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driveway · 12-07-2015, 07:26 PM

It's shocking to me how much of a sport American politics has become to people who are deeply personally invested in following American politics. I'm speaking specifically of the community of posters I've been following on-and-off for about a decade now over at FreeRepublic.com. These people are profoundly conservative and really rather frightening.

I first found the site back when I liked to argue with Creationists on the internet when I was in my early 20's and have been pretty much unable to look away ever since. These are the people who form the far-right base of the Conservative movement (they can't even really be called GOP anymore as they're the ones who, for example, viscerally hate Boehner).

Much like CP is a community of people who invest time and energy into the Calgary Flames, these people invest time and energy into the idea of Movement Conservatism. They donate, they hold rallies, they are activist.

And they god damn love Donald Trump. And it's not because they particularly agree with his positions, though a lot of them really like this idiotic no-muslims idea, it's because they see him as winning. Not the election, no, they see him as winning the ... battle? Game? It's hard to express exactly how they see the current political situation, but a sports-metaphor is, I think, the best.

There is the Conservative team, and there is the Other team. The Conservative team is Pro-Christ, Pro-Life, Pro-Guns, and "Pro-Constitution." I put that in quotes because it's a very particular Constitution they are Pro. It's the one that agrees with their ideas and disagrees with the other team. In their eyes, Trump is scoring points for their team. The fact that he's getting attention makes them happy, just like how we were excited for Gaudreau to get Calder attention, or Giordano to get Norris attention. They enjoy that Trump is 'making Liberal heads explode.' That reporters and anchors and editorialists are pointing out the lunacy of his position. They view this as a positive, it's beneficial to their cause to get the attention. They feel that Trump's blunt approach will convince others of the rightness of their cause (which is inherent and should be obvious, but Liberals, Democrats, and Muslims are, in actual fact, evil).

The actual substance of his proposals are not really important. What's important, and what excites them and makes them happy, is the bluntness of his approach, and the attention he's getting.

12-07-2015, 07:26 PM	#2006
driveway A Fiddler Crab Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Chicago Exp:	It's shocking to me how much of a sport American politics has become to people who are deeply personally invested in following American politics. I'm speaking specifically of the community of posters I've been following on-and-off for about a decade now over at FreeRepublic.com. These people are profoundly conservative and really rather frightening. I first found the site back when I liked to argue with Creationists on the internet when I was in my early 20's and have been pretty much unable to look away ever since. These are the people who form the far-right base of the Conservative movement (they can't even really be called GOP anymore as they're the ones who, for example, viscerally hate Boehner). Much like CP is a community of people who invest time and energy into the Calgary Flames, these people invest time and energy into the idea of Movement Conservatism. They donate, they hold rallies, they are activist. And they god damn love Donald Trump. And it's not because they particularly agree with his positions, though a lot of them really like this idiotic no-muslims idea, it's because they see him as winning. Not the election, no, they see him as winning the ... battle? Game? It's hard to express exactly how they see the current political situation, but a sports-metaphor is, I think, the best. There is the Conservative team, and there is the Other team. The Conservative team is Pro-Christ, Pro-Life, Pro-Guns, and "Pro-Constitution." I put that in quotes because it's a very particular Constitution they are Pro. It's the one that agrees with their ideas and disagrees with the other team. In their eyes, Trump is scoring points for their team. The fact that he's getting attention makes them happy, just like how we were excited for Gaudreau to get Calder attention, or Giordano to get Norris attention. They enjoy that Trump is 'making Liberal heads explode.' That reporters and anchors and editorialists are pointing out the lunacy of his position. They view this as a positive, it's beneficial to their cause to get the attention. They feel that Trump's blunt approach will convince others of the rightness of their cause (which is inherent and should be obvious, but Liberals, Democrats, and Muslims are, in actual fact, evil). The actual substance of his proposals are not really important. What's important, and what excites them and makes them happy, is the bluntness of his approach, and the attention he's getting.