Neither Liberals Nor Conservatives Are At Liberty To Change Their Viewpoints–Here’s Why

As presented in this short, animated video, our brain formation and chemistry shapes the way we see the world, perceive threats, and relate to others.  The science behind this has been the subject of many rigorous and comprehensive studies over the past decade or so, and it appears indisputable at this point.  

My conservative mom and I have fabulous conversations, but we’re both aware that there are no words in the English language that could possibly cause the other to make a fundamental shift in essential political outlook.  That’s because, in a very real sense, we’re incapable of making such a shift.

And even if it weren’t a physical impossibility, it’s something that we really don’t want to do in the fist place.  Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman, founder of behavioral economics, showed that, although we like to believe that our reasoning is based on facts, that’s very seldom the case, and that this is especially true in subject arenas that hold emotional content.

This is one of the reasons that I don’t hate even the hardcore conservatives, far to the right of the spectrum of dear ol’ Mom.  When I see people like those depicted here, I actually feel sorry for them.  Would you like to go through life with that much anger?

FWIW, the other reason I don’t hate these people is that it’s so easy to ignore them, and let the weight of social disdain do its work on its own.  Sure, there were hateful idiots marching through Charlottesville with torches last year.  What’s the matter with pretending they don’t exist?

If I were at UVA, I would have been in the library, playing squash, or out having a beer with friends, listening to a cool local band; the very last thing I’d want to be doing is dealing with people whose brain function renders them hateful and ignorant.  I suppose that, had I seen the guy below from my dorm, I might have shouted out the window, “Hey! Dude! I fart in your general direction.”