http://www.mediatransparency.org/story.php?storyID=147

You've hit on something, Stray Roots. With all due respect to our friend from Tennessee, there are areas of the country that can be accurately described as "red-neck" and that includes my state, Colorado. Of course, it hardly describes everyone -- which hardly needs to added.

The term redneck evokes an image of a loud, opinionated bully, and it's an accurate description. It's a certain personality type rather than just an ideology. Some excerpts below provide us with a guide.

According to John Dean, who wrote in Conservatives Without Conscience, "Many conservatives, particularly those who are clearly authoritarians, are not aware of their illogical, contradictory, and hypocritical thinking. If made cognizant of it, they either rationalize it away, neglect to care, or attack those who reveal their human weaknesses. Because such thinking seems to be a reality of contemporary conservatism, anyone operating from a logical mind or has the inclination toward a reasoned judgment will have a problem with this." Dean adds that right-wing authoritarianism reveals itself in three ways:

   1. Authoritarian submission -- a high degree of submissiveness to the authorities who are perceived to be established and legitimate in the society in which one lives.

   2. Authoritarian aggression -- a general aggressiveness directed against deviants, outgroups, and other people that are perceived to be targets according to established authorities.

   3. Conventionalism -- a high degree of adherence to the traditions and social norms that are perceived to be endorsed by society and its established authorities.

In North America these traits are seen more readily in those with conservative political leanings. To break this down even further, one can examine the following symptoms that reveal the authoritarian personality organized into four distinct catagories.

1: Faulty Reasoning -- Right-wing authoritarians (RWAs) are more likely to:

    * Make many incorrect inferences from evidence.
    * Hold contradictory ideas that result from a cognitive attribute known as compartmentalized thinking, as illustrated by Orwellian doublethink.
    * Uncritically accept that many problems are `our most serious problem.'
    * Uncritically accept insufficient evidence that supports their beliefs.
    * Uncritically trust people who tell them what they want to hear.
    * Use many double standards in their thinking and judgments.

2: Hostility Toward Outgroups -- RWAs are more likely to:

    * Weaken constitutional guarantees of liberty such as a Bill of Rights
    * Severely punish `common' criminals in a role-playing situation.
    * Admit they obtain personal pleasure from punishing such people.
    * Be prejudiced against and hostile towards racial, ethnic, national, sexual, and linguistic minorities.
    * Volunteer to help the government persecute almost anyone.
    * Be mean-spirited toward those who have made mistakes and suffered.

3: Profound Character Attributes -- RWAs are more likely to:

    * Be dogmatic.
    * Be zealots.
    * Be hypocrites.
    * Be absolutists
    * Be bullies when they have power over others.
    * Help cause and inflame intergroup conflict.
    * Seek dominance over others by being competitive and destructive in situations requiring cooperation.

4: Blindness To One's Own Failings And To The Failings Of Authority Figures Whom They Respect-- RWAs are more likely to:

    * Believe they have no personal failings.
    * Avoid learning about their personal failings.
    * Be highly self-righteous.
    * Use religion to erase guilt over their acts and to maintain their self-righteousness.

These are the hallmarks of Right-wing Authoritarianism. Recognizing them and the degree to which a political party promotes them is a matter for the individual to determine.

http://cognitive-psychology.suite101.com/article.cfm/right_wing_authoritarianism

"..the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. .. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked.." - Goering