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Fear and Anxiety Drive Conservative Decisions (www.psychologytoday.com)

submitted 6 months ago by elfpie@beehaw.org to c/chat@beehaw.org

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I was watching a video by Georgia Dow in which she talked about a study showing how fear drives people to be more conservative. What that reminded me of was the rationalization I keep stumbling upon almost every day lately: "the alternative is worse".

We are mostly not revolutionaries willing to die for a cause. We just want to live our quiet lives, so we pay the thugs that offer us protection from themselves. The alternative is worse.

I can't criticise people for trying to survive, but I think it's important to be honest with ourselves. It's all bad and the good option is really hard and a scary risk with too many sacrifices.

And let me get personal to drive the point home. Anxiety and depression are just my reality. I'm very isolated and avoid interactions as much as I can. I'm in a bad place and would totally tell you with great conviction that out there somewhere is worse. I also believe it could be amazing, but the chances of me suffering, actually, the certainty, makes me think it's not worth it even trying.

Anyway. Be kind kind to yourselves, be kind to all the others, but be honest.

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[–] tygerprints@kbin.social 2 points 6 months ago

That's very true, I've noticed over the years living here in the Red state of Utah, how fearful the conservatives are about EVERYTHING. They just passed a law to keep trans people from using public bathrooms - even though there are probably four trans people in the whole state. Now the Gov is signing a bill making it easier for anyone to have a book banned from school libraries if it has any mention of human relationships or sexuality.

As my grandma used to say, our state motto should be "running Scared." I think the reason our teen suicide rate is so high here is not just because of the anti-LGBTQ biases but also the culture of anxiety and fear everywhere you go.