Right Wing Authoritarians: Some Conclusions

We’ve had a thread analyzing the psychology of the Right Wing Authoritarian mind. Here’s a summary:

“Chronically frightened authoritarian followers, looking for someone to attack because fighting is one of the things people do when they are afraid, are particularly likely to do so when they can find a moral justification for their hostility. Despite all the things in scriptures about loving others, forgiving others, leaving punishment to God, and so on, authoritarian followers feel empowered to isolate and segregate, to humiliate, to persecute, to beat, and to kill in the middle of the night, because in their heads they can almost hear the loudspeakers announcing, “Now batting for God’s team, his designated hitter, (their name). Thus in the experiments done on this subject, if you know how highly people scored on the Dangerous World scale, and if you know how self-righteous they are, you can explain rather well the homophobia of authoritarian followers, their heavy- handedness in sentencing criminals, their prejudices against racial and ethnic minorities, why minorities, why they are so mean-spirited toward those who have erred and suffered, and their readiness to join posses to ride down Communists, radicals, or whomever.”

Now here are some conclusions that we can draw applying those RWA tendencies:

On Fox News’s High Ratings: There are not more RWAs than everyone else nor is Fox’s work product anything special. The high ratings can be attributed directly to the RWA’s constant need to suppress his fear through Authoritative reinforcement of right wing prejudice. Fox News excels at this.

On Unions: RWAs hate labor unions b/c they identify with the authoritarian owner (Daddy or Mommy) instead of with the rank and file worker…even if the RWA is a rank and file worker. So the RWA will undercut his own economic well-being to please / satisfy the Authoritative employer with whom he maintains the delusion of some fallacious shared interest.

On Guns: RWAs don’t like guns, they love guns. Quelling the gnawing fear of the RWA is done through superior firepower against the unarmed. Remember, the RWA test subjects told us they are more afraid of everything than anyone else and what could bring about conclusively absolute rightness more than the power over life and death.

On Government: RWAs despise government b/c the main function of government is to redistribute resources to places most needed. That usually involves using tax dollars of the Mommy or Daddy authoritative figure to help anyone else. And government can help the downtrodden with a modest social safety net for the elderly, the single mother, the orphan, the minority or the like. And that list is an RWA dream list of enemies. Why? RWAs are prototypical cowardly bullies. It is generally easier to stomp on and intimidate the poor, the infirm, or the oppressed than it is to take on the elite powers with whom they identify in their self-delusion…they are God’s Chosen ones doing the holy work of battling freedom-robbing government and all the freeloading enemies of capitalism.

And they will oppose government programs that the authoritative figure tells them to oppose even if that particular program benefits them personally.

Now are all right wingers merely nascent Nazis waiting to spring forth to the direction of an iron-handed leader? No. But RWAs do show a superior ability to be manipulated by authoritarian leader. Moreso than any other personality type.