In search of a smart, honest strategy for disolving the conservative grip, today's diary continues to look to the psychological analysis of four researchers from three universities: Stanford, UC Berkeley, and University of Maryland.
Thanks to Janet Strange for posting a link to the original study:
http://psychoanalystsopposewar.org/...
By understanding what motivates conservatives, liberals can speak to them.
Fear, aggression, threat, and pessimism, we propose, may be
reciprocally related to the endorsement of inequality. Insofar as
inequality seems intrinsically linked to the struggle for dominance
(Sidanius & Pratto, 1999), its engagement may exact a price in the
form of fear, anxiety, and suspiciousness. Fear, in turn, may be
(temporarily) allayed by admitting the reality of threat and preparing
to address it by single-mindedly confronting one's foes (real or
imaginary) and hence embracing inequality as a social necessity.7
Democrats need to look again at the fears of conservatives and understand their attitudes toward inequality. Using the concise statements I wrote about in my earlier diaries, we can link inequality to danger. We accuse conservatives of "fear mongering," but according to this research, people swayed by the conservative messages are inherently afraid. So do we ignore their fears? No. We explain in concise, honest terms, how we are going to make them safer.
For example: "Lousy schools breed criminals. We must improve our schools to decrease crime." Progressives would be tempted to analyze this statement and help people to make sense of it. But we have to learn that the extra step of explaining the statement erases the power of the statement itself. On television, Progressives simply make the statement: "Lousy schools breed criminals. We must improve our schools to decrease crime." They repeat that statement thousands of times. In the blogosphere, people can talk about why this is true.
Another example: "Parents who cannot feed their families will turn to crime in desperation. By helping parents feed their families, we reduce crime."
Another example: "Job training is the best crime-fighting strategy."
Another example: "We spend X dollars every year training prisoners to commit worse crimes when they get out. It is both cheaper and safer to rehabilitate prisoners and reduce their sentences."
Another example: "Terrorists are plotting against us in London. What are we doing in Iraq?"
Progressives can win power in this country if we stop ignoring the fears and needs of half of our voting population. We need to address their fears in concise, honest statements and repeat those statements like a jackhammer.