[MD] Tea Bagging

[Andre Broersen]

Arlo to Mark:

Again, its like the woman who wanted "creationism" in school... nobody else's
"creationism", mind you, just HERS. This defines Tea Baggery to the "Tea" (as
it were).

Arlo on Oct 21:
"...and how long do you think it will be before another religion creeps into the holes they make and starts imposing itself on them?

Andre:
I have been reading some of the stuff in this thread. I do not know some of the players mentioned, nor
the intricacies of the US constitution. I do however see parallels with what is happening here in the Netherlands and it is a bit worrying.
Earlier I have also indicated that my experience of the US is non-existent (apart from news reports and hearing rationalizations of US activities around the globe) but that I gather that ninety-five percent of Americans believe in God and possibly an equal number do not believe in government...or rather...put up with it so long as it does not make itself felt. (a bit like a very good referee in a sporting match).

I think that a belief in god arose out of in- and organic patterns of value and the belief in government arose out of social/intellectual patterns of value. Both are, in the MOQ, social patterns of value but as shown, their source is very different.

God is considered an authority, Government is considered an authority.

Following Arlo's experiences, god as an authority, is prized as number one. The vehemence, conviction and absolute sense of righteousness is worrying. The extremity of belief in authority to this degree reminded me of the research done by Adorno et.al. after WWII in an attempt to make understandable the atrocities, the incomprehensible cruelties and justifications committed by Germany which is renowned, respected and admired for its idealist philosophy.

It is a rather long intro and I apologize. Two factors coincided: patriotism and the adherence and unshakable belief in an Authority ( of the organic/social kind) mainly found in a conservative, obedient frame of mind leading [inevitably?] to a logical conclusion: Fascism.

Here is the link and intro:

The*authoritarian personality*is an influential theory of personality 
developed byUniversity of California, Berkeley 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_California,_Berkeley>psychologists,Else 
Frenkel-Brunswik 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Else_Frenkel-Brunswik>,Daniel Levinson 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Levinson>, andNevitt Sanford 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevitt_Sanford>and the German emigre 
sociologist and philosopherTheodor W. Adorno 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodor_W._Adorno>, in their 1950 book of 
the same name. The personality type is defined by nine traits that were 
believed to cluster together as the result of psychodynamic, childhood 
experiences. These traits areconventionalism 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conventionalism>, authoritarian 
submission, authoritarian aggression, anti-intraception,superstition 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstition>andstereotypy 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereotypy>,power 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_%28philosophy%29>and "toughness," 
destructiveness andcynicism 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynicism>,projectivity 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_projection>, and exaggerated 
concerns oversexuality 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_sexuality>(sexual repression).^[1] 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authoritarian_personality#cite_note-0> In 
brief, the authoritarian is predisposed to follow the dictates of a 
strong leader and traditional, conventional values.

The authors of/The Authoritarian Personality/, having escaped from 
Europe during WWII, became interested in the study ofanti-semitism 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-semitism>. They advertised for 
volunteers and administered a battery of questionnaires. They selected 
the most anti-semitic and least anti-semitic of the volunteers and 
discarded the mid-group. They then contrasted the remaining two groups, 
coming up with theF-scale <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-scale>, which 
measures the basic traits of the authoritarian personality.

Recently,John Dean <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dean>made use of 
the theory to analyze the contemporary political climate in his 
book/Conservatives without Conscience 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservatives_without_Conscience>/. The 
updated refinement of the authoritarian personality concept is the 
concept ofRight-wing authoritarianism 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-wing_authoritarianism>brought fourth 
byRobert Altemeyer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Altemeyer>in 1981.