Wordcruncher

The Ideology of the Lockstep

Here in Atlanta, there’s a conservative talk radio station promoting itself with billboards boasting, “Liberals hate it!” Speaking as a liberal myself, I don’t hate it; I am indifferent to it.

But that isn’t the point. Granted, conservative talk radio poses as “entertainment” so it makes little difference how they promote themselves. Only it isn’t simply entertainment. And these garish billboards represent the hollowness of the modern conservative movement. They have nothing to promote about conservatism itself, so they simply attack the opposition.

To some degree, perhaps conservatism is less about ideas per se than it is about regressing to some perceived version of an idyllic America that neither existed nor is sustainable. As a result, modern conservatism is bereft of any ideas at all. Where it once had visionaries like Ronald Reagan or Barry Goldwater, conservatism has now degenerated into a snipe hunt for conservative bogeymen.

In so doing, conservatives are becoming a parody of themselves. The general disdain for anything smacking of intellectualism (in favor of the simpleton equation of “guts” over “brains”) has effectively quashed any real critical analysis in conservatism.

There are reasons why so many conservative commentators do not invite guests with opposing viewpoints. It is much easier to attack straw men and cartoonish images of the opposition than to confront someone who can viably debate your viewpoint. As a former conservative (up until about ten years ago), I frequently listened to AM conservative talk show hosts and punched the air in agreement. I stayed in a permanent state of anger, even hate. Arguments with liberals frequently ended with me name-calling in frustration (“feminazis” is not an argument).

Conservative hosts feed the ego; they tell their listeners exactly what they want to hear. The world is black and white, our side versus their side. While they don’t do subtlety or nuance in modern conservatism, there is nonetheless one subtle idea behind it all: You, dear conservative media consumer, should never question your beliefs. Instead, you should believe that you (and we conservatives) are always right. Anyone who threatens to open the door for debate is openly ridiculed and assailed with names.

They tell you that you should be angry. They share with the conservative listener an anger and hatred. And the fact that there are millions of other listeners just like you legitimizes your anger and hatred and, as voters, even institutionalizes it.

Conservatives, it seems, are always angry.

With no debate, no ideas to enlarge their movement and no room for critical thought, conservatism today depends on a coordinated messaging mechanism. Truth only gets in the way because you know in your gut you are always right. There is no need for any kind of self-examination.

And when the truth does makes the brain question the gut, then it is time to attack. That’s why conservatives love to keep trotting out that tired trope of the “liberal media.” This is, of course, a logical fallacy that does not hold up to a simple critical analysis. Ask a conservative to prove the media is liberal. It is simply astonishing how simple-minded the responses are. “The New York Times is owned by a liberal” is one of my favorite actual facile responses; however, more often they cite a sentence or two out of the vast amount of media information to prove their assertion.

But it does make a nice bogeyman for the conservative media types to blast. To belong to the movement, one must accept certain things as a given. No need to attempt to prove it for yourself – no, the conservative media is here to tell you that your baser instincts have always been correct.

And your anger and hatred are correct. After all, the billboard’s message is clear: Liberals hate you, so you must hate back.