How Emotional Memes Destroy Facts and Logic

LOS ANGELES

ONE MAN’S OPINION-People tell themselves that they base their decisions on facts and logic because it’s a myth that makes them feel good. For almost everyone, major life decisions are based on feelings. 

Neuro-Linguistic Programing (NLP) was all the rage back in the 1980s. Despite its flamboyant claims being discredited as a pseudo-science, it was accurate that the majority of people do make decisions based how they feel. According to NPL, people take in information through sight, sound, as well as smell and touch. Almost never do we have enough data or time to make totally rational decisions; yet, we must act. Unless our neurology had a reliable way to compel us to take action, our species would not exist. At the other extreme, emotions can seize control and make us make truly terrible decisions. 

What Happens to a Population That Feels Cheated? 

A sense of fairness seems ingrained in our neurology. Ask a kindergartner about cutting in line?  Policy makers should realize that people who feel cheated eventually retaliate. 

The world experienced how the Germans reacted in the 1920s and the 1930s due to the onerous reparations imposed upon them by the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty, signed on June 28, 1919, nine months after the end of WW I, was re-negotiated a few times. After the Crash of 1929 when the world economy was in ruin, war reparations made the Germans increasingly angry. Feeling abused and cheated, they turned to a savior who would smite their enemies. While the Germans did not turn abruptly en mass to Nazism, eventually the Nazi Party was able to take full control of Germany. 

Feeling Cheated Leads to Passion for Retribution 

Everyone should realize that a primary tool the Nazis’ used to capitalize on the extreme feelings of the abused was Group Rights. The pure German Aryans were subjected not only to the avaricious demands of the French and British, but they felt danger from within: Jews, Gypsies, Communists, and homosexuals were the main groups the Nazis held responsible to all Germany’s troubles. (Emotions are irrational as evidenced by the fact that the Brits were Aryans.) 

The great thing about Group Rights for politicians is that they always come with a villain. The psychology is that my group is good and pure and the only reason we feel badly is because of “Them.” For Trump, the main cause of lack of jobs in Ohio is Mexicans. In his hazy use of hyper-emotionalism, Trump has morphed Mexicans into immigrants.  In this way, Trump employs the tactics of Joseph Goebbels by inventing a non-existent threat. Many Trump supports actually believe that Muslim terrorists are streaming across our Southern Border. 

Trump’s Silly Anti-Semitism 

While Trump’s brand of anti-Semitism is silly, the anti-Semitism of the Democrats is far more likely to prove lethal. First, look at the inane stupidity of the anti-Semites whom Trump called decent people.  In Charlottesville, Nazis, KKK and other White Supremacists had their Tiki torch parade chanting “Jews shall not replace us.” Not only did they look like villagers out of a 1930s Frankenstein movie storming the castle, but you’d have to ask yourself, why would Jews want to replace these cretins? 

The American Jewish community is doing quite well, and a major reason is that they shun Group Rights. They have never been included in Affirmative Action and instead have relied on education and individual achievement as set forth in the Declaration of Independence. (The Nazis should have chanted, “We want to be Jews!” 

When one of these silly Tiki torch chanters was identified, his employer fired him. Trump’s FBI tracked down those who engaged in Charlottesville violence and they are being prosecuted, and we all should know about the crying Nazi, Chris Cantwell. But for the murder of Heather Heyer, we might be able to make fun of this absurd folly. 

The serious lesson from Charlottesville is the role that feelings play in stirring people to take insane action. Why did they fear being “replaced”? 

Group Rights Results in Violence 

For decades the Democrats have been promoting Group Rights in which minorities are constantly told that they are under attack. The Victimization Philosophy that all the problems of minorities stem from Whites comes with a stirring call for the brighter future for minorities. The psychology of the politicians in pre-WW II Germany and in America is the same. 

(1) They have harmed you. 

(2) You are a victim. 

(3) We will save you. 

Pelosi and Trump are twins in employing this Group Rights formula. The Philosophy of Victimization gives rise to the idea of White Entitlement. Under this propaganda, all Whites should make reparations to all Blacks. The theory holds that no matter how decent a white person may be, he received benefit by virtue of being White in America and thus he owes reparations to Blacks. The Dems back up this demand with the threat that when the minorities become a majority of voters, they will simply take whatever they want from the Whites. The logic of Dem Group Rights is simple: Whites do not deserve what they have and as soon as Minorities have the power, they will take it back. 

When We Are Strong, We Will Brutalize You 

When the Dem leadership makes this pitch to the minorities, the Whites hear it and feel an Existential Threat. The Democrats’ Identity Politics legitimizes the Whites fears of their being cheated. They ask, “If Black is beautiful, why isn’t White beautiful?” The American answer is, “Neither group is beautiful. Individuals are beautiful.” 

Who is Most Responsible for the Hard Times in the Rust Belt? 

Once again, the culprit is emotion. We cannot gainsay that Obama was swept into office on a tidal wave of Hope. Things not been going well for the laboring class due to the demise of the Unions and the transfer of wealth from the producers such as steel workers and other manufacturing jobs. The audacity of Obama’s hope turned into the shipping of American jobs overseas, the increasing transfer of the productivity gains to the 1%, the Doctrine of Too Important to Prosecute, the giving of trillions of dollars to Wall Street, and sending White Main street into foreclosure and bankruptcy court. Then, the opioid epidemic descended on the Rust Belt and life spans shortened. People felt cheated. 

The Politicos Build Upon the Lust for Retribution 

The politicos are happy campers. They’ve got their groups warring with each other. The minorities are convinced that all the Whites are evil victimizers who have usurped all the good things in life, and the Whites hear the existential threat to their families. Facts and logic tell Americans to rush back to individual inalienable rights and follow MLK to judge each person on the basis of individual character and not on skin color. The emotional memes of Group Rights call for retribution against other groups.

 

(Richard Lee Abrams is a Los Angeles attorney and a CityWatch contributor. He can be reached at: [email protected]. Abrams’ views are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of CityWatch.) Edited for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.