritage." . . . nt

[rubbersole]

9. Explains my brother...

...and I always thought it was because he was dropped on his head by the babysitter (50 years ago).
Thanks, Frostlight!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

10. I too believe "The evolution of culture, society, and humanity is simply inexorable."

It is logical and highly effective and very peaceful. It works in so many wonderful ways.

Just like high intelligence is an emergent feature that resulted from perfecting bipedal locomotion, a burgeoning diverse culture is a logical emergence. The more creativity and intelligence are rewarded in society (and they are), the more diversity in all its manifestations is allowed and flourishes.

It particularly irks the tRump base that they realize they are losing and they don't get why. They are not Moses parting the water for a return to the promised land. They are idiots drowning because they went jet skiing without a life jacket.

If they won't or can't get on board with inevitable reality, leave them in our dust. Full rights and access to services, but not much interaction. Let them become like Amish, like some sect but stuck in the 1950s. Not much else we can do.

[Frostlight]

12. Yup. The only problem is that they ONLY understand the use of force as a solution.

But because they can't understand the 'problem', it won't work particularly well for very long.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

13. Right again. . . nt

[multigraincracker]

14. It is all black and white to them.

They fail to see the gray and it is all gray.

[Aussie105]

15. In short

lower brain function at work.

Fight or flight response.

Adrenalin surge, kill what you don't understand.

[ms liberty]

16. Great piece. Welcome to DU. n/t

[global1]

17. Thank You For Posting This Explanation....

Would you say that certain people/groups (i.e., the Repug Party; Fox News; etc) that understand what you've just told us about those of a 'conservative persuasion' have then taken advantage of these 'conservatives' and exploited them for their own political gain?

Knowing what makes up the psychi of a 'conservative' I can see how these certain people/groups can then manipulate them and take advantage of them to mold them into a cult-like following.

Is that what we're seeing happen to those loyal followers of Fox or TFG? They are being manipulated because of their "evolutionary throwbacks with neural architecture that lends itself to tribalism and authoritarianism"?

[Frostlight]

19. The 'Powers That Be' have known this for a long time. It is quite deliberate.

Conservatives are being used, manipulated through the fear and ignorance that is their ancient tribal neural architecture. Homo sapiens are pretty simple creatures in that regard. The problem, for the PTB, are the homo meta-sapiens; those of us who have expanded awareness, curiosity, empathy, and a natural disposition to be civilized. We're a problem because we are naturally opposed to their avarice and exploitative methods.

So, about 40 years ago, they bought up big chunks of media and went about the process of dividing us so that they could create an army of morons who would stand in the way of the solutions we desperately need if we wish to reach the next stage of civilization.

They. Don't. Want. That.

Because the next stage of civilization means the end of their power.


https://bsbuzzsaw.com/2018/06/12/zombie-sports-fans-the-rise-of-modern-conservatism/

These Zombie Sports Fans, a mob united by their fears, their ignorance, and their inability to learn facts that conflict with their world view, have been raised from the graveyard by the forces of avarice for the express purpose of undoing, or at least preventing, any progress towards a society that is protected from predatory corporations or interests. Those interests are very much at odds with the interests of a civilized society. A civilized society values education, equality, opportunity, and social justice. Those things are not profitable to corporations that would rather have their proverbial mines worked by mindless, frightened sheep so those very sheep can be fleeced in turn.

[global1]

21. What You've Told Us Here (Including This Response) Would Make An Interesting Documentary Film....

that would explain a lot of what we are watching happen to us in real time - how our people are being exploited for political purposes in such a subliminal way.

Do you think if more people (particularly those conservatives prone to this behavior) learned how they are being manipulated and exploited - that it might have some 'cult-breaking' outcomes?

[Novara]

18. I don't agree that they can't "win" a culture war

They ARE winning it. And no one currently in power seems to have the urgency to stop them. They have taken over the SCOTUS with religious fundamentalists and the majority of states (28) have republican governors making policy to take us backwards.

Look at countries that have gone backwards - they had the same sort of "conservative" revolution the conservatives are trying to foist upon us now, like Iran. They had an incredibly progressive western society before 1979. They still haven't recovered and it doesn't look likely they will.

