I've had some pretty interesting emails since I put up the contact form at the right of the page. A common request of late has been for me to explain exactly what the "adolescent power fantasies" tag means. So, without further adieu, here it is.
Conservatives today can be easily explained if you imagine them as 8th grade boys (age 13-14). They hate the government in the same way a teenager hates their parents and the house rules. They are eternally in "You're Not The Boss Of Me!" mode on all the major issues of the day. Take a look at how they react to the budget (they are stealing my hard earned money!), health care (fuck everyone else, I only care about myself), climate change (I'm not going to change my life just because some adults made up some stupid lies to try to force me to do stuff), guns (don't take away my cool toys!), education (stupid liberal teachers telling me what I should and shouldn't do), or any other issue of the day and it's the same thing: I DON'T WANNA!!!
Like any teenager, they are very distrustful of authority and make overly emotional and ridiculous statements about the federal government....the same government that they are very likely receiving benefits from in more than one way. Again, just like a teenager that doesn't like the house rules and bloviates to his parents in a never ending goal to be contrary.
So, how do you deal with such a mentality? Well, you ignore the adolescent baiting and everything else falls into place after that. The primary goal of any teenager is to get the people they are rebelling against to stoop down to their level. Once that happens, they can play the Cult of Both Sides card and say, "See? Liberals are just as bad." They want the voting public to be confused and angry so they can get away with a bunch of bullshit. Up until the last few years, this has worked quite well. Unfortunately, the issues we face as a nation have become more serious and their solutions (if they even have any), are being revealed for exactly what they are: an ongoing temper tantrum with no concrete action items.
Ultimately, the only real response to the adolescent stomp down the hallway is to remind whomever you are talking to that if they want to stop being treated like a child, then they should stop acting like one.
2 comments:
Isn't it so nice that M sees the govt as parent - that absolves him of having to be a responsible adult himself. He can be the 2 year old Bill Cosby jokes about, the one that grabs everything in sight screaming "mine".
Let's deconstruct Mark's silliness once and for all.
In an actually adolescent type adolescent power fantasy you start with an adolescent. Said adolescent is legally subject to the control of guardians. So when an adolescent claims "you're not the boss of me" to his guardian he is indeed making a fantasy statement of power - because the guardian is in actuality the boss of him.
Now take an adult citizen of a free country. He does not have a guardian. He is an equal member of society. He does not have a boss.
In order for Mark's terminology to make any sense he needs both sides of the equation to exist. The citizen needs to be saying 'you're not the boss of me' while at the same time he needs to have a boss who is indeed doing the 'bossing'.
Take for example guns. 'Don't take my cool toys'. When compared to an actual adolescent power fantasy the adult has the power and authority to take the 'cool toys' and the adolescent can't do anything about it. Further, it would not make any sense for the adolescent to complain about the toys being taken unless the adult was actually threatening to do so.
Mark has repeatedly claimed that nobody is trying to take anyone's guns. This is absurd on many levels, but it is made further ridiculous as a statement by Mark when he then calls it a 'power fantasy'. If correctly compared to an actual adolescent power fantasy then 'dad' is in fact taking the cool toys, he has the power/authority to do so and 'junior' can't do anything about it.
Mark can't make up his mind. Is 'dad' not "a'coming for mah guns" or is he and complaining about it is nothing more than being a whining child? Can't have it both ways.
Every other example he gave are similarly silly.
Let me rephrase that - it's not silly, it's purposeful demonization and minimization of opposing viewpoints. It's an act of intolerance and prejudice.
And it illustrates his political end game as well. He does view government as the parent. Of course he expects dads rules to be the ones he likes. Hmmm, that's kind of an adolescent fantasy itself isn't it?
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