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leftist ideology in a nutshell (Read 12733 times)
Yadda
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Re: leftist ideology in a nutshell
Reply #45 - Feb 10th, 2012 at 1:01am
 
corporate_whitey wrote on Feb 10th, 2012 at 12:09am:

You are as dull and linear minded in your senses as darkhall67 because you can copy and paste, but you cannot speak the mysteries you have copied and pasted as if it came from the very core of your own being - a living word - the words are just second hand to you, quoting the knowledge of another and not your own.... Cool




Well that is your opinion.

And you are entitled to it.

And, you don't know very much.


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"....And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."
Luke 16:31
 
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Karnal
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Re: leftist ideology in a nutshell
Reply #46 - Feb 10th, 2012 at 8:45am
 
Another successful thread, Honky. Thanks for that.
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Postmodern Trendoid III
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Re: leftist ideology in a nutshell
Reply #47 - Feb 10th, 2012 at 8:56am
 
darkhall67 wrote on Feb 9th, 2012 at 11:15pm:
"In my last piece here, I commented on the growing body of research suggesting that the difference between liberals and conservatives is not merely ideological in nature. Rather, it seems more deeply rooted in psychology and the brain -- with ideology itself emerging as a kind of by-product of fundamentally different patterns of perceiving and responding to the world that spill over into many aspects of life, not just the political.

To back this up, I listed seven published studies showing a consistent set of physiological, brain, and "attentional" differences between liberals and conservatives. Later on my blog, I listed no less than eleven studies showing genetic differences as well.

Last month, yet another scientific paper on this subject came out -- from the National Science Foundation-supported political physiology laboratory at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The work, published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B (free version here), goes further still in helping us understand how biological and physiological differences between liberals and conservatives may lead to very different patterns of political behavior.

As the new research suggests, conservatism is largely a defensive ideology -- and therefore, much more appealing to people who go through life sensitive and highly attuned to aversive or threatening aspects of their environments. By contrast, liberalism can be thought of as an exploratory ideology -- much more appealing to people who go through life trying things out and seeking the new.

All of this is reflected, in a measurable way, in the physiological responses that liberals and conservatives show to emotionally evocative but otherwise entirely apolitical images -- and also to images of politicians, either on their own side or from across the aisle.

To show as much, the Nebraska-Lincoln researchers had liberals and conservatives look at varying combinations of images that were meant to excite different emotions. There were images that caused fear and disgust -- a spider crawling on a person's face, maggots in an open wound -- but also images that made you feel happy: a smiling child, a bunny rabbit. The researchers also mixed in images of liberal and conservative politicians -- Bill and Hillary Clinton, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.

While they did all of this, the scientists measured the subjects' "skin conductance" -- the moistening of their sweat glands, an indication of sympathetic nervous system arousal -- as well as where their eyes went first and how long they stayed there.

The difference was striking: Conservatives showed much stronger skin responses to negative images, compared with the positive ones. Liberals showed the opposite. And when the scientists turned to studying eye gaze or "attentional" patterns, they found that conservatives looked much more quickly at negative or threatening images, and spent more time fixating on them. Liberals, in contrast, were less quickly drawn to negative images -- and spent more time looking at positive ones.

Similar things have been found before -- but the big breakthrough in the new study was showing that these tendencies carried over perfectly to the different sides' responses to images of politicians. Conservatives had stronger rapid fire physiological responses to images of Bill and Hillary Clinton -- apparently perceiving them much as they perceive a threat. By contrast, liberals showed stronger responses to the same two politicians, apparently perceiving them much as they perceive an appetitive or positive stimulus.

As the authors concluded, "The aversive in life is more physiologically and cognitively tangible to some people and they tend to gravitate to the political right."

What does this mean?

To my mind, it means it is high time to grapple with a fact that we like to conveniently ignore: the left and the right are deeply asymmetrical actors in our politics. If we could acknowledge this, it might explain an awful lot.

