Monday, September 10, 2007

NEW SCIENTIFIC STUDY PROVES WHAT WE ALWAYS KNEW: RIGHT WINGERS HAVE RIGID, BRITTLE, NARROW MINDS

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Democrats didn't put this ad together; progressives did

Today's L.A. Times reports on a study just out in a scientific journal, Nature Neuroscience that shows that "political orientation is related to differences in how the brain processes information." And according to the that study, scientists exploring the neurobiology of politics "have found that liberals tolerate ambiguity and conflict better than conservatives because of how their brains work." Not unlike previous psychological studies, findings show that liberals tend to be more open to new experiences and conservatives tend to be more structured, rigid, fearful of new experiences, and, in the vernacular, "uptight"

The report comes just as the country prepares to hear the newest spin on the Iraq situation from the Bush Regime, which has prepared speeches for it's ambassador to the Green Zone and for the only general it could find to buckle under to the destruction and dishonor of the U.S. military in pursuit of Bush's catastrophic agenda. Bush plans to follow up the dog and pony show with a request for another $50 billion for the occupation of Iraq. Most Americans have heard enough of the constant lies that have flowed effortlessly out of Bush Regime spokespersons to have already discounted what Crocker and BetrayUs plan to read on... 9/11-- now there's a coincidence! And a new poll shows that most Iraqis also assess the "surge" as a dismal failure. But what do they know?
Barely a quarter of Iraqis say their security has improved in the past six months, a negative assessment of the surge in U.S. forces that reflects worsening public attitudes across a range of measures, even as authorities report some progress curtailing violence.

Apart from a few scattered gains, a new national survey by ABC News, the BBC and the Japanese broadcaster NHK finds deepening dissatisfaction with conditions in Iraq, lower ratings for the national government and growing rejection of the U.S. role there.

More Iraqis say security in their local area has gotten worse in the last six months than say it's gotten better, 31 percent to 24 percent, with the rest reporting no change. Far more, six in 10, say security in the country overall has worsened since the surge began, while just one in 10 sees improvement.

More directly assessing the surge itself-- a measure that necessarily includes views of the United States, which are highly negative-- 65 to 70 percent of Iraqis say it's worsened rather than improved security, political stability and the pace of redevelopment alike.

... The big picture remains bleak. Six in 10 Iraqis say their own lives are going badly, and even more, 78 percent, say things are going badly for the country overall - up 13 points from last winter. Expectations have crumbled; just 23 percent see improvement for Iraq in the year ahead, down from 40 percent last winter and 69 percent in November 2005.

More than six in 10 now call the U.S.-led invasion of their country wrong, up from 52 percent last winter. Fifty-seven percent call violence against U.S. forces acceptable, up six points. And despite the uncertainties of what might follow, 47 percent now favor the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq-- a 12-point rise.

Watching the "battle" between congressional Democrats and congressional Republicans, it is abundantly clear that the minds of the Republicans are all brittle and their outlooks rigid-- or even comatose. But what about the champions of the People, the Democrats? Are they liberal? The liberal in the study cited above? Or just another species of conservative? Dianne Feinstein? Joe Biden?

MoveOn.org represents liberals and progressives. Joe Biden and Dianne Feinstein and Democratic conservatives represent another part of the conservative mindset.




UPDATE: MYTHS AND FALSEHOODS ABOUT PROGRESS IN IRAQ

Media Matters put together a look at the Bush Regime's propaganda effort to convince Americans that Bush's escalation is "working." It isn't.

Of course, there's another point of view on all this: the Joe Lieberman point of view. "The personal attack on Gen. David Petraeus launched today by MoveOn.org is an outrageous and despicable act of slander that every member of the Congress-- Democrat and Republican-- has a solemn responsibility to condemn," said Lieberman. "As a member of the Senate Democratic caucus, I therefore call on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to denounce Moveon.org in no uncertain terms for its vile attack on Gen. Petraeus. General Petraeus deserves no less." Reid should kick him out of the Democratic caucus.

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2 Comments:

At 9:02 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

From the LA Times article.

"liberals tolerate ambiguity and conflict better than conservatives because of how their brains work"

The fact that an individual's brain may function in varying degrees to different new stimuli in their environment is not in anyway a precise indicator of one's political believes or party identification.

For example extreme Libertarian claim to revel in the anxiety producing "creative destruction", confict and ambiquity of all out Free Market capitalism. However, the radical Neo-Liberalism embraced by both the elitist DLC and Club for Growth E-Coli Republicans is anything but conservative by this study of basic brain orientation. This may have more to do with one's perception of their likely ablity to benefit from changes in their environment than anything else.

Is it not far more likely that in a multi-modal study one would identify significant populations of both low tolerance for ambiquity Tradition minded New Deal Democrats and High tolerance Libertarian E-Coli Republicans.

Given the Democratic party's seemingly endless ablity to F-up what appeared to be sure opportunies to win elections and secure the affections of the majority of the electorate, the last thing I would want is for my fellow Democrats to go around somehow believing that science is telling them they are blessed with a superior brain.

Last Howie you need to admit that some of the most consistent and intelligent opponents to the Iraq Occupation have been traditional New Deal Democrats like Peter Galbraith and Old fashioned Conservative Nationalists like Paul Craig Roberts. They never deluded themselves that the US Military could replace Saddam and forge a Democratic society out of a sectarian mulit-ethnic, multi-lingual, secular vs theocratic society by use of force.

Let's admit that it were the radical libertarian, Neo-Liberals, Corporate Globalists, "Neo-Wilsonian" Fighting Liberals and former Trotsky-ite Neo-Conservative who were the most enthusiastic about invading Iraq. They dam well knew that Middle America never would have supported the invasion of Iraq unless they were conned with the full support of the MSM elites that it was essential to our national security.

We are still in Iraq precisely because the MSM and folks that got into Iraq are now shamelessly continuing to scare the public into believing that the risks of exiting the Iraq fiasco face a greater threat to America than staying. It is also because the feckless and corrupt DLC influenced Liberal leadership has been afraid to due their elected duty of provide honest leadership and explain to the public why these fears are groundless.

 
At 12:25 PM, Blogger Lucas G said...

I've wondered this myself, and gotten into many debates over the differences between the liberal and conservative mind. Most of the time these debates have ended up with me sticking my foot in my mouth.
Though I agree with anonymous' comment that this isn't a precise indicator of the dividing line between conservatives and liberals, it does make one wonder about the great artistic innovators of our time and their political views.
The conservative artists, most famously Ted Nugent and virtually every country-western star, don't really produce anything of much substance. Yet still manage to entertain the unwashed masses.
But true innovators, John Lennon, Radiohead, virtually all of the punk-rock movement, have produced movements that literally changed music during their time (and in the cases of Lennon and punk rock, well beyond their time.)
Anyways, I wrote about this in my blog after I saw it here.

 

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