I believe it is scientific, but certainly my observation, that people on the political left tend to have a personality that demonstrates lower capability for emotional regulation. Haidt probably put his finger on it in his study over moral filters: where liberal people tended to only operate on care/harm, and because we all pursue our own self interest, it is the care/harm of self that liberals tend to focus on. When you combine these things, then the media gaslighting turn we have seen is much more likely to cause a level of psychosis and extreme emotional behavior in left people. Left people lose control and need a release. The march and protest, they resist, they hell and scream... and today they kill. If right people does these things... including turning violent... it is more likely based on a strategy that pulls in all the other moral filters.... are/Harm, Fairness/Cheating, Loyalty/Betrayal, Authority/Subversion, Sanctity/Degradation, and Liberty/Oppression. For this reason the media gaslighting of right people is not as dangerous.... we see far less political violence from the right for this reason... and the reason that most of the media is left-oriented and thus there is much more volume for left consumers of media.
Not too long ago those made easily afraid, angry, sad, frustrated, etc... would get a dose of Tom Brokaw at night to calm them down. Today, not is that not happening, but the media has done a 180 degree turn to be the primary cause of fear, anger, sadness and frustration. The tech algorithms amplify the effect.
It seems to me that the source of the political violence snake that we need to kill is the terrible behavior of the media and the terrible amplifying effect of the tech algorithms... especially for the left audience. I don't think free speech should include protecting the corporate practice of attracting and capturing people into a psychological trap by constantly inflaming their negative emotions. We can do better than that.
You know Frank, I've taken to the habit of just ignoring these delusional musings of yours, but I just can't tonight.
Firstly, I don't know what alternate universe you live in, but we do not see "far less" political violence on the right. Consult any serious person who studies political violence, or FBI statistics, and they will tell you that political violence has come overwhelmingly from the right since the 1990's. That's a change from the 1960's and 1970's when it was the other way around. You're a bit behind the times.
Of course, you could also just pay a little bit of attention to the world around you—the mass shootings we've had in recent decades, when a political motive can be ascertained, are overwhelmingly from people who could only be classified as being on the extreme right. And we all know which side of our political divide is responsible for the fact that our country is awash in easy-to-obtain guns.
You and your ilk have beaten the 2020 BLM protests to death, along with overstating the threat from an infinitesimal, scattered group of people who like to identify with a left-wing Twitter hashtag, and a bunch of spoiled, impressionable rich kids protesting on a few elite college campuses in a laughable attempt to portray the left as somehow the violent side.
Yet on the right the permission structure for violence and the associated rhetoric has existed for years, and now comes from the top, from the person who is supposedly the Republican Party's standard bearer. A person who doesn't hesitate to warn us all when his people—"Second Amendment people", as he once referred to them—are going to be very angry at all of us radical leftist Democrats. Just like tonight, when he threatened to "go after" groups on the left whose speech he deems too inflammatory.
Right leaning people overwhelmingly own more guns, and polling shows that the extremist political beliefs on the right—QAnon, stolen 2020 election, COVID vaccine denial, you name it—enjoy support from a far greater proportion of people on the right than on the left. Ditto for online extremism according to studies of political web sites.
Furthermore, the American right now is largely animated by a frothing desire to deport, and otherwise toss into illegal detention camps, as many dark-skinned people from America as possible, without regard to whether they're here legally or even American citizens. And they're perfectly fine with not granting rights of due process, so that we can't tell the difference—that would certainly put a damper on the thrill they're getting from choosing to believe these are all MS-13 gangsters.
Also, your analysis of the left based on the idea that we all look out for our own interests is another perfect example of how the right projects its own shortcomings to rationalize its pathologies. Anyone who examines the political platforms of the two parties can see an obvious difference in the relative focus on other people vs. the self—that is, whatever platform Republicans can realistically be said to have aside from "whatever Trump wants" or "consult Project 2025"..
On the left you have a politics largely motivated by a desire to actually serve the American people and help the less fortunate—which includes people that snooty liberal elites don't even particularly like. They want to give people health care, raise wages, protect worker's rights as well as people's civil rights, and leave a healthy planet for future generations. Their economic goals are often misguided, but at least they're well intentioned. Even at their worst, when they're engaging in coercive hysterics over race and gender, it at least comes (intially) from a desire to help minority groups.
Yet on the right you have something which, even on its best days is a self-righteous assertion of the primacy of one's own personal prerogatives over the good of society. And at its worst—a face it shows far more openly these days—it's a politics clearly motivated by anger, resentment, fear, and a cultivated suspicion that all of this bleeding-heart, mamby-pamby liberalism is just a big scam to screw over number #1 and give all the good stuff to people less deserving.
