" Webutante" - this week's example of a religious right-wing authoritarian blogger

Webutante: blogger in denial - a proud member of the '30%ers'

I've recently been attempting a dialogue with a new found religious right-wing authoritarian (RRWA) blogger. Check out "webutante." Communication is difficult because, like most other bloggers with this psychological profile, she will often delete comment posts - a hallmark characteristic of such 'denialists.' I use the term '30%er' to describe the Bush loyalists. Of these 30%ers, about half, or about 15% strongly support the the President. These people are the hard core religious right-wing authoritarians. Webutante fits the bill. Like other RRWAs have done (i.e. Mark Rose, Terry Frank, etc...), she has deleted at least 4 of my posts.

She says, "Moderation is used to eliminate tasteless, obscene language and mean-spirited, hateful harangues which do nothing to further intelligent discussion or the flow of ideas." Here are the subjects of some of my deleted posts, none fit the above objections and rely solely on facts, quotes, and interviews:

• The first, a post simply saying that, "To best support our troops, we should listen to what they say."

• Second, a post that pointed out that fear helps Bush's popularity- his approval rating soared to 81% after 9/11, even though after he was repeatedly and specifically warned about an impending al Qaeda attack - he went on vacation . . . for a month.

• Third, about the hypocrisy of James Dobson, the man she quotes on her blog, and some of the Republicans supported by the Christian Coalition.

The indoctrination of this type of religious right wing authoritarian is often religious-based, as shown in the recent documentary, Jesus Camp - where children are taught to worship a cardboard cutout of GW Bush. Webutante would love this!

Besides abject 'denial' demonstrated by Webutante, she exhibits the RRWA characteristics of 'holding contradictory ideas' and the 'use of double standards in their thinking and judgements.' She calls herself a 'conservationist' but gives her unconditional support to Bush who is regarded universally as the worst environmental president in modern history by virtually all environmental groups. Watch how she shrugs off the evidence presented to her in this comment. She bills herself as a christian law-abiding citizen and conservationist but says she's not going to get 'wigged out' that Bush's environmental policies are so destructive, they have been repeatedly ruled illegal in federal court.

Webutante also shows the RRWA characteristic of uncritically accepting insufficient evidence that supports their beliefs. Example - this comment:

"Did you know that CO2 levels actually decreased last year in the United States even as GDP went up several percentage points?"

As if this single statistic could disprove 100+ years of Global Climate Change science and statistics. Quite the contrary.

As mentioned in the previous post, RRWA's exhibit a high degree of submission to the authorities, God and president Bush being the first. They also exhibit a general aggressiveness directed against various persons - the 'liberal' being their biggest target. An example - one of her regular commenters (vienna) complained repeatedly of being labeled 'anti-American' for expressing a dissenting view. In Webutante's posts bashing Clinton and Carter, this aggression is also apparent.

Webutante professes to have found the light and overcome any 'liberal' tendencies as youthful indiscretions. Many RRWA tend to be much older than progressive and left leaning people, Webutant appears to be in her 60's or 70's. Many of her circle of like-minded are either christian and/or senior citizens like herself. In one of her clever retorts, she refers to me as 'a child to be cast asunder' in Latin. She sees those that disagree with her as children, not as wise as her (never mind, I have a doctorate, what level of education did she complete?) . She posts about a disenting bumper sticker as "Ahh, the sins of our youth".

In another Webutante post, her aggression is also directed toward Isreali Prime Minister Ohlmer's willingness to give up the Golan Heights in return for a peace agreement. It is clear that she also exhibits and perpetuates another RRWA hallmark - fear of the enemy, fear of a dangerous world - precisely the way neo-cons have solidified power. So much for peace.

Yet another classic characteristic of RRWA's that Webutante shows us is her ethnocentrism. Her biggotry is pretty clear in her post: "Only a black man can say this about New Orleans."

So, they do exist. Webutante is typical of religious right wing authoritarians that have a lot of denial, conflicted principles, aggression, fear, self-righteousness, ethnocentrism, and dogmatism. They uncritically accept insufficient evidence that supports their beliefs, toss off personal failings and avoid learning about their personal failings . . . or more often, even facing them. They conveniently use religion to erase guilt over their acts and maintain their self-righteousness. Supporting a war and a president whose policies have maimed so many brave Americans forces these types of individuals to rationalize, because after all - Bush is our christian president, his cause is just and can never be wrong. They can't admit a mistake even though, many of their fellow Republicans have:

"This war was very badly mismanaged for a long time, and Americans have made great sacrifices, some of which were unnecessary because of mismanagement of this conflict."
- John McCain, GOP debate, June 5, '07

Congrats to Webutante - our Religious Right Wing Authoritarian of the week.