Cowering conservatives

Now you ask me why I'm here.
The same as you, I'm scared - it's fear.

"Hand Me Downs"
The Indigo Girls

About a year ago, there was a bit of a media uproar over a study that showed that conservatives are far more fearful than liberals. Conservatives, of course, decried the study- not by supplying any data of their own, but by their usual mud-slinging and obfuscation.

The current flurry of stories on how right-wing parents are refusing to let their school-aged children watch Obama's speech on education brings this back into focus, all too clearly.

It seems on every hot-button issue I can think of, the motivation of conservatives is fear. This impetus is only strengthened when the conservative is also an evangelical Christian and fear of Yahweh is added into the mix.

Obama? He's gonna indoctrinate your kids! He's gonna take away your guns!
Evolution? Those atheists are going to teach your kids that God doesn't exist! If evolution is true, we have no purpose and no afterlife!
Health care? They're gonna kill Gramma!
Wolves? They will eat your kids!
Gay marriage? They're gonna turn your kids into homos!

And so on, ad nauseam.

This does, however, explain one phenomenon I have noticed- the distinct slant of political urban legends towards right-wing lunacy. Fear again. I checked out the politics section of Snopes.com and looked at all of the stories, in most of the sections, that were found to be either true or false (rather than undetermined or a mixture of both.) I left out the sections, like Humor and Satire, that weren't meant to be spread as truths, as well as the sections like Traffic and Gasoline that cross party lines. Here is what I found:

Number of rumors: 227
Total number of untrue rumors- 159
Right-leaning untruths- 144
Left leaning untruths- 15

Total number of true rumors- 68
Right-leaning truths- 45
Left leaning truths- 23

Percentage of all rumors spread by conservatives that were untrue: 76%
Percentage of all rumors spread by liberals that were untrue: 60%
Percentage of untrue rumors spread by conservatives: 91%
Percentage of total rumors spread by conservatives: 83%

So- conservatives spread far more rumors overall, and far more of them are untrue. And, compared with the true rumors spread by liberals, those spread by conservatives reflect far more fear over silly things- such-and-such a store taking "Christmas" out of its ads, for example.

So there you have it. The conservative mindset is one dominated by fear- especially fear of the unknown, the new, the different.

When your vision stays clear
In the face of your fear
Then you see turning out a light switch
Is their only power

"Let It Be Me"
The Indigo Girls

Bury my heart at Melody

Most people regard me as pretty much ultra-liberal. Animal rights, gay rights, environmental justice...I'm all for 'em.

But my town is embroiled in a dispute right now that tries my liberal bent.

Picture this. You are a Native American, at home in your house on the land where you were born. Suddenly, a group of armed thugs invades your house, starts seizing your belongings, and orders you off the land. A huge crowd gathers to defend your rights and your home, yet dozens of officers intervene to allow the sacking of your property to continue. A treaty is signed saying that your home will not be destroyed- yet less than two days later, it is razed to the ground. Is this yet another example of cruel European imperialism?

We got these energy companies
who want to take the land
and we got churches by the dozens
trying to guide our hands
and turn our Mother Earth
over to pollution war and greed
no no
"Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" Buffy Sainte-Marie
(as sung by the Indigo Girls)

A minuscule group here is seeking to benefit themselves at the expense of the residents and the environment of Jamul by building a giant complex in our tiny town at the corner of Melody and Highway 94, a complex that will cause traffic to clog our one access road, strain our already-overtaxed services such as fire and water, pollute our dark skies with nighttime lighting, and blight our views and nearby property values. It's the builders of this monstrosity that evicted the rightful residents and destroyed their homes.

What is being built? A Wal-Mart? A polluting factory? Another mega-mall? Another ticky-tacky housing development?

Uh, no... a casino. By the noble, suffering, downtrodden sovereign nation that calls itself the "Jamul Indian Village."

That's right. In their eyes, it's the impoverished citizens of a desperately needy nation against the wealthy NIMBY white menace. They see the casino as their only possible salvation, and the tribal leaders have stated that they will do whatever it takes to get their casino.

Whatever it takes... which was, in this case, disenrolling several tribal members who opposed the casino, and bulldozing the homes of Walter Rosales and Karen Toggery, lifelong native American residents who opposed the casino as a desecration of sacred land where their ancestors are buried.

And, on that fateful morning in March, it was not other native Americans who stood side by side with Walter and Karen, as hired thugs sprayed them with pepper spray and struck them with batons. It was the residents of Jamul.

From the archives- Butting In

I originally had a blog on FunTrivia, where I am an editor and site administrator. FunTrivia will soon be discontinuing its blogs, and these are some that I wanted to keep for posterity.

Butting In- originally posted Feb. 24, 2006

I will probably never be able to dine in a sushi shop in Japan, or experience the frigid vistas of Iceland. I will probably never be able to experience the faded glory of the Acropolis in Greece, watch wildebeests course over the African plains or taste a fresh baguette in France.

Why?

Not finances or time; both could handle such journeys in my lifetime. Not lack of interest. It’s because all these places have some of the highest rates of smoking in the world.

You see, I’m allergic to smoke. Wait a minute…the smoking apologists claim no one can be allergic to smoke. Fine. Call me sensitive to smoke. Call it whatever you want…the truth is that, with even mild exposure to tobacco fumes, I cannot breathe.

I am lucky to live in California, where smoking is banned in all indoor spaces, and to own land in Washington, which recently passed a voter’s initiative that banned even smoking within 25 feet of a doorway. Even with these restrictions, I must dodge those who think that, for example, it’s perfectly acceptable to puff away in line at the movies, or at the beach.

Visits to places like my mother-in-law’s in Las Vegas are logistical nightmares. Like a general, I must plan every move. Where to eat? (the number of totally non-smoking restaurants in Las Vegas is minuscule) Where to stay (do you have to go through a smoky casino to get to your room?) What to do? (does that mall allow smoking?)

If you smoke in public, stop and consider. There are many like me. Our lives are made miserable by your habit. Does your addiction give you the right to limit my life? Our society does not allow you to douse me with lye or pour arsenic in my food. Why should you have the right to pollute the air I have no choice but to breathe?