Reply #9: First, it's the fundamentalism... [View All]

... of the religious right wing. Then, there's the fascist tendencies in the country today (fascism, after all, being a kind of political fundamentalism). Women who are independent, instead of deferring to men, go to work, instead of staying at home, are threats to a very rigid order that these fundamentalists believe should be imposed on everyone, for, in their view, the betterment of society (by returning to a time when men dominated all public and private affairs).

The roots of conservatism are a very fundamental fear of a change in the status quo, one which favors them. Blaming all the ills of society on progress (including women's suffrage) is very easy, but intellectually threadbare.

This is a very attractive message for people who feel that they have somehow lost control of their lives; blaming an entity external to them (women's rights, the government, liberals, etc.) is a natural human reaction which has been exploited by conservatives for decades now. The conservatives have striven to focus the anger these people feel about their circumstances on politically-charged targets--women's rights, liberalism, multiculturism, diversity, cultural corruption--all those aspects of life which are suggestive of change and/or are symbols of inclusionary rights for those these people feel are their inferiors.

I've said it often before, but one of the best explanations available for what's going on now is a book that is not new, and has apparently fallen out of favor in colleges, Eric Hoffer's The True Believer. It's really worth a look, if you can find it in your local library.

Most of here rail against the Rushes and Hannitys and O'Reillys and Coulters of this generation (other generations had theirs--Joe Pyne in `50s, Father Coughlin in the `30s), but often for what they have to say. Rarely is there the recognition that these opinion-makers are actually feeding the anger the disenfranchised feel about their circumstances. Hoffer has much to say about how that works in the scheme of political and religious movements.

Cheers.