If curiosity killed the cat, fear and paranoia kills the crazed, ideological gun lover… and those around him.
I’ve been talking with a lot of people about crowd psychology in relation to the NRA and extreme right-wing, anti-government rhetoric lately. What strikes me is a distinct difference in how much those who consider themselves “true conservatives” are blinded by their own self-fulfilling conspiracy theories than they used to be. The psychology of the ultra-conservative needs to be understood before we can find a way out of this mess.
Democrats see it, independents and moderates see it, progressives love it, but every time I mention how the “end of the world” won’t be due to Obama and those crazy democrats, it will be because of all the misguided hatred of Obama and those crazy democrats… hard core conservatives only have one answer: they repeat themselves. They repeat “Obama is a dictator who is half-way to taking over this country! We must strike back against government oppression!” “You’ll see! And you’ll be sorry when they come after you!” Extreme ideologs never listen, they only repeat.
We must all remember one important point: crowds are stupid. Mobs are even dumber than crowds. Scared and angry people, like scared cows, do dumb things. We all do. From riots, to patting down granny at the airport, to extreme religious cults: when groups of people start creating demons, then believing in the demons they created… there’s basically no way to reason with them. It’s a lost cause. It’s the siege at Waco, TX. It’s the NRA. It’s the anti-government crazies in America.
But how the heck do we stop it? No one, either side of this wacky gun debate enjoys the tension that exists lately (except the people selling the guns, of course).
Fear binds, and anger blinds
We all know creating fear has been a political tool for decades in this country. The right side of the aisle is particularly keen on using that tactic. The gun lobby is the king of it. Wayne LaPierre literally tells every microphone that monsters are standing outside the bedroom doors of all Americans. Literally. He uses the words monsters, crazy, insane, killers, etc. His singular goal has been to scare the crap out of the everyday American citizen so that they, in turn, will buy more guns to “protect themselves.”
Start there: for decades pro gun organizations, lead by the NRA, have been intentionally creating fear in American. It doesn’t even matter if that which creates the fear (robbers, rapists or rappers) is real or not – what matters is that for over a generation, fear has been created and injected and fueled and pumped into the psyche of an entire population. Intentionally.
All that fear mongering brings people together. People who are afraid of the same thing always join forces. It’s how alliances between nations have been built, and it’s how neighborhoods create neighborhood watches. Common fear = organize to protect against it.
Then people get angry. Fear and anger are bad bed partners. If you can make people afraid… then convince them that the only thing, the ONLY thing that they can use to protect themselves will be literally stripped away from them by the very entity of which they are afraid… boy howdy is it going to get ugly. That’s basically where we are in America right now. Once again, enter the gun lobby and Wayne LaPierre: a man who has spent his entire career creating terrifying monsters to scare fathers, mothers, and children everywhere. Mosters under the beds or all Americans. Wayne LaPierre has gone far over the line this time; creating the U.S. Government as the monster, fueling the fire of fear, creating panic, and giving them a target around which to organize. People get angry… and when people are angry they don’t think clearly. When people are scared and angry… then they get stupid.
People lash out when fear and anger govern their actions
This is not a secret. Everyone knows this to be a fact of human nature. When we think we’re cornered, when we’re scared and angry: we lash out. Moreover, we freak out. Enter the extreme right, gun-crazed pockets of the United States of America.
Freak out when afraid? Take fire for instance: we all know fire will hurt and can kill us. Like guns, we’re both drawn to and scared of fire. If there are thousands of us in a room and a giant fire breaks out: we run like crazy. We’re scared. In this case the ultra-conservative republican has been instilled with the belief that the U.S. Government (and Obama in particular) is even more dangerous to them than fire is to the rest of us. Their fear of the government and Obama is more real to them than their own mortality. As such, they are on the brink of freaking out. They are freaking out. Call me crazy, but I prefer to stay very, very far away from heavily armed people who are in freak out mode.
In a crazed crowd state of mind, once again enters Wayne LaPierre (why won’t he just go away!?!?) doing his best to create more fear, more hate, and more anger. As time marches on I’m more and more convinced that Wayne LaPierre is the most irresponsible human being in America. He is doing everything he can to incite violence, because more violence means people buy more guns. That’s his job. He’s a professional.
Democrats, moderates, independents… they all seem to identify the cycle that the NRA has created. They create fear, people buy more guns, more guns means more gun violence, then the NRA walks out onto the stage again, points to the new violence, and says people need to buy more guns. But those on the far right… the proud government haters… they don’t see the cycle. They’re stuck in the cycle which is why they repeat themselves so often; repeat their mantra, repeat their fear, buy more guns.
To solve it… we have to stop the cycle which means stopping the NRA. Put the NRA out of business. All cycles can end if everyone just realizes they are trapped in the loop and decides to step out of it. But the NRA will never let that happen. There are already throngs of ultra-conservatives building bunkers, hoarding food, planning “US Government Free Zones” and their own damn cities where gun ownership is mandatory… all to fight against a villain that isn’t even attacking them. It’s all in their heads (which is why it’s so hard to stop the cycle).
Democrats will destroy America!
That democrats and Obama will “destroy” America is one of the most popular search phrases on POLITUSIC – no kidding. “Destroy” is the word most used. However inappropriate the comparison may be, this is true: what an ultra-conservative is taught to believe is no different than what the typical North Korean is taught to believe. (Prove me wrong.) Both are taught to fear invasion by the US government. The US government is evil, and the US government will take over their lives. The only difference is in the US the anti-government groups get to blog about it… because of the freedom the government they hate so much provides them.
Due to the parallel between the ultra-conservative teachings and North Korea, we’re forced to look to North Korea and its actions for further comparison: lashing out, threatening, using inflammatory rhetoric, amassing weapon, and not being in touch with reality. Nor do they know where the line is. At what point must they must stop the insanity before they get themselves killed?
It’s not that the government will kill them: it’s getting themselves killed. It’s the same as suicide by cop. It’s their own fear, their own uncontrollable anger that corners them and leaves (they believe) no option other than a fight to the death. Democrats will destroy America? No. Ultra-republicans who believe democrats will destroy America will end up destroying themselves.
That’s what happens when people isolate themselves in fear and anger and extreme ideology – at places like Waco, TX. That’s what happens when large groups create their own demons and believe their own conspiracy theories. That’s what happens if people don’t start demanding that organizations like the NRA be put out of business.
…and after day after day…. Wayne LaPierre spends every waking moment encouraging that sort of self-destruction. Indeed, whether he knows it or not, he might very well be the “gun religion” analog of David Koresh.
