At about 6:15 in this 7.5 minute monolog,[1] Bill Maher raises the issue of fear among republicans. He makes fun of it, but empirical evidence is solid that there is a major difference in how conservatives and liberals perceive fear. Fear is seen as far more easily evoked and more powerful in driving beliefs among conservatives. Some speakers at NRA meetings list the kinds of killers and murderers out there, such as campus killers, shopping mall killers, terrorist killers, church killers, and so forth, the fear that evokes is real and powerful.
The evidence is about equally as solid that the liberal mind tends not to react with much or any fear in similar situations. Liberals tend to see conservatives, as Maher put it "panicky, fear-based, babies."
The point here is the conservative vs liberal difference of mind on this is not an illusion. Whether liberals understand it or not, conservative fear is real, and when conservatives evoke fear, e.g., the immigrant caravan traveling through Mexico to the US border, many or most conservatives respond with real fear, and maybe also with more than a tinge of xenophobia or even a little racism. Both of the latter tend to evoke a range of emotions that roughly run from unease and anxiety to outright fear.
How liberals or anyone interested in politics should respond to that information, if they respond at all, is up for debate. One thing seems logical to infer. Making fun of conservative fears probably isn't going to help close the vast and increasingly bitter left vs right gap.
Footnote:
1. On a different issue, at about 2:40 in the monologue Maher raises the question of whether the MAGABomber from Florida could reasonably be called deplorable. That thought deserves some consideration.
B&B orig: 10/28/18
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