A little.
My parents lived in the US, and still live abroad, and have a bunch of American friends, some of whom are Republican.
Essentially, they're mostly confused.
There are a bunch of reasons for this. Some of them aren't very bright. Some of them haven't understood that what they've been told by the right-wing US media / politicians is in large part lies (e.g. "If Stephen Hawking were British, he'd be dead because of the NHS").
There's also a general fear of the term "socialism", which is practically the same as "communism" as far as many of them are concerned, and that's bad, right?
Some of them I have some sympathy for. E.g. they have some American friends who are in their 90s (I think), who grew up in the wilderness (in Oregon, IIRC). They had no roads, no amenities; when the wife was ready to drop a sprog, they went to the hospital on horseback and forded a flooded river on their own. So they are very suspicious of government, because they don't really understand what it's for.
The irony is that most of these people now live in a left-wing country (Costa Rica) and talk about how wonderful the education and healthcare is. They don't seem to get the irony... but they are American, so casual racism LOLs, eh?
(, Fri 2 May 2014, 14:42, Reply)
YOU'RE WELCOME
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Tab Hunter Make this useless process end and so, begin again, Fri 2 May 2014, 15:43,
Reply)
^^^- this
is the american problem summerised as simply as possible.
GET YOUR OWN FUCKING LANGUAGE, STOP BASTARDISING OURS!!!
(, Fri 2 May 2014, 17:39, Reply)
No, I don't think I did.
I made it clear that I was referring to a bunch of people that I have actually met, and at various points that I was referring to specific people within that group.
Any generalization you find is your inference... apart from the deliberate ironic casual racism at the end, which I deliberately drew attention to.
(, Fri 2 May 2014, 17:33, Reply)
Fear is a reasonable distinction to draw.
It tends to play a large role in average conservative thinking in the US. The motivation of the political rights' mouthpieces on the other hand has more to do with lobbying interests.
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BaronMunchausen Interdimensional Demon Day Laborer, Fri 2 May 2014, 15:32,
Reply)