For instance, consider a few observations that seem to take on new resonance in light of the latest research:

The Tea Party hates President Obama much more intensely than liberals love him. Or to state things less judgmentally, there is an "intensity gap," as the Pew Research Center puts it, between the right's political base and that of the left.

As of last May, for instance, 84 percent of staunch conservatives strongly disapproved of Obama's job performance, but only 64 percent of solid liberals approved of it. Meanwhile, 70 percent of staunch conservatives viewed Obama very unfavorably, but only 45 percent of solid liberals had very favorable views of him.

What's going on here? To conservatives, the new research implies, President Obama may literally be an aversive and threatening stimuli (or, perhaps, a disgust-evoking one). They fixate on him, and respond to him, physiologically, in a defensive fashion.

For liberals, in contrast, Obama was surely once very appealing, perhaps circa 2008, and excited positive and appetitive emotions. But they've since grown bored or disillusioned with him and gone on to sample many other things in the environment -- like Occupy Wall Street -- always exploring and searching for the new. (All of which, incidentally, may translate into a very serious electoral disadvantage this fall.)

Conservatives opt for Fox News much more strongly than liberals opt for any single outlet. In a 2007 "selective exposure" study by Stanford researcher Shanto Iyengar, it was found Republicans overwhelmingly chose to read fake articles labeled with the "Fox News" logo, but chose a story running under a CNN or NPR logo just 10 percent of the time. By contrast,  Democrats in the study didn't like Fox, but also didn't show a strong affinity for a particular alternative news source -- they seemed to sample information sources more widely.

What's going on here? One possibility is that in a political environment filled with perceived threats, Fox helps conservatives feel secure by giving them ideologically consistent and reassuring information. Alternatively, perhaps Fox's constant negative framing of liberals, and of other news sources, appeals to or even excites conservatives, whipping them up for political battle.

Either way, liberals just don't seem to need an outlet like Fox. Again, they're busy chasing after the new and different -- out exploring, rather than hunkering down.
The big question lying behind all this, of course, is why some people would have stronger and quicker responses than others to that which is perceived as negative and threatening (and disgusting). Or alternatively, why some people -- liberals -- would be less threat aversive than others. For as the University of Nebraska-Lincoln researchers note: "given the compelling evolutionary logic for organisms to be overly sensitive to aversive stimuli, it may be that those on the political left are more out of step with adaptive behaviors."

And thus are we drawn to the only context in which we can make any sense of any of this -- the understanding that we human primates evolved. As such, these rapid-fire responses to aversive stimuli are something we share with other animals -- a core part of our life-saving biological wiring.

And apparently, they differ in strength and intensity from person to person -- in turn triggering political differences in modern democracies. Who knew?

For now, I'll leave it to others to speculate on the root causes of these differences. But whatever those may be, the perceptual gap between left and right certainly seems less than "adaptive" at the present moment. It may be the fault of biology that we're now misfiring so very badly -- clashing in ways that, as with the debt ceiling fiasco, could have gravely harmed everybody in America, regardless of their particular ideology.

The Nebraska-Lincoln scientists interpret their results as a powerful argument in favor of greater political tolerance and understanding -- and I agree with them. Politics isn't war, and it isn't zero sum. It requires negotiation and compromise. Surely our public debates should be guided by something more than threat responses and fight-or-flight.

So how do we get beyond our political biology? Well, the implication for liberals seems obvious: If they want to fare better politically, they need to learn to go against their instincts and stay focused and committed.

And the lesson for conservatives? Well, here it is tougher. You see, first we'd have to get them to accept something they often view as aversive and threatening: The theory of evolution."


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-mooney/want-to-understand-republ_b_1262542.h...


I agree with the article to the extent that political views are expressions of one's physiology. And that left/right views are therefore deeply embedded within us and can't be discarded or swapped at will.
However, I'd be very interested to know all the images presented.
The images mentioned sound as if they were put there by researches to draw out the negative emotions of the conservatives. So of course you'll get negative responses from them and positive ones from the liberals. If the researchers showed pictures to liberals of George Bush, Bank ceos, successful business owners, etc. there would have been anger and revulsion from them and delight from the Conservatives. 

