Sunday, June 15, 2008

Study Says Bush is Neurotic

There is somewhat of an uproar over a study that finds conservatism, specifically its psychological roots, can be "explained" by neurotic features grounded in "fear and aggression, dogmatism and the intolerance of ambiguity," according to a report in the Guardian.


President Bush is said to be a "textbook case" of the kind of neurosis that links Hitler, Mussolini, Ronald Reagan, and Rush Limbaugh.



The study entitled Political Conservatism as Motivated Social Cognition, says that these conservatives uniformly "preached a return to an idealised past and condoned inequality."

The four authors received a $1.2 million dollar grant from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health to conduct the study.

The study was recently published in the American Psychological Association's Psychological Bulletin.

As you can probably imagine, Republicans are not happy about the study's funding sources and its conclusion.

Bush, who is on a farewell visit to Europe, has not offered a reaction.

One of the principal authors, Dr. Jack Glaser, "said the aversion to shades of grey and the need for closure could explain the fact that the Bush administration ignored intelligence that contradicted its beliefs about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction," according to the Guardian.

All of the above would be somewhat humorous if one ignored the devastation and human rights tragedies linked to Hitler, Mussolini, Ronald Reagan, and Bush.

Rush Limbaugh, on the other hand, is just a racist scaremonger and the obvious joke if one is needed. For those who do not know, Limbaugh is a conservative radio talk show host in the US who just recently claimed that there are tapes where Michelle Obama used the word "whitey" forthcoming.

Don't hold your breath. Those alleged tapes are the Weapons of Mass Destruction that the Republicans hope they can find in camp Obama.

Nontheless, reality is obviously quite different for conservatives when it comes to political and economic interests. Let us not forget that Bush and company led the US to a brutal war in Iraq in search of nuclear weapons they knew did not exist.

Over 1.2 million Iraqis, and counting, have died because of Bush and company's version on reality.

To say that his reality has led us to a tragic time of dying and suffering is a severe understatement. And it is far from over for sure.


Gore Vidal just recently remarked that it will "take the United States a century to recover from the damage wreaked by" Bush, according to a report in News24.



Vidal also said that:
"The president behaved like a virtual criminal but we didn't have the courage to sack him for fear of violating the American constitution."
Vidal is right though it must be added that Bush has been bad for the whole world.

There is probably very little reason to see any kind of justice in the study's conclusion.

Still, don't you find the assertion that Bush shares a neurosis with Hitler and Mussolini somewhat revealing?

Onward!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

YES, YES, YES! Ahhhh. I feel so much better to know that conservatives are neurotic. As though we didn't have a clue that they suffered from some sort of neurosis that make them see the world threw, um, shit colored glasses, blind to the world around them. Love this story thanks for posting it.
Kimberly

Ridwan said...

Thanks for your comment Kimberly. I have been wading through much of the actual article.

The authors have looked at five decades of literature.

A big part of their conclusion relates to the danger of citizens or followers who follow these kinds of leaders blindly.

Made me think about the hysteria about Islam that is so common now.

Trust you are well up there ;0)

Peace,
Ridwan

NWJR said...

Godwin's law. You blew it.

Ridwan said...

Nwjr the comparison of Bush to Hitler is fair and valid from where I am sitting.

I blew nothing. You have by dismissing a very valid critique, which is not mine by the way (re-read post).

Still, you must feel very smug that you were able to assert Godwin's Law.

Damn shame that by doing so you missed the point of the post and reduced Godwin's Law to a knee-jerk reaction.