I just had a discussion with a hardcore Republican where I brought up Mitt Romney’s penchant for shamelessly lying through his teeth. I mentioned 5 or 6 recent lies including the one illustrated above. Mr. Wingnut (sorry to say, but yes you are, my friend) refused to admit that any of them were lies. I asked him how he could look at Romney’s statement at the debate on contraceptives, compare it to previous statements from Mitt and not conclude that he had indeed lied on national television.
His response?
I’d tell you but I have no idea what it was. He went on a five minute rant that so muddied the topic that I had no choice but to finally tune out and walk away. Some stuff in life, like attempting to have a rational discussion with a wingnut, is just not worth the effort.
I came to the conclusion a while back that with many on the right, a fact-based discussion on certain issues is never going to happen. They simply cannot do it. Obama, climate change, gay rights, government, taxation are all examples of issues where no degree of facts, numbers or direct quotes is ever going to sway them. They know what they know. End of story.
Their version of reality, fostered by years of Fox News and wingnut media indoctrination, is not of this world. Hell, it’s not even of this universe. They speak a language which only makes sense to others of their kind. To you and I, it’s sheer madness. To them, we’re the loons.
The key, I think, to communicating with those on the right is to be able to identify those conservatives who have not yet abdicated their right to think for themselves. For the others who have turned over control of their rational minds, at least on certain issues, to the likes of O’Reilly, Beck and Limbaugh, you’re wasting your time.
___
The Romney source photographs are Creative Commons licensed images from photographer Gage Skidmore.
Follow MarioPiperniDotCom on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.
.
I posted this over on Alternet in response to a post titled Romney Told 31 Myths In 41 Minutes During Last Night’s Debate:
If anyone would like to understand just how the rightwing prooaganda has shut off the critical thinking aspects of their followers brains I would like to recommend this FREE ONLINE book written by Robert Altemeyer. He has studied this phenomenon since 1966.
Theauthoritarians.com
From the conservative interventions on this site,we do appreciate the blind drive of these people. The most amazing feature about them is how they allow to be subservient to the 1% who gladly shaft them every time they can.
An example : OK then. Part of the 30 million who got insurance because of ObamaCare are partly Republicans but if Romney comes in,he will repeal ObamaCare and they will lose this insurance and bear the consequence.
Another example: OK For every loophole for the rich,this means that every middle class and poor (republicans included ) must fork up the money to provide the services that we want from government.
I don’t get these sadistic ignoramuses.
The republicans have been working on a project called “starve the beast” for over 4 decades. You can google it, but the main idea is to defund the government to the extent that SS, medicare, Medicaid will go broke. Then the GOP will tell their followers that we just don’t have enough money for these programs. And they WILL understand. They also want to allow every social program that our taxes pay for such as public education, to become for-profit private entitities that benefit the 1%. And their followers will accept this. They also want to deregulate every private industry in the USA, so the “job creators” don’t have to spend money keeping our air and water clean. And their followers think this is just dandy. These are their main goals and they always have been and they are close, very close to achieving them.
Mario, you are SO right! I’ve recently been having an argument with my wingnut sister on Facebook. It started when she made a sarcastic remark about Biden attacking Ryan in the VP debate. I tried to point out that Rethugs have been doing most of the attacking for years now. I also tried to point out that the Rethugs are deceiving the people that vote for them, and how they block Obama’s efforts at legislation and then blame him for not getting anything done. The latest response I got was something like “OK, so Republicans are evil and only care about money, and Democrats are perfect. You’re overgeneralizing.”
See – it’s pointless to argue with a wingnut.
Trying to talk with a winger is like trying to save a panicked person who is drowning. You are trying to save their life, but they don’t realize that. They are not in their right mind and as you continue to try to lead them out if the deep deadly water….they are trying to take you down with them.
I just wonder when in life do poor and middle class republicans lose all sense of reality,,, I understand the rich republican and their views, they like the rigged game in their favor and will do whatever it takes to keep it that way… But if your poor or middle class and a republican why go against your best interest,,, They always say the rich create the jobs – maybe twenty years ago they did before China took over unskilled labor and cheap factory wages, and I have never met a group if people like the radical right who cheer and hope the American economy does bad so that it makes the President look like a failure, to me these people are not true Americans, because they don’t care about all Americans, they are a curse upon our land.
I think part of the reason for these middle class and poor people to continue to support the Republican party is habit. If they grew up in a Republican household, they’re just used to voting Republican. We know that the Republican party, decades ago, actually had sane people in it. But these people haven’t noticed the change.
This ain’t your parents’ Republican Party!