The conditioned response of right wing lunacy
I want to address a question I constantly see. Why do people keep voting against their own self-interest? It’s sort of impossible to answer because everyone has their own reasons. But some reasons rise to the top.
Many books have been written about this subject. “What’s the matter with Kansas” is a good one to read if you haven’t. It’s important to understand that many people do not think as we do. It is hard for us to believe that someone would cast their vote solely because they’re afraid of strangers coming to take their guns but these people exist, and there are lots of them.
The GOP also uses fear. They exploit their voters by playing on their worst nightmares. Examples would be the poisoning of people’s minds with critical race theory. History shows us this country has a long history of mass hysteria. Think about times past, such as Salem, which I’ve written about often. Think about the terror of the mob.
Fear comes from feelings of powerlessness. And the GOP further exploits those fears by sending the message that their voters ARE powerless — and that Republicans alone can fix it — can save them. Behavioral economics has shown through research that many people often have biases that lead them to make poorly informed decisions.
And remember the advertising, which is always in the background pandering to the woes and fears of the American voter. And Republicans are patient in their brainwashing. A good example would be their attempts to conquer Miami-Dade county in Florida.
The republicans HAVE made inroads there. Radio is one of their preferred methods. One thing Republicans do is exploit the fears of many of these residents, including ones who hail from Cuba.
Republicans have been utterly ruthless with their radio ads and trying to convince these voters that Democrats are “socialists.” Fear can be a great voting mobilizer. And some of these people, many who fled Cuba, have now been conditioned to shrink in fear of certain words.
I would say in closing that there are vast and different reasons for people voting, sometimes against their self-interests But the words”conditioned response” are part of it. It is an automatic response generated in people by: “neutral stimuli.”
Only republicans seek that conditioned response from their voters by breeding in them a rabid fear of “wokeism” and equating it with people taking control of their lives. It is insidious, but that’s what they do and how they often get the reactions they do. It’s a conditioned response and sadly it very often works.