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Re: leftist ideology in a nutshell
Reply #48 - Feb 10th, 2012 at 9:58am
 
Quote:
So how do we get beyond our political biology? Well, the implication for liberals seems obvious: If they want to fare better politically, they need to learn to go against their instincts and stay focused and committed.

And the lesson for conservatives? Well, here it is tougher. You see, first we'd have to get them to accept something they often view as aversive and threatening: The theory of evolution."


It never ceases to amaze me when lefties invoke the theory of evolution, while their ideology is a direct contradiction of that same theory.


http://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1317004747
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In the fullness of time...
 
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Karnal
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Re: leftist ideology in a nutshell
Reply #49 - Feb 10th, 2012 at 10:02am
 
Now that's evidence, Honky. Your own post.

Looking for a job at the Faculty?
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barnaby joe
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Re: leftist ideology in a nutshell
Reply #50 - Feb 10th, 2012 at 10:03am
 
Everything I say is right. [1]
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Re: leftist ideology in a nutshell
Reply #51 - Feb 10th, 2012 at 10:05am
 
Karnal wrote on Feb 10th, 2012 at 10:02am:
Now that's evidence, Honky. Your own post.

Looking for a job at the Faculty?


360 views - not even 1 attempt at rebuttal of a single point. 
Go ahead and try if you think you can....
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In the fullness of time...
 
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Karnal
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Re: leftist ideology in a nutshell
Reply #52 - Feb 10th, 2012 at 10:07am
 
Did you write it yourself?

I can't rebutt logic like that, Honky. I must admit, I'm still wondering what your point was.
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Soren
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Re: leftist ideology in a nutshell
Reply #53 - Feb 10th, 2012 at 10:11am
 
... wrote on Feb 10th, 2012 at 9:58am:
Quote:
So how do we get beyond our political biology? Well, the implication for liberals seems obvious: If they want to fare better politically, they need to learn to go against their instincts and stay focused and committed.

And the lesson for conservatives? Well, here it is tougher. You see, first we'd have to get them to accept something they often view as aversive and threatening: The theory of evolution."


It never ceases to amaze me when lefties invoke the theory of evolution, while their ideology is a direct contradiction of that same theory.


http://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1317004747



That is a very insensitive insight. You should be ashamed of noticing it.

Wink
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corporate_whitey
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Re: leftist ideology in a nutshell
Reply #54 - Feb 10th, 2012 at 10:13am
 
Soren wrote on Feb 10th, 2012 at 10:11am:
... wrote on Feb 10th, 2012 at 9:58am:
Quote:
So how do we get beyond our political biology? Well, the implication for liberals seems obvious: If they want to fare better politically, they need to learn to go against their instincts and stay focused and committed.

And the lesson for conservatives? Well, here it is tougher. You see, first we'd have to get them to accept something they often view as aversive and threatening: The theory of evolution."


It never ceases to amaze me when lefties invoke the theory of evolution, while their ideology is a direct contradiction of that same theory.


http://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1317004747



That is a very insensitive insight. You should be ashamed of noticing it.

Wink

You really should learn about the theory of evolution Soren, I notice you have not even learnt the Bible - what use are you as a rightard  mouth piece so ill educated?  Cool Roll Eyes
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World Wide Working Class Struggle
 
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corporate_whitey
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Re: leftist ideology in a nutshell
Reply #55 - Feb 10th, 2012 at 10:19am
 
... wrote on Feb 10th, 2012 at 9:58am:
Quote:
So how do we get beyond our political biology? Well, the implication for liberals seems obvious: If they want to fare better politically, they need to learn to go against their instincts and stay focused and committed.

And the lesson for conservatives? Well, here it is tougher. You see, first we'd have to get them to accept something they often view as aversive and threatening: The theory of evolution."


