Republiphobic? Maybe You're Conservative
Fredösphere ·
May 1, 2012 at 9:22pm
From an astonishing article in the New York Times:
One theory is that conservative urges, when repressed out of shame or fear, can be expressed as republiphobia--the fear of the Republican Party. Freud famously called this process a “reaction formation” — the angry battle against the outward symbol of feelings that are inwardly being stifled. [. . .]
It’s a compelling theory — and now there is scientific reason to believe it. In this month’s issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, we and our fellow researchers provide empirical evidence that republiphobia can result, at least in part, from the suppression of right-wing desire.
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May '11
Re: Republiphobic? Maybe You're Conservative
Ooh, it's true. Many years ago I was a severely republiphobic lefty. To test my beliefs I'd hang out in conservative discussion groups, became right-curious, even read a few books, and before I knew it I was one of them, fighting on their side against my former liberal colleagues. I'm sure some of them were curious too. I can't even remember the point at which the balance tipped, leading me to wonder if it was... there all along.
Edited on May 2, 2012 at 1:58amApr '11
Re: Republiphobic? Maybe You're Conservative
Yes but if you are an Evangelical doesn't your church's doctrine mean whatever you read in your copy of the bible? I mean it is not like there is a body invested with authority that guides the Evangelical denomination, is there?
I don't know anything about Ted Haggard never even heard of him, but I could imagine that if he presented himself as not gay one might have a right to consider him a possible hypocrite. I mean if he was out there saying "Hey look at me I'm gay, but I try hard not to be and so should you." Than you can think him strange, but not a hypocrite. If he used himself as a model of heterosexual behavior than he is a full blown hypocrite.
I think often there is rather a lot of self righteousness that people display about their own sexuality, that makes them open to accusations of being hypocrites.
Nov '10
Re: Republiphobic? Maybe You're Conservative
Joseph Stanko
I don't even think the first one is a very strong point. A central premise of Christianity is that we areallsinners. The fact that Ted Haggard was revealed to be a sinner should not surprise anyone who believes we all stand in need of redemption, nor does it in any way invalidate his preaching that the acts he committed were, in fact, sinful.
In fact I think a preacher or minister has a duty to preach the truth even though he will inevitably fail to fully live up to it. Doing so ismoreconsistent than someone who, to justify his own conscience, becomes a dissenter and preaches something consistent with his own behavior but contrary to the official doctrine of the church he is supposed to represent. It is better to teach the truth, even when you fail to live up to it, than to mislead others and so cause them to sin as well.
One might inadvertently preach more strongly against a sin that one knows one is prone to--for the same reason that you see mothers being particularly hard on their daughters when they see their own faults in them.
Dec '10
Re: Republiphobic? Maybe You're Conservative
Valiuth: Yes but if you are an Evangelical doesn't your church's doctrine mean whatever you read in your copy of the bible?...
I don't know anything about Ted Haggard never even heard of him, but I could imagine that if he presented himself as not gay one might have a right to consider him a possible hypocrite. I mean if he was out there saying "Hey look at me I'm gay, but I try hard not to be and so should you." Than you can think him strange, but not a hypocrite. If he used himself as a model of heterosexual behavior than he is a full blown hypocrite.
I think often there is rather a lot of self righteousness that people display about their own sexuality, that makes them open to accusations of being hypocrites.
If churches disallowed hypocrites, they'd be empty. Liberals can't be hypocrites, because they have no standards of behavior to live up to, other than, perhaps, being your "authentic" self. It's a pretty low bar for a lazy-a-- occupier, for example.
Edited on May 2, 2012 at 4:01amDec '10
Re: Republiphobic? Maybe You're Conservative
Methinks there's a new rip-off of the Why so Socialist Joker poster in here somewhere...
Why so Repressed?
Jun '10
Re: Republiphobic? Maybe You're Conservative
Valiuth:
I think often there is rather a lot of self righteousness that people display about their own sexuality, that makes them open to accusations of being hypocrites.
I'm not quite sure what you mean by this, could you give an example?
In my experience, conservative Christians are more likely to be overly reluctant to talk openly about sexuality at all, and to quickly change the subject, rather than to candidly discuss their own sex lives and hold them up as models for emulation.
Apr '12
Re: Republiphobic? Maybe You're Conservative
"Hypocrite" is almost as abused as "ironic."
Nov '10
Re: Republiphobic? Maybe You're Conservative
Many people operate out of an obsolete paradigm, ignoring or rationalizing its internal contradictions because it is familiar. Many older Democrats I know, for example, still see it as the party of their youth --of RFK and Gene McCarthy --a broad coalition of workers and mainstream liberals, and a comfortable place for people of an older Catholic social justice viewpoint. That party died in '72, and the real energy now comes from the Kos kids and MoveOn.org --groups they've never heard of (these, remember, are people who still get most of their news from the major networks and newspapers)-- and government employees. Many of these new Democrats (see their comboxes) would happily burn the churches of those old-school Democrats, just before they shot the priests therein. It requires a serious shock for someone set in his ways to question party allegiance or that comfortable paradigm within which he has operated all his life. On the other hand, modern conservatives generally are people who have had to choose, either because they had the integrity to challenge their assumptions on principle, or because they were forced to do so by a contradiction they could not ignore.
Re: Republiphobic? Maybe You're Conservative
Amy Schley
No, no, no! Her Indian name is "Sits with Tenure." Or possibly "Dances with Quotas."
· May 1 at 8:23am
"Sits with Tenure." Oh my Lord. It isn't often that I engage in an extended bout of laughing out loud right at my desk in the office, but I just did. Amy, that is sheer genius.