Conservative Groupthink

A common criticism of liberalism that I see is the charge that its subscribers are guilty of major groupthink, the blind agreement of almost an entire group.  An ideology is not incorrect because of the behaviors of its followers, yet there is a significant amount of unoriginal claims within liberalism (in this case, I mean that there are few genuine attempts to establish the tenets of liberalism through reason, which would often result in failure).  Of course, it is not as if the right does not practice extensive groupthink of its own.  It is noteworthy that conservatives often overlook the blatant intellectual ineptitude within their own ranks.  As with liberalism, if there were more genuine attempts to establish conservatism through reason, more people would realize how flawed conservatism itself is.

There are many examples of conservative stupidity that one can discover fairly quickly.  For instance, conservatives tend to collectively revere fallacious sources like Fox News and The Daily Wire and cite them with sincerity, as if their sincerity makes claims true.  They perpetuate the same pathetic jokes, phrases, and arguments.  As listening to conservatives shows, there is little to no autonomous thinking within conservatism.  This is not exactly unusual, given that conservatism is ultimately about adhering to traditions and moving away from them only at a relatively slow pace.  To expose the faults or fallacies of a tradition, one must disregard the culture that accepts it to at least some degree, meaning one must operate outside of societal groupthink (to some extent).

There is, of course, nothing wrong with unity based upon the truth.  But even then, someone who agrees with a majority that is aligned with the truth for any reason besides personal verification of the claims of that majority is guilty of lacking intellectual originality.  Since conservatism is irrational due to its central support of tradition, conservatives automatically argue from a flawed foundation, but many of them don't even realize that they are not even making it appear as if they don't rely on a handful of alleged authority figures for a great deal of their worldviews.

Of course, the left is replete with hypocrisies of its own, but conservatism is far from rational or Biblical, despite the evangelical world mistaking it for both.  Expecting the average Christian to recognize that is often a futile thing, unfortunately.  Criticize conservatism, and the same fallacious arguments are consistently vomited out by conservatives, as if they have not already been refuted.  There is little effort from conservatives to rationally appraise political and ethical ideas in general.  Conservative groupthink is alive and well!