Yes, I'm talking about the white working class—the gladhandled snowflakes of the American right, whom we mustn't dare offend by suggesting that they have less than pure, or even poorly informed, motivations for their political decisions. Of course, since most Republicans are still in above-average income brackets, they know full well that that this is merely a ploy to use cultural grievance to fool these people into voting against their own economic interests so that rich people's taxes can be lowered.
And now, you can add to that the fact that almost the entirety of the ultra-wealthy in America have surrendered to Trump, and agreed to tolerate his unprecedented level of corruption, lawlessness, and personal enrichment in exchange for favorable treatment. And boy are they getting it—all while Trump dismantles the American government and hobbles its ability to protect us from the world's worst people, while basking in North-Korea-like adulation from the unscrupulous, incompetent sycophants who have purchased their relevance through nothing more than their groveling supplication.
And the right *loves it*.
So please spare us your tired "scientific" analysis about people you don't even try to understand, preferring to believe a caricature over reality, while being oblivious to what the rest of the world sees clearly. That on the American right, the caricature has largely become the reality, and that because of this, America will never again be the beacon to the world we once were.
Gaslit fool. None of what you wrote is the least bit accurate but I am sure your leftard media feeds have convinced you so. Political violence is 100% left today. You Democrats are a bunch of murdering shits and punks.
Thank you for validating my response with your usual degree of acumen and command of reality.
Political violence is 100% liberals, huh?
We had two Democratic lawmakers killed on the morning of the No-Kings protests by a man whose car contained a list of 70 targets—abortion activists, abortion providers, and Democratic politicians. Big ol' liberal.
Dylan Roof, the Buffalo shooter, the El Paso shooter, the Pulse nightclub shooter ... a bunch of black/Hispanic/gay-hating liberals.
Enjoy living in your demented fantasy world, Frank. Some days I pity you.
Nope, sorry Frank! I rattled those off the top of my head while I was on the toilet. I could have easily gone on. Here's some more, compiled by Medhi Hassan:
------
The man who targeted and killed Democratic state lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark in their home in Minnesota in June was a Trump supporter.
The man convicted of orchestrating a series of shootings at the homes of four Democratic elected officials in New Mexico in 2022 was a Trump supporter.
The man charged with the attempted assassination of Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, in April was a Trump supporter.
The man who sent pipe bombs to the homes of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and other top Democrats in 2018 was a Trump supporter.
The men who were convicted of trying to kidnap Michigan’s Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, in 2020 were Trump supporters.
The man who killed left-wing activist Heather Heyer after driving his car into a crowd of counter-protesters in Charlottesville in 2017 was a Trump supporter.
The man who killed the son of Obama-appointed District Judge Esther Salas in 2020 was a Trump supporter.
The man who tried to kidnap then Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and assaulted her husband, Paul, in 2022 was a Trump supporter.
------
These are all well known incidents, Frank. Seriously, do you pay attention to anything outside of the heterodox crowd and right-wing propaganda?
And this isn't even an exhaustive list, Frank. You want more? The Christchurch shooter in New Zealand lauded Trump in his manifesto. The Pittsburgh Synagogue shooter was an antisemite who posted on Gab. Enough for you yet?
Now go ahead and tell me all about the "sea" of leftist violence. Name some leftists who were supporters of Obama or Biden who attempted to murder Republicans.
And I'll even grant you that, we've had two school shootings by insane transgendered people, one of whom was reportedly disillusioned with being transgender, but we'll go ahead and say she was on the extreme left from her postings. The other one was less clear, but let's say he was a leftist too.
Got anything else? Because the comparison isn't even close.
You are right that the comparison is not even close as we are just talking about the last several years. Why don't you go list all the leftist violence including all your Antifa and BLM property destruction and tranny murders. You might want to take the first shot before I embarrass you.
I bet you want to assassinate me. We know the type now. Cannot handle the truth. So weak in character that you cannot come up with any cogent argument, but so you just seethe with anger that others call you out on your crap behavior and perpetual wrongness.
No, you flatter yourself. I don't want to assassinate you. I don't wish you any harm at all. I just wish you would apply your rational faculties. I'm sure you have some. Also, I'm wondering which one of us is really seething with anger.
Oh, I am angry now because you fucks assassinated a 31 year old father of two young children because he said things that conflict with your political cult beliefs. But in general, I am never angry about politics... just committed to beating you collectivist media and campus brainwashed idiots back to under the damp rock you should remain under.
What is your background? What you do for a living? I checked some of your articles and clearly you are on the side of the global order continuing. "Open Society" screams that you are a Soros bot. And if so, you are anti-America.
