Washblog

I continue to wonder how the modern Republican (conservative) mind works.

Hatred, anti-intellectualism, self-delusion, willful ignorance, authoritarianism, projection (playing the victim while terrorizing others), etc. -- the common element is mental illness, mental disease.

If we just understood these pathologies, or singular root cause pathology, we could somehow treat it.

"Nathan Bedford Forrest Has Beautiful Eyes" by Ta-Hehisi Coates notes the South's continued remything of their defeat into "noble victimhood". I think all cultures and societies do this active remything, to make one's actions and past more palatable. Otherwise, facing the truth, and oneself, your psyche would be crushed. Now that the Republican's Southern Strategy has played out, is that pathos all that is left?

I have some experience with denial. In the back of my mind, I always knew I'd someday have to address my issues (baggage). But not today. I'm busy. And I knew that facing myself would crush me.

It took a few life threatening experiences and the utter failure of my marriage for me to "hit bottom". When I no longer had any choice but to address my baggage.

When I hear Republicans spew, the dysfunction is all too familiar. I wonder what, if anything, will cause conservatives (collectively) to hit their bottom, causing them to face themselves. Then they'll have the choice, the opportunity, to begin the long, hard work towards recapturing their humanity, to become whole persons. Should that happen, I wonder what I can do to help the process.