“The host referred to liberals as “compassionate” and conservatives as “mean”.
My theory (maybe lame brained)is that the driving force behind radical liberal ideas is Narcissism - that is, an unhealthy preoccupation with your own feelings, and how you feel a need to project those feelings with the aim of public approval. Narcissism clouds the mind, so for example, when faced with a choice or dilemma, you or me would put some thought into your decision, make a choice and that would be it. With a Narcissist, however, their first reaction is “what is the right way of describing this situation ?” or “how will I look in the eyes of others” ; their secondary reaction will be that any disadvantaged person is in difficulty because someone, or something, is to blame.
Another symptom of this is the person’s obsession with levelling ie. every single human being is equal. Taken to extreme the tribesman running through the New Guinea jungle is equal to the Wall St fund manager living on Park Avenue.
Modern Narcissism really took off on America’s West coast in the mid 60s (sorry some of you freepers!) but it has spread out all over the Western World. However, of all the first world , developed societies Liberal Narcissism will have the least success in the United States.I say this from visiting and speaking to people over there, and it strikes me that you Yanks, unlike Europeans, are an obstinate bunch - decent and honest - but will not allow noisy minority interest groups to tell you what to say and think.
I mean, Free Republic is proof of this.
Of course this is only a theory, after all I am I am only a commercial real estate agent not an anthropologist; so it goes without saying reply if you think this is wrong.
I've studied narcissism intimately and I definitely agree. Do I need mention I was once a liberal...
“that you Yanks, unlike Europeans, are an obstinate bunch - decent and honest - but will not allow noisy minority interest groups to tell you what to say and think”.
I appreciate your compliment, but I only wish it were true. IMO, we have far too many Americans willing to swallow the liberal lie hook, line and sinker!
Except for the obsessed person, who believes he or she is "above" everyone else and knows best how they should run their lives.
American liberals are notorious for pretending that they are ALWAYS right and have only the highest and most noble motivations while their opponents are totally mean spirited troglodytes who would take the milk from an infant's bottle to sell it to the highest bidder. They ignore the fact that their liberal fantasies, when put into practice, have ever resulted in naught but starvation, death, destruction and utter human misery.