> But their own understandings of society and humanity were so
> vastly different than mine
That's because they don't have even the most basic concept of history. "There is no such thing as society", said Thatcher, and they actually mean that, quite literally. They hate, fear and repress the past, because it reminds them of the antagonistic collectivity they only superficially control. To neocons, nothing can change or is capable of changing: everything has been done already, there's nothing new under the sun, etc.
-- DRR