Neuro-Psychology of Politics
Heard on the satellite: there's a study of brain patterns (chemistry? electro-magnetic fields?) to see if there are physiological similarities between "left" (liberal) brains and "right" (conservative) brains. In other words, are people biologically pre-disposed toward one sort of politics or another? I didn't pay close attention, but the thought has simmered on the back burner of my mind.
It is said that younger people "should" be liberal, but that older people "should" be conservative. Youth just goes hand-in-hand with free expression (and free association) and experimentation. Maturity cultivates successful, predictable patterns.
To balance out the strong righty slant of Fox News, I switch around to liberal talk shows looking for "balance." I managed to catch a smidgen of Janeane Garofalo's Air America Radio show. She is attractive, witty and intelligent. She is also one of those people who feel that the Other Side is just "so totally" stupid, ignorant, evil, dangerous, yadda. Elsewhen I have posted that I can't associate myself with Reps or Dems because each side is crippled by the need to "demonize" the other side. "My" side can only be seen as correct and effective, desirable, if I somehow prove the Other Side to be retarded as, well, a seal!
In my life I have found that the Other Side is very often no more wrong than I am! Gasp!
I spend skads of hours on the road blithely ignoring the fact that, at any given moment, someone can make a bad decision and ruin a lot of people's days ... and even lives. I cannot guess how many millions of times I have come within inches and seconds of agonizing, fiery death as amateurs and professionals pilot pristine and dilapidated vehicles small and tremendous around me and mine. And of all those people who have managed not to kill me (or convert me into a manslaughterer) I estimate that many are Democrats. Many are also Republicans. Many smoke grass. Many are homosexual or lesbian. Many are Bible-thumpers.
When the older lady in the checkout line at Wal-Mart drops a bunch of stuff on the floor and 2 other people and I stoop to retrieve her things, we do not declare our affiliations, nor do we ask. We just see a little old lady in distress and decide to do for her what we hope to God someone will do for us one day if and when WE need the help. I wonder if that black guy was French? I wonder if that middle-aged Hispanic lady was "illegal"? Nah! I didn't really care. They were just people going nowhere fast in a Wal-Mart line and bucking the trend by helping out a little old lady.
When it comes to living life ... making and raising babies, growing and buying and cooking food ... Americans get along pretty well thousands of times more often than not. For every disgruntled old white guy who opens a can of AK-47 on an office, there are thousands of disgruntled old white guys who help a stranger fix a flat ... or just take a deep breath and decide NOT to bring an assault rifle to work the next day.
So I find that the extremist Lefties who think the only good conservative is a dead conservative, and their evil twins of the Righty-Tighty-ass persuasion, are out of touch with the real world and use labels and name-calling and banners and slogans to conjure up a fantasy realm that just doesn't have a lot of impact on what "normal" people do every hour of every day to live life.
I find myself often wanting to say to the "Bush/Kerry is an idiot" types, "Uh, `scuse me, but, no, he isn't." Seriously. Bush is not stupid. Neither is Kerry.
But, when I try to lend some perspective to the radicals of either ilk, am I capable of actually contacting them on a frequency they are capable of receiving? Are Lefties on AM and Righties on FM and I'm on XM?
The concept of people's politics being a product of their biological make-up is fascinating ... and possibly revolutionary. What if al Qaida (and KKK) fanatics all tend to have similar brain functions that provoke them toward violent expressions of hatred? What if liberals and conservatives are chemically challenged with regard to grasping the Other Side?
I mentioned the comparison of liberal youth with conservative age because it occurs to me that, as people get older, their physiologies change ... and, so do their ideologies!
If this study points out that people's political leanings are provoked by innate brain functions, will it lead to a way to understand the Other Side? "Oh! You're Left-brained! No wonder you see it that way! No problem! I'm just Right-brained is all!" Or will it take us to the place where we decide that our differences are irreconcilable and we begin to migrate away from the Other Side and consolidate ourselves amongst "Our Own?"
It is said that younger people "should" be liberal, but that older people "should" be conservative. Youth just goes hand-in-hand with free expression (and free association) and experimentation. Maturity cultivates successful, predictable patterns.
To balance out the strong righty slant of Fox News, I switch around to liberal talk shows looking for "balance." I managed to catch a smidgen of Janeane Garofalo's Air America Radio show. She is attractive, witty and intelligent. She is also one of those people who feel that the Other Side is just "so totally" stupid, ignorant, evil, dangerous, yadda. Elsewhen I have posted that I can't associate myself with Reps or Dems because each side is crippled by the need to "demonize" the other side. "My" side can only be seen as correct and effective, desirable, if I somehow prove the Other Side to be retarded as, well, a seal!
In my life I have found that the Other Side is very often no more wrong than I am! Gasp!
I spend skads of hours on the road blithely ignoring the fact that, at any given moment, someone can make a bad decision and ruin a lot of people's days ... and even lives. I cannot guess how many millions of times I have come within inches and seconds of agonizing, fiery death as amateurs and professionals pilot pristine and dilapidated vehicles small and tremendous around me and mine. And of all those people who have managed not to kill me (or convert me into a manslaughterer) I estimate that many are Democrats. Many are also Republicans. Many smoke grass. Many are homosexual or lesbian. Many are Bible-thumpers.
When the older lady in the checkout line at Wal-Mart drops a bunch of stuff on the floor and 2 other people and I stoop to retrieve her things, we do not declare our affiliations, nor do we ask. We just see a little old lady in distress and decide to do for her what we hope to God someone will do for us one day if and when WE need the help. I wonder if that black guy was French? I wonder if that middle-aged Hispanic lady was "illegal"? Nah! I didn't really care. They were just people going nowhere fast in a Wal-Mart line and bucking the trend by helping out a little old lady.
When it comes to living life ... making and raising babies, growing and buying and cooking food ... Americans get along pretty well thousands of times more often than not. For every disgruntled old white guy who opens a can of AK-47 on an office, there are thousands of disgruntled old white guys who help a stranger fix a flat ... or just take a deep breath and decide NOT to bring an assault rifle to work the next day.
So I find that the extremist Lefties who think the only good conservative is a dead conservative, and their evil twins of the Righty-Tighty-ass persuasion, are out of touch with the real world and use labels and name-calling and banners and slogans to conjure up a fantasy realm that just doesn't have a lot of impact on what "normal" people do every hour of every day to live life.
I find myself often wanting to say to the "Bush/Kerry is an idiot" types, "Uh, `scuse me, but, no, he isn't." Seriously. Bush is not stupid. Neither is Kerry.
But, when I try to lend some perspective to the radicals of either ilk, am I capable of actually contacting them on a frequency they are capable of receiving? Are Lefties on AM and Righties on FM and I'm on XM?
The concept of people's politics being a product of their biological make-up is fascinating ... and possibly revolutionary. What if al Qaida (and KKK) fanatics all tend to have similar brain functions that provoke them toward violent expressions of hatred? What if liberals and conservatives are chemically challenged with regard to grasping the Other Side?
I mentioned the comparison of liberal youth with conservative age because it occurs to me that, as people get older, their physiologies change ... and, so do their ideologies!
If this study points out that people's political leanings are provoked by innate brain functions, will it lead to a way to understand the Other Side? "Oh! You're Left-brained! No wonder you see it that way! No problem! I'm just Right-brained is all!" Or will it take us to the place where we decide that our differences are irreconcilable and we begin to migrate away from the Other Side and consolidate ourselves amongst "Our Own?"
posted by Author | 5:02 PM
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