So what is the right-wing pathology then?

Recently I discussed the connection between high neuroticism and left-wing politics.  In passing I mentioned that the right-wing had its own problems, leading a few of you to ask what those were.

The classic response would be to accuse (credit?) conservatives as being low in empathy.  Whether or not you agree historically, that answer does not seem to me to be “of the moment.”  Instead, I see the more recent right-wing thinkers as falling into a different camp.  The pathology I observe most frequently and most intensely is a kind of reckless anger, directed at some semi-imaginary, hypostatized notion of “elites.”  In an almost Pavlovian fashion, you can pump up this group by putting out some “bait” about “the elites” and seeing the resentment fly.  To be clear, as with the left-wing, this pathology does not have to mean the right-wing thinkers are wrong on the issues themselves.  After all, maybe Lab Leak did indeed happen, or whatever other claim you might wish to debate.  But when one of these sensitive topics comes up, yes right-wing thinkers do often respond to it pathologically and with an excess of emotion.  Born out of their sense of their own failures, they can be the true snowflakes.

You can see this in the comments section of MR every single day.  Maybe even today.  No surprise that the neurotic left-wingers will notice this and be disturbed by it!

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