Quote from: RE on Jul 11, 2026, 04:27 PMDoes Red Baiting really still work? Do Amerikans really still have the same FEAR of Communism McCarthy used in the 50s to consolidate FSoA Fascism? Haven't people grasped by now their REAL enemy are the Capitalists? They're all getting progressively poorer while .01% of the population Hoovers up whatever wealth is still left. How can people be so BLIND?
RE
Repeated exposure to a statement increases the perception it is true, regardless of reality. Decades of red-baiting as pejoratives have deeply ingrained them in the American political lexicon. Red baiting is an "othering" mechanism. Labeling an idea or a person with the stench of "communist," casts them out. No BBQ for them. Quit talking when they walk in the room and all that shit. People conform and keep their mouth shut if they disagree, and in time most people eventually do agree. Oh, say it ain''t so.
Social pressure acts as a more powerful deterrent than economic hardship does in shaping attitudes. The grim reality is that those at the bottom of the economic ladder justify the ladder the most. The only way they can justify their place on it, is by deceiving themselves that it is fair. If they can't see it as fair their world falls apart, and this sad fact makes the poorest among us Republican cheerleaders to avoid stress they don't even know they have.
System Justification Theory posits that people are motivated to defend, bolster, justify, and kiss the ass of the status quo, even when it is clearly to their detriment. To do otherwise is to stare into a deep dark pit.
When belief systems are tied to survival and a persons identity, and they avoid psychological pain by self deception, facts rarely stand a chance. Facts become a piss in the wind.