Irony, Politics, the Brain
I have to share this.
A cousin of mine sent out an interesting email. It had this article. Read it. It’s good.
My uncle, whom I used to get in fierce political arguments, replied. He basically complained that these scientists are scum-sucking liberals, that they are wrong, etc.
I died.
My response was something along the lines that I wasn’t sure if he was being sincere, ironic, or ironically sincere. Or any other combination of sincerity and irony.
Made my day.
You really have to read the article to get it. Too perfect.
March 21st, 2006 at 1:46 pm
This article is not that surprising, although I doubt the author’s interpretation that this research implies that we are somehow hardwired to react to politics with emotion. I think that there is a social psychology aspect to this as well as the cognitive. In responding emotionally rather than logically people are merely aping those who they take to be political authorities (and I don’t mean politicians). People learn from the likes of O’ Reilly, Springer, Franken, Hannity, etc. that the way to deal with politics is through bullying, ad hominem attacks, yelling, and pulpit pounding. The real sad thing is that academics are resorting to the same tactics(http://search.barnesandnoble.com/bookSearch/isbnInquiry.asp?r=1&isbn=0895260034&popup=0).
Emotion should certainly not be disregarded when making decisions (especially political decisions). An emotional reaction can be a good cue as to how we ought to deal with a situation or an idea but it is only one in an arsenal of tools with which we can evaluate the world. Gut reactions give us clues but they never tell us the whole story.
Ultimately, this article is not indicating that we have lost the ability to reason in certain situations but rather that we have been taught that it is not necessary to do so.