Can you "brainwash" someone into a conservative?

Per this thread:
http://www.politicalforum.com/showthread.php?t=327866

I'm really just curious, I wanna know how some conservatives here on this board were "brainwashed" into believing what they believe.

I mean really, compared with the "other side" that tells you repetitively that you don't have to shoulder any personal responsibility, being rich is anti-christ, debt and money-printing can get everything going, freedom is a delusion whereas security is the real thing..., how could anyone brainwash anybody into believing the other way?

Oh, and not to mention the bombardment of tons of liberal news outlets (MSNBC, CBS, NBC, don't get me going) and TV shows(Family guy, the Simpsons, and pretty much everything else): who are being systematically brainwashed into mindless zombies?

 

Theyre taught these lies by people like you over and over again and never given a counter view.

http://www.conservativemyths.com/10myths.html

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pac...hn-paul-bernbach/1113126011?ean=9781938231612

 

Nah, you just become more conservative as you accumulate life experience and wealth=)

 

LOL. Being older doesnt mean youve accumulated useful experience. And the truth about you conservatives is -

You guys dont even know what youre conserving.

But please prove me wrong and explain to me what youre actually wanting to conserve.

 

Conservatives do=) When you don't accumulate anything useful, you just stay a Liberal, like a teenager or clueless college student=)

 

You do realize that your proving his point right? Your acting like a "liberal" teenage brat who thinks he's superior to everyone else. Both American Conservatism and American Liberalism are extremely idiotic and is full of idiots and laughing stocks who would want to see each other wiped off the map and make America the utopia they think it should be.

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Funny, considering that you guys always claim people are being brainwashed into liberals.

 

Pretty much right on the spot.

Fortunately for me, I was raised in an environment the always applied conservative principles, so I had a head start to logical conservatism.

 

Fascinating, except for all the old and rich libs out there. Cons are just the old reactionary and ignorant element of any population.

 

What, "brainwash" someone into a conservative? Well, that depends, do you like the chocolate or the cake and ice cream?

 

I wouldnt' call it brainwashing, regardless of one's political inclination.

But the right wing in this country has been in a steady state of retreat into isolation for some time now.

In that respect, they do remind me of the liberal retreat in the early 1980's after Reagan won. I voted for Reagan, with enthusiasm. It is a vote that I regret now, although I never hated Reagan and don't to this day. I used to poke fun at liberals who were angry and frustrated at "Teflon Ron".

There was no internet in those days, and hardcore liberals had to retreat into the deep recesses of Mother Jones, the Nation, and a group of long forgotten underground newspapers that sprung up in liberal enclaves, all assuring their readers that they were the keepers of the flame of the one true cause, and that the nation would come to its senses one day. In the interim, liberals kept themselves warm by balking in the nostalgic glow of Abraham, Martin, John and Bobby, and sagely quoted Adlai Stevenson witticisms to one another. Pretty much the same way that modern conservatives are always envoking Reagan.

There was always a blue collar, and middle American white cohort out there. Liberal made fun of them. Archie Bunker was their totem. Archie was a good man with some very narrow ideas. He never became a liberal, but he always did the right thing in the end. Even when he had to be shamed into doing the right thing, the people around him appreciated the fact that he was a good man.

But Archie Bunker morphed into Rush Limbaugh, and the good heart disappeared.

Today, the red state, blue collar right can, and has retreated into a bubble of self validation.

We all have to some degree. The right has Fox, talk radio, and an entire circus of trashy tabloid blogs that prey on them by validating their prejudices for influence and profit.

The left has Rachel Maddow, Ed Scultz, and a host of liberal blogs that are the intellectual heirs of the underground newspapers they replaced.

Over top of it all, we have the Establishment.

People of a certain age will remember that word being used in capital letters.

We don't see the Establishment anymore. It hides behind a greek chorus of pundits, influence peddlers and lobbyists.

George Soros is establishment. So are the Koch Brothers, and Jamie Dimon.

They don't speak for themselves. They have the mouthpieces you see on cable "news" every night, speak for them.

And these guys are trying to brainwash us all.

 

There is nothing wrong with being Conservative especially when one talks about being Fiscally Conservative...and their nothing wrong with being Liberal...especially when one talks about being Socially Liberal.

The problems start when Extremists on both sides open their mouths.

AboveAlpha

 

Excellent post. You had me until here:

Nonetheless it was an excellent post and generated food for thought.

 

Science tells us that conservatives were pretty screwed up even as children.

Science is not sure whether conservative brains are born defective or if they atrophy from a lack of use. But they do know:

And if that wasn't enough:

GREAT question though. Thanks for asking!

 

Ironically one remembers from a reading of history when phrenology was all the rage as well. Some types of people never learn the important things from history. Sigh.

 

If it makes you feel better OP, the only satirical adult cartoon show that's still good, South Park, is not progressive at all. And millions of kids have grown up watching that.

Though, I've always said I truly doubt how much effect entertainment media has on people's opinions.

 

I have to agree with this, these people actually believe there are WMDs in Iraq, conception begins two weeks before copulation, and the best place to find drugs in road side stops is up a womens vagina or man's anus.

 

There is a BIG difference between phrenology and EEG tests Gatewood. Particularly when there have been a MULTITUDE of studies which ALL show the SAME results. Some of the others used MRI machine to prove the same thing. But I am aware that conservatives don't really like science since it proves so many of their most cherished beliefs to be complete nonsense. Like that "young Earth" bulls(*)(*)(*) for example.

I would also like to point out that when the results are spun to make conservatives look more intelligent (since conservative thinking is simple black and white and doesn't get sidetracked by being able to reconcile seemingly conflicting information into coherent results) the conservatives on this board were all VERY supportive.

 

I think that for reasonably intelligent kids prone to being thoughtful the various types of entertainment media can plant seeds that later down the line just might germinate and then sprout when it encounters -- say -- a journalistic spin on a related news item. But on the whole what seems to make the difference most of the time is the ability to be reasonably self-critical about one's assumptions and the equal willingness to read opposition opinion with something approaching an open mind. Of course, how many people ever do any such thing?

 

Most people don't. Which is why I doubt it - most people who listen to Rush Limbaugh already agree with Rush Limbaugh, he' snot persuading anyone, he's telling them what they want to hear.

 

Yes and ditto for someone like MSNBC's Ed Schultz.

 

Anyone can be brainwashed into ANY ideology. It's not exclusive to Conservatism, Liberalism, or any other ism.

 

Meh, I recall one or two years ago when science 'proved' something about leftwinger thought processes that set off howls of anguish and outrage on the Left. It's all nonsense; and of utility only when one wants to prod the other side with a sharpened stick.

 

Anyone can be brainwashed but it generally takes a great deal to time and effort to do so unless said person was born to it. What you are talking about is probably the epiphany moment though wherein a lifetime (unspecified decade, though) of bits and pieces lurking in the subconscious comes together in an "ah-ha!" moment to alter your political or ideological path in life. That's a fairly rare occurrence though.

 

That happened just the other day on this board. It was the same exact study just reported differently. It praised their ability to come to fast decisions since there is no actually thinking or gathering of information involved.

The Democratic party symbol is the donkey to indicate that they are independent minded.



The Republican party symbol is the elephant to indicate that they are a "herd mentality".



I'd be curious though if anyone knows why the GOP turned the stars upside down in that symbol and now use SATANIC stars.

 

I doubt I'll be going into any conservatives any time soon.