I think there's also an ongoing LOT of Lee Atwaterism. That is, v few ppl are as honest as the Black man in PA who in 2016 told Mr Dr Science he was voting for Trump "Because everybody knows men are better than women." So they pick words they've been given that are closest match.
Pretty similarly I think a lot of people on either side, but especially Trump voters, don't process much information linguistically, but just kind of vibrate in sympathetic resonance to particular loud voices and then fill in the blanks with whatever word salad they need to impute.
This isn't hugely distinct from what you said but I guess my point is I don't think any conscious thought happens here except in the post facto justification when pressed by someone who wants to actually hash it out.
Yes and while I think OP is acting in earnest good faith here, I think indulging - rather than pushing back on - those retrofitted (and therefore basically false) explanations does a disservice to anyone (including the people professing those false beliefs) attempting to analyze what is going on.
Iirc, there's quite a bit of evidence in neurology to support this. From split brain patients to the order of operations in brain activity during decision making.
I think a lot of racists, bigots and fundamentalists vote for the thing they want and then think up excuses for voting that way afterwards because they don’t want to be held to account for what they’ve done.
I once gave an academic talk where I discussed the cycle of poverty and the environmental forces shaping it. Some former prisoners in the audience got a little offended and it landed with a thud. I wasn’t entirely sure what I said wrong, but I think it was tone and talking about rather than to ppl.
I wish I understood better or had a longer discussion about it, bc I feel like this type of thing happens to liberals in general a lot. I think perhaps they felt pitied? Like the empathetic tone conveyed my pity and they are offended by pity and want to focus on their strength and the way out?
No one wants to be seen or feel like they are described as pitiful, so maybe instead of talking about handing out charity or the sad need for social support, we focus messaging on helping ppl to help themselves…give them more agency and more hope?
I think this is a really under-examined aspect of why people vote the way they do -- nobody wants to be made to FEEL like a loser, which is probably why "it's not your fault" scapegoating can be so effective.
I still think we need to take "freedom" back as our brand. Hard to have much of it in a place where everything you need or want to do costs money that you don't have.
Comments