It's not often that you see a conservative examine what motivated him, and decide it was contemptible. Edwin Lyngar was a conservative who realizes that his fear and anger were cultivated by the movement that he embraced. He writes in Salon that:
"I’m angry mostly at myself for being manipulated by carnie barkers masquerading as 'the media.' We are all works in progress, fighting our natural instincts of self-preservation. That we want to live and thrive is natural, but when we let our instincts damage reason, our nation and indeed our basic humanity suffers. I regret letting cruelty, fear and tribalism drive my choices. I should have been better, and my remnant rage is a reminder to always think for myself in the future."His essay explores the effects of conservative media, leading the way with Fux and its menagerie of cranks stoking fear and loathing by appealing to the "lizard brain" in all of us. The mid-terms brought that into focus for Lyngar, watching the wingnut Wurlitzer and their partners in the Beltway media hyping Ebola, ISIS and illegal immigration as mortal threats to real 'Muricans. Science has researched the difference in the working of conservative brains, versus progressives, and has concluded much the same thing. It's not lost on the wingnut Wurlitzer that feeding that fear and anger are profitable, economically and politically.
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