The article didn't point out anything we don't already know. But these motherfuckers can win the culture war, and once they become entrenched in power we won't be able to wrest it back.

This is why we have to prevent them from taking the reins of government. Manchin, Sinama, are you listening? Is your precious filibuster worth going back to the 1950s?

[Frostlight]

20. Then why aren't we still in the Dark Ages? From the article:

"Now of course conservatives throughout history have fought against the evolution of society. In some cases they’ve succeeded… but it has never been permanent. They’ve never ‘won the war’ against progress, they’ve only set it back. We had the Dark Ages. If conservatives could have ‘won’ the culture war that brought about The Enlightenment, we’d still be in the Dark Ages."

Yes, they will win battles. Yes, they will set us back. No, they will not, ultimately, 'win'.

That would be impossible except in the case that they manage to extinguish our entire species. Just because we spend a few hundred years in darkness before getting back on track doesn't mean they've 'won'.

Otherwise, as I said, "We'd still be in the Dark Ages".

[Novara]

25. Why hasn't Iran come back in 43 years? WILL they get their progressive culture back?

Yes, generally, societies move towards progress. That isn't my argument.

The republicans are making their own progress pushing us back NOW. And if they gain power over the levers of government, they WILL take us back. We won't recover in my lifetime, because they will change the rules of the game to stay in power and it will take years, decades, even to regain it, if that. Look how desperately the orange motherfucker is STILL trying to stay in power. He isn't succeeding but it's because Democrats are in charge. Do you doubt that if republicans were in charge we'd be holding onto democracy? I don't.

Can't you see it? Can't you see their successes so far? It's in the SCOTUS. It's in the anti-trans bills. It's in abolishing abortion. It's in checking children's genitals in Ohio. It's in the removal of people's voting rights. It's in politically punishing corporations that don't spout the party line (Disney in Florida). Can't you see they are succeeding in much of their efforts? We're going in the wrong direction.

We don't have the luxury of allowing them to push us back because it will take a very long time - if ever - to recover. They are right now making incremental progress. We can't afford to sit back and rest on the likelihood that they won't succeed long term. What about NOW?

[uponit7771]

27. 43 yrs is a blip in time, out of 6000 yrs for instance. Humans will lean towards answers despite ...

... these setbacks but constructs like constitutions (thanks to Thomas Jefferson) for instance proliferate the world in the last 50 years vs dictatorships which are showing an obvious pattern of inability to adjust despite the data.

The internet is helping in a net positive way towards this "answer" evolution IMHO.

[Novara]

28. I don't have 6,000 years to bounce back

Hell, I don't have 43.

[uponit7771]

31. +1,

[Frostlight]

29. The Dark Ages lasted longer than 43 years.

You're thinking in the short term; in human timescales. You're right; we MIGHT see them get control and drag us back 100 years, but they WILL. Still. Lose. The worst case scenario; They start a nuclear war in the hopes of bringing about 'The Rapture' and wipe out most life on Earth... including all the humans. In that case, no one wins, we all lose.

But barring our extinction, the seeds of their failure are already within them. Their fear, ignorance, paranoia, insecurity, and greed are always their own undoing. They have no 'enemy' they can 'vanquish' because human diversity cannot be contained without just plain annihilating everyone.

Yes, we rea in a dark and dire place right now and we must fight them. The only problem is our inclination towards being civilized. That's their advantage; they have no qualms about being inhuman monsters. Personally I believe, 100%, that future generations will despise us for not just dragging the liars; corporate propagandists, fascist fear-mongers, and politicians beholden to avarice, out into the streets and summarily dispatching them. From a retrospective position, it would be like the Jews getting organized and pre-emptively targeting, hunting down, and killing all the would-be Nazis.
The problem with that is the context of the times. Had the Jews done that, they would have appeared to be the villains of history.

That's our problem; we see it coming. The proto-fascists are organizing and making no secret about what they want to do; kill everyone who isn't just like them. But there's only so much we can do right now. We have to fight, but we're constrained by our civilization. They are not.

But the bottom line is the same: Unless they manage to wipe out all of humanity, they WILL eventually and ultimately lose.

I agree with you though; it can't happen fast enough.

