Sore Losermen
by digby
It’s clear to me that the main thing that’s animating the right wing hysteria is anger at losing. They went nuts the minute they lost the election — Obama hadn’t had a moment to even start his socialist takeover before they started keening like a bunch of Greek widows. No, they’re just sore losers who can’t stand the idea that not everyone agrees with them.
I’ve written forever about what I call the Resentment Tribe, which has its genesis in Southern victimology. After rereading this post about neo-confederate history, it occurs to me that sore loserdom has always been one of the defining features of this tribe. When they couldn’t get their way in that case, they seceded rather than accept the democratic process. The current paroxysms of rage and anger over the fact that the people voted for someone of whom they disapprove is just an extension of the Lost Cause mentality that made it impossible for the South to accept their loss in the civil war.
This is American politics and it may have more or less energy depending on the time period and the people involved, but it’s always been this way to one extent or another. There is just a large group of people in this country who can’t accept losing. And when that happens, they often get very nasty.
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