It never ceases to amaze me when lefties invoke the theory of evolution, while their ideology is a direct contradiction of that same theory.


http://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1317004747

No theory of ideology or scientific law of any kind exists in a capacity for sovereign control over my mind, not the Bible, not Climate Change, Not the theory of evolution - that place is reserved for me alone, the political class have to deal with that. Cool
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World Wide Working Class Struggle
 
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Yadda
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Re: leftist ideology in a nutshell
Reply #56 - Feb 10th, 2012 at 10:38am
 
... wrote on Feb 10th, 2012 at 9:58am:
Quote:
So how do we get beyond our political biology? Well, the implication for liberals seems obvious: If they want to fare better politically, they need to learn to go against their instincts and stay focused and committed.

And the lesson for conservatives? Well, here it is tougher. You see, first we'd have to get them to accept something they often view as aversive and threatening: The theory of evolution."




It never ceases to amaze me when lefties invoke the theory of evolution, while their ideology is a direct contradiction of that same theory.







You are on the right track, honky.      Cheesy


+++


If the theory of evolution was valid, lefties, and for that matter, most of mankind, would have evolved into hermaphrodites by now.

Can't you see that it is true ?




Our PRIMARY evolutionary urge is to procreate.

And if the theory of evolution was real, and valid, mankind, by now [considering the strength and intensity of our procreational urge], would have evolved into hermaphrodites, and we would be smacking ourselves senseless, for every waking second that evolution sent us.

Instead of sadly, hanging out for that rave next Friday night, so that we could find someone to bugger, and thereby satisfy our evolutionary urge is to procreate.

You can see that i'm correct.

Can't you ?




Dictionary;
hermaphrodite = = a person or animal having both male and female sex organs or other sexual characteristics.






You are all, not sure if i'm being serious, are you !       Grin       Grin       Grin




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"....And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."
Luke 16:31
 
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gizmo_2655
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Re: leftist ideology in a nutshell
Reply #57 - Feb 10th, 2012 at 10:40am
 
Karnal wrote on Feb 9th, 2012 at 4:48pm:
Can't argue against that, Honky.


I wouldn't argue against that either, Honky.......mostly because it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever...
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"I just get sick of people who place a label on someone else with their own definition.

It's similar to a strawman fallacy"
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barnaby joe
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Re: leftist ideology in a nutshell
Reply #58 - Feb 10th, 2012 at 10:43am
 
Yadda wrote on Feb 10th, 2012 at 10:38am:
... wrote on Feb 10th, 2012 at 9:58am:
Quote:
So how do we get beyond our political biology? Well, the implication for liberals seems obvious: If they want to fare better politically, they need to learn to go against their instincts and stay focused and committed.

And the lesson for conservatives? Well, here it is tougher. You see, first we'd have to get them to accept something they often view as aversive and threatening: The theory of evolution."




It never ceases to amaze me when lefties invoke the theory of evolution, while their ideology is a direct contradiction of that same theory.







You are on the right track, honky.      Cheesy


+++


If the theory of evolution was valid, lefties, and for that matter, most of mankind, would have evolved into hermaphrodites by now.

Can't you see that it is true ?




Our PRIMARY evolutionary urge is to procreate.

And if the theory of evolution was real, and valid, mankind, by now [considering the strength and intensity of our procreational urge], would have evolved into hermaphrodites, and we would be smacking ourselves senseless, for every waking second that evolution sent us.

Instead of sadly, hanging out for that rave next Friday night, so that we could find someone to bugger, and thereby satisfy our evolutionary urge is to procreate.

You can see that i'm correct.

Can't you ?




Dictionary;
hermaphrodite = = a person or animal having both male and female sex organs or other sexual characteristics.






You are all, not sure if i'm being serious, are you !       Grin       Grin       Grin






we've got a regular biologist here, folks.
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Re: leftist ideology in a nutshell
Reply #59 - Feb 10th, 2012 at 10:47am
 
gizmo_2655 wrote on Feb 10th, 2012 at 10:40am:
Karnal wrote on Feb 9th, 2012 at 4:48pm:
Can't argue against that, Honky.


I wouldn't argue against that either, Honky.......mostly because it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever...



You wish it didn't.
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In the fullness of time...
 
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