I believe it is scientific, but certainly my observation, that people on the political left tend to have a personality that demonstrates lower capability for emotional regulation. Haidt probably put his finger on it in his study over moral filters: where liberal people tended to only operate on care/harm, and because we all pursue our own self interest, it is the care/harm of self that liberals tend to focus on. When you combine these things, then the media gaslighting turn we have seen is much more likely to cause a level of psychosis and extreme emotional behavior in left people. Left people lose control and need a release. The march and protest, they resist, they hell and scream... and today they kill. If right people does these things... including turning violent... it is more likely based on a strategy that pulls in all the other moral filters.... are/Harm, Fairness/Cheating, Loyalty/Betrayal, Authority/Subversion, Sanctity/Degradation, and Liberty/Oppression. For this reason the media gaslighting of right people is not as dangerous.... we see far less political violence from the right for this reason... and the reason that most of the media is left-oriented and thus there is much more volume for left consumers of media.
Not too long ago those made easily afraid, angry, sad, frustrated, etc... would get a dose of Tom Brokaw at night to calm them down. Today, not is that not happening, but the media has done a 180 degree turn to be the primary cause of fear, anger, sadness and frustration. The tech algorithms amplify the effect.
It seems to me that the source of the political violence snake that we need to kill is the terrible behavior of the media and the terrible amplifying effect of the tech algorithms... especially for the left audience. I don't think free speech should include protecting the corporate practice of attracting and capturing people into a psychological trap by constantly inflaming their negative emotions. We can do better than that.
You know Frank, I've taken to the habit of just ignoring these delusional musings of yours, but I just can't tonight.
Firstly, I don't know what alternate universe you live in, but we do not see "far less" political violence on the right. Consult any serious person who studies political violence, or FBI statistics, and they will tell you that political violence has come overwhelmingly from the right since the 1990's. That's a change from the 1960's and 1970's when it was the other way around. You're a bit behind the times.
Of course, you could also just pay a little bit of attention to the world around you—the mass shootings we've had in recent decades, when a political motive can be ascertained, are overwhelmingly from people who could only be classified as being on the extreme right. And we all know which side of our political divide is responsible for the fact that our country is awash in easy-to-obtain guns.
You and your ilk have beaten the 2020 BLM protests to death, along with overstating the threat from an infinitesimal, scattered group of people who like to identify with a left-wing Twitter hashtag, and a bunch of spoiled, impressionable rich kids protesting on a few elite college campuses in a laughable attempt to portray the left as somehow the violent side.
Yet on the right the permission structure for violence and the associated rhetoric has existed for years, and now comes from the top, from the person who is supposedly the Republican Party's standard bearer. A person who doesn't hesitate to warn us all when his people—"Second Amendment people", as he once referred to them—are going to be very angry at all of us radical leftist Democrats. Just like tonight, when he threatened to "go after" groups on the left whose speech he deems too inflammatory.
Right leaning people overwhelmingly own more guns, and polling shows that the extremist political beliefs on the right—QAnon, stolen 2020 election, COVID vaccine denial, you name it—enjoy support from a far greater proportion of people on the right than on the left. Ditto for online extremism according to studies of political web sites.
Furthermore, the American right now is largely animated by a frothing desire to deport, and otherwise toss into illegal detention camps, as many dark-skinned people from America as possible, without regard to whether they're here legally or even American citizens. And they're perfectly fine with not granting rights of due process, so that we can't tell the difference—that would certainly put a damper on the thrill they're getting from choosing to believe these are all MS-13 gangsters.
Also, your analysis of the left based on the idea that we all look out for our own interests is another perfect example of how the right projects its own shortcomings to rationalize its pathologies. Anyone who examines the political platforms of the two parties can see an obvious difference in the relative focus on other people vs. the self—that is, whatever platform Republicans can realistically be said to have aside from "whatever Trump wants" or "consult Project 2025"..
On the left you have a politics largely motivated by a desire to actually serve the American people and help the less fortunate—which includes people that snooty liberal elites don't even particularly like. They want to give people health care, raise wages, protect worker's rights as well as people's civil rights, and leave a healthy planet for future generations. Their economic goals are often misguided, but at least they're well intentioned. Even at their worst, when they're engaging in coercive hysterics over race and gender, it at least comes (intially) from a desire to help minority groups.
Yet on the right you have something which, even on its best days is a self-righteous assertion of the primacy of one's own personal prerogatives over the good of society. And at its worst—a face it shows far more openly these days—it's a politics clearly motivated by anger, resentment, fear, and a cultivated suspicion that all of this bleeding-heart, mamby-pamby liberalism is just a big scam to screw over number #1 and give all the good stuff to people less deserving.
Yes, I'm talking about the white working class—the gladhandled snowflakes of the American right, whom we mustn't dare offend by suggesting that they have less than pure, or even poorly informed, motivations for their political decisions. Of course, since most Republicans are still in above-average income brackets, they know full well that that this is merely a ploy to use cultural grievance to fool these people into voting against their own economic interests so that rich people's taxes can be lowered.
