Republican Propaganda Lets Conservatives Treat Liberals As Un-American

I think in a way we have always hated the intelligent people in this country. In school if you were smart you were ostracized unless it was test day, and then everyone wanted to look over your shoulder and copy off your paper. Otherwise, you were called egghead, nerd, or some other name that would set you apart and make you feel bad.

As you grew up you understood that in America there is a feeling amongst the populace that their stupidity is better than your intelligence. It is an odd divide in this country that often becomes marked when we become adults and start to choose sides in our political choices. I am not trying to insult Republicans by saying that there are no intelligent people in their party because nothing is farther from the truth. However, the vast majority of their intelligent people run the party.

With that in mind, I ran across an article a little more than a week ago which at first I thought about just tossing aside as just another tirade against liberals. Then I took a moment to think about it a little deeper. Sure it hits on all the tropes and silliness that a rabid extremist would make against the current state of the Democratic Party, but then I said, would the average Republican really say all of this? Are they so brainwashed and unknowing that they believe every non-fact that they are fed by the propaganda machine?

I am certain my uncles would, though not so cogently. Afterwards, they would surely regret it if I were in the room as I could quickly and easily refute all of the blatant and poorly constructed lies put forth. But this is the problem. Propaganda works wonders on people who have less intelligence, or less ability to see through the lie. It works best if you keep repeating it. That way it soaks in and starts to appear to be the truth.

Intelligence doesn’t make you immune from propaganda, but it can help you spot it and resist its temptations. More so if the temptations they offer aren’t aimed directly at you. This appeal by this author starts off stating why he will never be able to understand the liberal mindset, and will always consider us “misguided.”

“I almost never try to get into the other side’s head …”

No offense here buddy, but if you fail to even try to understand where they are coming from or look at their arguments from their perspective then you have failed right from the start to understand them. This is the prime example of ‘my stupidity trumps your intelligence.’ Of course, at this point everything liberals say is misguided and wrong because you fail to do the first thing to try to understand why your opponent suggests what they do.

After reading this some would think I hate Republicans because of the way they think. That isn’t true either. My best friend is a conservative, and he is brilliant. However, he is smart enough to know that the current ideology of the Republican Party is completely wrong, and it is the ideology and its use as propaganda that I have a problem with. He and I don’t always see eye to eye on a number of things, but each of us knows that we love this country. We have differing ways to get there sometimes, but you can’t get there alone or by ignoring half the country.

It’s time that we stop letting the propaganda of evil people overwhelm the minds of our countrymen. It is not being used to help them, but to harm us all.