You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you. ~Eric Hoffer
Right-wing conservatives are once again pulling out the victim card while they are doing the attacking.
Religious conservative leaders, sensing declining alarm over same-sex marriage, are warning that the debate over homosexuality has prompted attacks on religious freedom.
Of course the reason they might feel defensive to criticism could be because some right-wing conservatives are
outrageous stupid bigots, well deserving of scorn and ridicule.
Follow me after the fold for more...
This isn't the first time that right-wing attack dogs have played the victim when called on the mat for their thoughtless bigotry or incompetence. It's a regular part of the right-wing playbook. Take for example, the oft repeated "Bush hatred" defense, where any criticism of the president is ignored and Bush is characterized as the victim of an unfair and mean personal attack, rather than respond to substantive criticism of his many and varied policy blunders. The "You just hate Bush" shallow and puerile response is repeated endlessly by pundits, talking-heads, commentators and conservative pedants who have ran out of arguments to counter the inept handling of the reins of government by the administration, congress and the Republican party in general.
This is known as "argumentum ad misericordiam", or "appeal to pity" and there are many more examples of it's use in conservative rhetoric: O'Reilly's faux "War on Christmas" that served as a not so thinly veiled attack on everyone NOT Christian; the constant talking point of being the victims of the so-called "liberal press" when that same press is dominated by conservatives, not only in ownership of media but in editorial and political commentary. Meanwhile, wingnut kooks like Coulter are given free reign on the news media talking-heads circuit.
The right loves to complain about being undermined and attacked by the left and "activist judges", while engaging in an ongoing smear-a-thon of their political opponents. Conservatives have enjoyed more Republican presidencies in modern history and Republicans currently control all three branches of the Federal government, as well as the majority of benches being occupied by the butts of Republican appointees. Apparently, that is still not enough to keep them from declaring themselves the oppressed underdog worthy of general sympathy, at the same time that underdog is attempting to rip out the throat and eat the entrails of the minority opposition.
Though there is no doubt deliberate strategic use of victim language in right-wing rhetoric, it's more than a tool of argument. The far-right really does see themselves as an oppressed victim. One need not go any farther than an elementary school playground to see this in action. Schoolyard bullies, while abusing other children and violently suppressing any vocal criticism with verbal or physical attack, really see themselves as the victim. Fear drives their aggressive behavior: Fear of rejection either by being outside the social group or protecting their status within; fear of disapproval of peers, teachers or parents; fear of failure; fear of criticism; fear of appearing weak, stupid or ugly; fear of being wrong. Bullies don't see themselves as the oppressor, they constantly see themselves as a victim. Their shortcomings are always blamed on their peers, teachers, parents or others and it's that feeling of being a victim that makes them lash out.
This behavior carries over into far-right political thought as an adult. The rationale of being a victim drives far-right behavior. Far-right conservative obsession with firearms for protection, evangelical religion, social conservatism and hawkish foreign policy are all examples of this fear manifested: Fear of being robbed, murdered, burglarised; fear of death; fear of change; fear of outside influence disrupting current social systems. These are the major tenets of conservative thought. Life is scary and conservatism provides the answers to being terrified by it.
This propensity toward fearfulness is what drives conservatives to over-react and escalate moderate or even serious problems to critical "life and death" issues of absolutism. The problem of terrorism becomes equivalent to or greater a conflict than a war that killed over 60 million people and leveled entire countries, and a Cold-War that threatened to destroy humanity in a superpower nuclear exchange. It inflates an issue of personal choice and legal status in a partnership, to a threat to marriage and society itself. It blows out of proportion attempts to register firearms as an effort to ban them completely. It exaggerates separation of church and state as an attempt to ban religion altogether. It sees immigration an issue of national survival rather than an issue of economics.
The far-right's paranoid fear of being victimized drives their political thought and is partly why the Republican's appeal to fear has been so successful in motivating the far-right. It plays precisely into the fundamental subconscious foundation that underlies far-right political thought. The far-right laps up fear. It runs on fear.