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Comment on Why do Republicans hate the poor so much?

In order to truly understand this, you have to tear yourself away from the Republicans and start looking at conservative ideology itself.

At the core of conservative ideology is the very American idea of “pulling oneself up by their own bootstraps.” This is essentially the idea that, no matter the circumstances of one’s birth, one can achieve anything. Historically, this was a rebellion against the classism of old Europe, which was structured around a class system. So, in that context, it was a very liberal idea. The problem comes in when you start to recognize that people are not actual born on a level playing field, financially, culturally, educationally, etc. Today, the idea that everyone can “pull themselves up by their own bootstraps,” foments the lie that we are all born into equal opportunities in life, which is demonstrably false.

So, the core of conservative ideology is based on an untruth, and it has never reconciled this. Conservatives thus blame disparities in achievement in society on lack of individual effort, and don’t take into account differences in opportunity by birth circumstances. As such, when they see people who haven’t done as well as others, they attribute that to personal failings rather than circumstantial inequalities. When you see all outcomes as a result of personal effort, you can dismiss bad outcomes as the result of a lack of effort, and thereby justify denying the less fortunate help under the notion that it is unfair to the more prosperous because it rewards those who didn’t try as hard with the same outcomes who had to work for them.

Conservative ideology is simply outdated and uninformed by modern sociological research.

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CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
modern sociological research or… basic common senses? It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that if you start with 10x as much money as everyone else in a game of monopoly you’re almost certainly going to win that game.

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blarghly@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I’ll take a step back even further, and pontificate my own point of view.

Modern conservatism, at its core, is the natural set of beliefs that well-adjusted humans have.

Family is good, and I should support my family.

Having children is good, and we should have more children.

Our society is good. We should celebrate our anscestors and carry on our traditions.

We should defend our society and traditions from outsiders and those who wish to tear it down.

There is a Great Force, which loves us and is on our side.

Bad things generally happen to bad people and good things generally happen to good people. So if good things are happening for a person, they are probably good, and if bad things are happening to a person, they are probably bad.

When obviously bad things happen to a good person or vice versa, it is because the Great Force has a plan for an even better future which we are ignorant of by virtue of our weakness.

Gaining wealth and power is good.

Because our leaders are wealthy and powerful, they must be good people.

If our leader is obviously not a good person, it is because the Great Force has a plan for them to make the future better for us.

Large groups of outsiders are dangerous, and are not to be trusted. If they encroach on our territory or take our resources, we should fight them.

If we are controlled by outsiders, this is bad, and we should fight them.

Our people are what is important to us. Outsiders should be left to handle their own problems.

The roles we have in society give us value. People who fulfill their roles well should be celebrated. People who do not fulfill their roles should be rejected.

The things I learned as a child are true.

With this set of beliefs, a human will fit in to any society and role they end up in; will work to support, grow, and defend that society; and will create as many children as possible. This is a fairly obvious blueprint for the evolutionary fitness of an individual, and the continued existance of a society. And this explains why conservatism is such a universal phenomenon around the world - it is the expression of our natural human instincts.

It is also why conservatives always seem to have a monopoly on “common sense” - a liberal’s common sense still requires you to think. A conservative’s common sense goes straight to your gut. And it explains why conservatives are so good at working together: liberals must find an intellectual basis of agreement before they work together; conservatives already know they should work together, since they see other conservatives have their same base emotional feelings. Plus they are part of the same in-group.
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- Tedesche@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  There is so much wrong with what you wrote but I don’t have the time or energy to point it all out. Suffice it to say, you are clearly biased and not very bright. And might be trolling. Goodnight.
  
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  - blarghly@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Ok, well I’m not trolling and I’m decently smart, but I hope you sleep well.
    
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