And now, you can add to that the fact that almost the entirety of the ultra-wealthy in America have surrendered to Trump, and agreed to tolerate his unprecedented level of corruption, lawlessness, and personal enrichment in exchange for favorable treatment. And boy are they getting it—all while Trump dismantles the American government and hobbles its ability to protect us from the world's worst people, while basking in North-Korea-like adulation from the unscrupulous, incompetent sycophants who have purchased their relevance through nothing more than their groveling supplication.
And the right *loves it*.
So please spare us your tired "scientific" analysis about people you don't even try to understand, preferring to believe a caricature over reality, while being oblivious to what the rest of the world sees clearly. That on the American right, the caricature has largely become the reality, and that because of this, America will never again be the beacon to the world we once were.
Democrat = party of murder.
Gaslit fool. None of what you wrote is the least bit accurate but I am sure your leftard media feeds have convinced you so. Political violence is 100% left today. You Democrats are a bunch of murdering shits and punks.
Thank you for validating my response with your usual degree of acumen and command of reality.
Political violence is 100% liberals, huh?
We had two Democratic lawmakers killed on the morning of the No-Kings protests by a man whose car contained a list of 70 targets—abortion activists, abortion providers, and Democratic politicians. Big ol' liberal.
Dylan Roof, the Buffalo shooter, the El Paso shooter, the Pulse nightclub shooter ... a bunch of black/Hispanic/gay-hating liberals.
Enjoy living in your demented fantasy world, Frank. Some days I pity you.
You had to look hard for those two in a big lake of leftist violence. I don't pity you at all as you are clearly not a good person.
Nope, sorry Frank! I rattled those off the top of my head while I was on the toilet. I could have easily gone on. Here's some more, compiled by Medhi Hassan:
------
The man who targeted and killed Democratic state lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark in their home in Minnesota in June was a Trump supporter.
The man convicted of orchestrating a series of shootings at the homes of four Democratic elected officials in New Mexico in 2022 was a Trump supporter.
The man charged with the attempted assassination of Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, in April was a Trump supporter.
The man who sent pipe bombs to the homes of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and other top Democrats in 2018 was a Trump supporter.
The men who were convicted of trying to kidnap Michigan’s Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, in 2020 were Trump supporters.
The man who killed left-wing activist Heather Heyer after driving his car into a crowd of counter-protesters in Charlottesville in 2017 was a Trump supporter.
The man who killed the son of Obama-appointed District Judge Esther Salas in 2020 was a Trump supporter.
The man who tried to kidnap then Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and assaulted her husband, Paul, in 2022 was a Trump supporter.
------
These are all well known incidents, Frank. Seriously, do you pay attention to anything outside of the heterodox crowd and right-wing propaganda?
And this isn't even an exhaustive list, Frank. You want more? The Christchurch shooter in New Zealand lauded Trump in his manifesto. The Pittsburgh Synagogue shooter was an antisemite who posted on Gab. Enough for you yet?
Now go ahead and tell me all about the "sea" of leftist violence. Name some leftists who were supporters of Obama or Biden who attempted to murder Republicans.
And I'll even grant you that, we've had two school shootings by insane transgendered people, one of whom was reportedly disillusioned with being transgender, but we'll go ahead and say she was on the extreme left from her postings. The other one was less clear, but let's say he was a leftist too.
Got anything else? Because the comparison isn't even close.
You are right that the comparison is not even close as we are just talking about the last several years. Why don't you go list all the leftist violence including all your Antifa and BLM property destruction and tranny murders. You might want to take the first shot before I embarrass you.
That's about the stupidest comment I've ever read.
I try to never make "ad hominem " criticisms on Substack, but sometimes it's the only reasonable thing to do.
I bet you want to assassinate me. We know the type now. Cannot handle the truth. So weak in character that you cannot come up with any cogent argument, but so you just seethe with anger that others call you out on your crap behavior and perpetual wrongness.
No, you flatter yourself. I don't want to assassinate you. I don't wish you any harm at all. I just wish you would apply your rational faculties. I'm sure you have some. Also, I'm wondering which one of us is really seething with anger.
Oh, I am angry now because you fucks assassinated a 31 year old father of two young children because he said things that conflict with your political cult beliefs. But in general, I am never angry about politics... just committed to beating you collectivist media and campus brainwashed idiots back to under the damp rock you should remain under.
Are you AI?
What is your background? What you do for a living? I checked some of your articles and clearly you are on the side of the global order continuing. "Open Society" screams that you are a Soros bot. And if so, you are anti-America.
Are you 12?