inkbluesky

I was reading a few blog entries from a blog here at WordPress that coincidently fit in with the post I was thinking of writing today. I’m not going to link to that blog. To me it would be like rewarding the dog for pissing on my favorite pair of shoes. Post after post Senator Barack Obama was linked to radical Islam, communism and a few other urban myths. The blogger has multiple manipulated photos of Obama and Reverend Wright. One in which Osama Bin Laden and Wright appear to be spiritual kin in their hatred of America. There is no attempt at subtlety. No attempt to parse out the deep differences between anyone the blogger hates. He/she hates the people depicted and that is ultimately all that matters. It was as though someone had put up a case study of the xenophobic mind at work. The Psychology of Prejudice: An Overview

*First, a politically conservative form of authoritarianism, known as “right-wing authoritarianism,” does correlate with prejudice. Well-designed studies in South Africa, Russia, Canada, the U.S., and elsewhere have found that right-wing authoritarianism is associated with a variety of prejudices (Altemeyer, 1996; Duckitt & Farre, 1994; McFarland, Ageyev, & Abalakina, 1993).

* Social dominance orientation tends to correlate with prejudice even more strongly than does right-wing authoritarianism, and studies have linked it to anti-Black and anti-Arab prejudice, sexism, nationalism, opposition to gay rights, and other attitudes concerning social hierarchies (Altemeyer, 1998; Sidanius, Levin, Liu, & Pratto, 2000; Sidanius & Pratto, 1999). Finally, Adorno and his coauthors were correct in pointing out that rigid categorical thinking is a central ingredient in prejudice.

*The most prominent of these theorists was Theodor Adorno, who had fled Nazi Germany and concluded that the key to prejudice lay in what he called an “authoritarian personality.” In his book The Authoritarian Personality, Adorno and his coauthors (1950) described authoritarians as rigid thinkers who obeyed authority, saw the world as black and white, and enforced strict adherence to social rules and hierarchies. Authoritarian people, they argued, were more likely than others to harbor prejudices against low-status groups.

* Despite the usefulness of categories in everyday life, they can be devastating when people falsely isolate themselves from the environment, from animals and nature, or from each other. For a vivid illustration of this point, we need only look at the social construction of racial categories. In the United States, for example, at least 75% of African Americans have White ancestry, and 1-5% of the genes carried by American Whites are from African ancestors (Davis, 1991).

* An intriguing and important consequence of categorical thinking is its tendency to distort perceptions. Typically, these distortions take the form of minimizing differences within categories (”assimilation”) and exaggerating differences between categories (”contrast”). - (all emphasis mine)

That blogger would love the introduction to the Overview though would probably be disappointed with the material that follows. The OV takes Bin Laden to task for displaying clear indications of an authoritarian personality that greatly oversimplifies when it comes to characterizing western culture and the U.S. in particular. While I didn’t need the refresher myself they didn’t do what that blogger did, they didn’t over simplify, they didn’t ignore facts that may have weakened their case. They didn’t exaggerate differences. Like the small daily white lie that we all tell, categorizing people is a difficult if not impossible phenomenon to stop altogether. Though there is a point at which adhering blindly to a structured and authoritarian world view crosses the line into something destructive and immoral. Its a force that pushes outward, the only purpose of which is the destruction of the imagined enemy. I have huge issues with Catholic orthodoxy, but I would never think of making the accusations made by Senator McCain’s supporter Christian fundamentalist preacher John Hagee that Catholic Church is a”Great Whore” and “false cult system”; and has blamed Jews  for the Holocaust. In recent years this psychology was expressed by one George Bush in one short sentence, “You’re either with us or against us.” No room for details, justifications, reasoned discourse. Authority and strict categories. If you start thinking, if you don’t give in those those base emotions then you’re one of them too. If truth and facts become roadkill along the way to fulfilling whatever goal the privileged all knowing patriotically correct hierarchy has in its sights this week that is just a price that must be paid for some supposedly greater good.

A little disclaimer, my defense of Obama is not an endorsement.

train platform 

On the lighter side. I’ve heard of guys leaving their drunk friend on their parents or wife’s doorstep, ringing the buzzer and running, but someone might have gone a little too far.  Drunken man awakes inside garbage truck

 William M. Bowen woke up after a night of drinking with friends and realized he was inside a commercial trash-collection truck full of waste.

The driver had just emptied a commercial trash bin into his truck and was about to activate its compactor when he heard Bowen screaming.

Though Bowen was a few seconds short of being crashed to death he wouldn’t tell police who his drinking buddies were. Tough call, his friends pushed the never rat rule it its limit.