My colleague the psychiatrist, summarizes our problem..
 

We had lunch on Monday for the first time in a couple of years. He's originally from Karachi, got his MD there at U of Karachi, and took his psych specialty after coming to this country 30 years ago. So he's got a somewhat unique perspective, grew up Muslim, but not observant, a real political independent, who dislikes Hillary Clinton but voted for her as he had developed an opinion regarding Trump's raging malignant narcissism decades ago.

Anyway, he really tied the current situation in this country into in a nice bow over my ham and cheese pannini. He agrees that this election was not nearly as much about the economy and jobs as it was about the attempted re-emergence of white christian dominance over all aspects of the culture of this country. He specifically referred to the dominance of this in Southern states, rural western states, and in the disaffected rust belt white working class in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin.

And then he said something that I've been trying to articulate for the past two years now, and not succeeding. That the same white christians who are complaining about being oppressed, and being discriminated against, and being thrown under the governmental bus...are the people who have had all the advantages over brown and black skinned people, and over non-christian people since the founding.

He referred to this particular aspect of American culture as, "These people who were either too lazy, or too stupid, or too entitled, to use their advantage to actually better themselves, and who are now all pissed off that some Muslim woman in a hijab or some Mexican guy has a spot in front of them in the line for their SNAP card. They just can't tolerate the idea of somebody a little more swarthy than they are, being in line adhead of them for anything."

Yep...right on the money.

When I referred to the "re-emergence of confederates", he just frowned and nodded in agreement. And we agreed that this is less about Donald Trump than it is about this serious flaw in the culture of the country.

Poor disadvantaged white christian America...where's some of that good old racial superiority of manifest destiny when you need it, eh?

His observation is as true as it is obvious, methinks.

Methinks so as well.

However, somewhere between 50 million and 100 million Americans don't share our methinks.

The Psychology Behind Donald Trump's Unwavering Support
 

How exactly are Trump loyalists psychologically or neurologically different from everyone else? What is going on in their brains that makes them so blindly devoted?

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/b...vering-support

It seems quite clear that the Dunning-Kruger Effect applies to a member of this community, particularly in his unwavering support of Trumpian economic and trade policies:

“The knowledge and intelligence that are required to be good at a task are often the same qualities needed to recognize that one is not good at that task — and if one lacks such knowledge and intelligence, one remains ignorant that one is not good at the task. This includes political judgment.” Essentially, they’re not smart enough to realize they’re dumb.

Sounds like a job requirement to work in HR, lol.

Sound argument. I can't begin to recount the number of times I've had whites spout some racist whine or rant at me because they mistakenly believe I think like them. I'm about as white as they come with blond hair and blue-gray eyes, must be all that kraut blood in me. ;)

Spot on.



Worked for years with many people from around the world. Quickly learned just how intelligent and hard working they were.

I see just how ill informed many US citizens are and how little they care about this. Proud in their ignorance.

So many stories in the news about employers who can't find qualified candidates, even for basic manufacturing jobs, because all the whites are addicts. Plenty of hard working immigrants who aren't, and willing to work.

I work as an engineer in cutting edge high tech. Lots of folks I work with are from India, mostly naturalized citizens. Just super sharp and hard working. Can't get used to their spicy food, though, lol.

Sissy. :D

Went to an Indian restaurant in Lisboa years ago with some NATO friends. Bob Ho, a huge, macho Hawaiian Army Sgt ordered his meal full spicy. Knowing full well just how hot that was, we were incredulous. Bob pretended it was nothing, while sweat poured down his face and tears flowed as he ate.

I don’t need to be macho, prefer to be smart! :D