[scarletlib]

22. Interesting article.

I realized some time ago that much of social behavior could be considered tribal. It can be exploited and used by others.

My own thoughts about early humans are this: there was certainly cautious behavior. Existence in the wilds of nature wasn’t easy. However, there were always creatives and explorers who pushed the tribe forward.

Otherwise we would all still be living in caves.

[Frostlight]

30. Then you should read this one:

https://bsbuzzsaw.com/2018/04/04/why-conservatives-cant-learn/

It's about exactly what you just described.

[scarletlib]

37. Just finished the article.

Very good. Shared both with my daughter. I have a sister who has gone over to the Darkside in the last 15-20 years. She and her husband are deep into conspiracies. I love them both and don’t want to lose her.
At this point, our conversations consist mostly of talk about cats, other animals and gardens. So sad for me.

In thinking back the signs were always there. She was a devotee of Art Bells late night Coast to Coast Radio show. I thought it was mostly about UFOs and Aliens.
Later she told me she was Libertarian. I asked her if she was okay with her neighbor turning his home into a garbage dump for the neighborhood. Obviously she said no. I told her Libertarians would support her neighbor. His property. His right to do with it as he wished. Doubt I changed her mind.

Thanks for your articles. And thanks for letting me unburden myself.

[global1]

23. I'm Fascinated By What You've Posted Here And I See That You Are Relatively New To DU.....

I'm curious as to what your studied background is that seems so enlightened in this topic?

I learned a lot this a.m. from you and appreciate your posts. i hope you become a regular contributor here on DU. Thanks!!!

[Frostlight]

26. My main field is Cog Psyche,

but I've been studying these people for over 20 years... informally and in studies about neural architecture relating to political ideology.

I've done some extensive writing here; Bsbuzzsaw.com. It's not academic, so it's easier reading... and I prefer writing conversationally.

Feel free to skim or peruse.

I've had many theories I've personally (informally) tested on them with 100%confirmation. So I'm pretty sure my conclusions are fairly accurate. This is perhaps the cornerstone of everything we need to know about them: https://bsbuzzsaw.com/2018/04/04/why-conservatives-cant-learn/

[Delphinus]

33. Thank you & welcome to DU!

I am so glad you don't write academically - my brain processes conversational facts and stories so much better. Too many books have gone back to the library because they don't have the conversational prose.

[mopinko]

35. a book i read long ago that helped me understand how this all works- the moral animal.

i read it in the clinton years. it made the whole thing make sense.

a big part of what drives males, according to evolutionary psychology, is the danger of investing in another man's offspring. there's an even bigger fear, a more acute fear in modern times, that a woman might refuse/be unable to carry his child. this is why they hate abortion. that packet of dna is everything them. since these fools seem obsessed w the idea of 'the cuck', i wonder if some of their base fear shouldnt be fading, now that we have the means to prove paternity.

i wonder how this idea can get soaked into the culture. nobody can be a cuck these days. progress. dont worry. be happy.

welcome to du.

[uponit7771]

24. K&R, "You're most likely a [dem] ... because conservatives don't tend to read this much."

[dlk]

32. In other words, conservatives are evolutionary throwbacks who run on fear

Looking back to an earlier time when they felt safer, whether they actually were or not, gives them security.

[Frostlight]

34. That's EXACTLY the phrase I use for them;

'Evolutionary Throwbacks'.

[tanyev]

36. Excellent analysis.

[Pluvious]

38. That's a fascinating read, thank you ! nt.

[Blue Owl]

39. K&R

[ymetca]

40. Timothy Leary

was way ahead of his time on this subject, with his eight circuit model.

Read "The Game of Life"

https://archive.org/details/gameoflife00learrich/page/4/mode/2up

Basically, Conservatives are stuck on the bio-survival circuit. Hence their obsession with power and sexual control. Once you get to the bliss stage, those primitive circuits still have value, and should be regularly indulged in (but only by suspending dire consequences, like game play), but you begin to move on towards more egalitarian views and methods for interacting with other fellow "space travelers".

We're all space travelers, right now. If you don't get that basic idea, then you're "stuck" in lower brain circuit modes.

You can tell these types because they absolutely freak out that others are doing yoga!

[Frostlight]

41. Cool. He's always been a fun read. n/t