Luke Ford Interviews ‘Dumbocracy’ Author Marty Beckerman
Ford: What did Dr. Steve Edgell do for you?
Beckerman: In the aftermath of Generation S.L.U.T., I became a foaming-at-the-mouth right-winger. I can’t explain all of the causes behind my transformation, but the hate mail I received from a bunch of leftists had a lot to do with it. I had a reaction to their reaction, and I suddenly felt a connection with anyone who hated the people who hated me.
I started to blindly believe every single GOP talking point, mostly because pissing off liberals made me happy at the time. I freaked a lot of people out — my friends, family and readers — with good reason. I put myself into a conservative echo chamber and kept getting more and more intense. I wasn’t seeing shades of gray; somehow I didn’t realize there are major differences between moderates, liberals, socialists and communists. You were either a conservative or a Red; I was overwhelmed with hatred for anything remotely progressive, and my new right-wing friends were encouraging this, so I kept going further in that direction.
DUMBOCRACY: Adventures with the Loony Left, the Rabid Right, and Other American Idiots is available now from Disinformation Books.
