Authoritarianism and American politics

[pbrower2a]

(05-09-2016, 08:20 PM)radind Wrote: There may be some correlation of the Washington Post chart ( support for  evolution) with this chart  showing The Political preference of US religious groups.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/201...-leanings/

The political preferences of U.S. religious groups

Chart here:


The seven most Republican-leaning  religious groups are Mormons and six evangelical Christian groups. Then come Anglicans and United Methodists, two mainline Protestant groups. Then comes the originally-southern Church of Christ. These groups are all 11% or more Republican than Democratic. After that comes a big drop-off. I would guess that the evangelical churches in this group have little ethnic diversity.

Of course, authoritarians need not be white Protestants. Even if they are staunchly authoritarian, black authoritarians are likely still strongly Democratic in their leanings. They simply do not trust non-blacks.... maybe for good reason. As a white person I have seen white people do nasty things to blacks and say nasty things about blacks when black people are not around. If I were black and knew what I know about white people I would be extremely wary of white people.

Denial of global warming and denial of evolution are hustles. What Altmeyer says of authoritarians hold: they have the lowest expectations of human goodness and are least trusting of institutions of any kind. But one can keep the guard up only so long. Confidence artists find that by personalizing an appeal to a mark, they can most easily exploit the mark. After being taken, the mark often says "But he seemed like such a nice young man!" But the same people often believe that science involves a secretive and devious cabal (a belief devoid of foundation).

If I am not particularly distrusting, it may because I know how to deny trust when I hear something absurd. I well recognize that nobody is in business to lose money, that there is no such thing as a free lunch, that the personable quality of a dealer matters not at all, and that the only really good deal is one that works for both parties. If something is too good to be true, then it is likely neither good nor true. I will find some other deal.

I suspect that hustles are most successful when offered in an intimate setting with the alleged Authority of the Almighty somehow connected.

Now what of the least gullible? The people with the most formal education and most likely to meet people from very different backgrounds (especially ethnic or religious) need to be receptive to ideas  even if they can sift them out as necessary. That does not mean that they consider overt nonsense worthy of attention.



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[url=http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/02/23/u-s-religious-groups-and-their-political-leanings/ft_16-02-22_religionpoliticalaffiliation_640px-2/]