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Red Brains vs. Blue Brains?

eLoco writes "From the NYTimes (reg. req.): The Political Brain -- "Why do Republicans and Democrats differ so emphatically? Perhaps it's all in the head." Researchers from UCLA have seem to have found that liberals have, on average, a more active amygdala than conservatives. According to the article, studies of stroke victims "have persuasively shown that the amygdala plays a key role in the creation of emotions like fear or empathy." So is this scientific "proof" that liberals tend to be more compassionate but also more cowardly? [DISCLAIMER: this is not a troll; I am a liberal]. Regardless, this seems to have implications for more than just politics. Favorite quote: "Perhaps we form political affiliations by semiconsciously detecting commonalities with other people, commonalities that ultimately reflect a shared pattern of brain function.""

25 of 1,665 comments (clear)

  1. All the studies show by Zabu · · Score: 2, Funny

    Stroke victims prefer Bush.

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    It's all good.
    1. Re:All the studies show by perdu · · Score: 3, Funny
      I'd like to know what part of the brain can come up with a quote like this:
      "Then you wake up at the high school level and find out that the illiteracy level of our children are appalling." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Jan. 23, 2004
      One of many Bushisms

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      You only use 2% of your DNA
    2. Re:All the studies show by Zeinfeld · · Score: 3, Funny
      Sorry but I have been active in Republican Party Politics for a long time.

      Appology accepted.

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  2. Funny... by opeuga · · Score: 4, Funny

    [DISCLAIMER: this is not a troll; I am a liberal]

    That's funny... I rarely make that distinction. :)
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    ---- http://www.opedog.com/
  3. Harry Potter politics? by Sgt_Jake · · Score: 5, Funny

    So are we going to start using a Party sorting CAT scanner? [please not slitherin... please not slitherin...]

  4. Translation by jayhawk88 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Dear Mr. Bush,

    Please give us a large research grant.

    Love,
    Scientists

  5. Re:Geographic Distribution by ConceptJunkie · · Score: 4, Funny

    And maybe liberals are caused by inhaling too much pollution. :-)

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    You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
  6. Re:Wow.... by illuminata · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well, the article summary interested me, so I conducted my own unbiased, completely unfunded research on this issue.

    Within a matter of seconds, I found that people who agree with me on political issues are rather brainy. On the other hand, I found that people who disagree with me on political issues are extremely braindead.

    This, indeed, is good new for libertarians everywhere.

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    Until Slashdot fixes the funny modifier, use insightful or interesting. The poster knows your intentions.
  7. Re:Jesus H Christ by Bull999999 · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's not my fault that I refuse to take responsibility for my actions!

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    1f u c4n r34d th1s u r34lly n33d t0 g37 l41d
  8. So which will it be? by pedestrian+crossing · · Score: 2, Funny

    The red pill, or the blue pill?

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    A house divided against itself cannot stand.
  9. Re:This explains why liberals play emotions like f by steelerguy · · Score: 2, Funny

    well there are at least three libertarians on /.

  10. Re:Jesus H Christ by dsanfte · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm glad I live in Canada then, where we aren't so deathly afraid of one hole in the body over the other that we'd change our country's founding document to try to keep the "bad scary people" away.

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  11. Re:Jesus H Christ by finkployd · · Score: 5, Funny

    A friend of mine didn't realize he was gay until he'd already slept with several men

    See, that right there is a dead giveaway.

    Finkployd

  12. Re:Jesus H Christ by SavoWood · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is an interesting Catch 22 for moderation as it appears the GNAA posts might actually be *on topic* for once!

    I never thought I'd see this day.

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    Plant a tree in a developing country.
  13. Re:Geographic Distribution by Pxtl · · Score: 3, Funny

    And maybe Conservatives spend so much time around bullshit that they don't notice the smell when it comes from their party.

  14. Re:Jesus H Christ by Rayonic · · Score: 2, Funny

    > Please get your facts straight.

    "Please get your facts straight "?! I'm deeply offended!

    Or at least I would be, if I was a Queer Homo Deviant (QHD).

    (Yes, bad joke, but don't mod me down. Arguably, I couldn't help myself.)

  15. Re:Jesus H Christ by WoodenRobot · · Score: 2, Funny
    In America, we also like to sue others as a result of these things. It's always someone else's fault.

    I heard an advert on the radio a few weeks ago that summed up the whole compensation culture thing:

    If you've been in an accident and you think it was someone else's fault...

    But I always thought accidents were nobodies' fault?

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    "I did nothing. I did absolutely nothing and it was everything that I thought it could be."
  16. Re:You don't really *have* a left in America by dajak · · Score: 5, Funny

    The really shocking news is we now have scientific proof that the US/UK two-party democracy is the only right system for mankind.

    More refined distinctions between schools of thought in the multi-party systems in continental Europe are unnecessary and confusing to our brains.

    We don't need environmentalists, socialists, communists, social democrats, social liberals, social christians, conservative liberals, christian conservatives, constitutional christians, conservative nationalists, national socialists etc. Just "blue" and "red" will do fine. There is no such thing as a "green" brain, and nazis do not exist. They are just "blue" and "red". Or vice versa.

  17. Re:Jesus H Christ by Hussman32 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Is anything anyone's fault or decision anymore? Damn I remember when people were fat, drunk, gay, disruptive and Communist of their own volition. Now everything is a malady, issue and disease.

    Clearly your amygdala isn't as active as mine, or you would have said, "spherically challenged, libationally oriented, sexually curious, placidly impaired, or democratically impeded"

    --
    "Who are you?" "No one of consequence." "I must know." "Get used to disappointment."
  18. Re:What about temperment? by Edmund+Blackadder · · Score: 3, Funny

    I completely agree. President bush for example is quite the thinker. And if you have been lucky to hear his speaches -- well they are nothing but irrefutable logic.

    And you are right that conservatives use more logical arguments. To prove this I will sum up every single argument conservatives have used in the past four years:

    "how dare you question the president, you must hate America"

    You see there is nothing emotional about this. It is all pure logic.

  19. Arent colors backwards? by peter303 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I think of Republicans as blue-bloods and Democrats as leftist reds.

    A couple elections ago TV networks started using the opposite convention in their maps and the colors stuck. Now people use these map colors as a metaphore for national sentiment.

  20. It's all in the monitors. by NeuroManson · · Score: 2, Funny

    They display RGB all the time.

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  21. Re:Nature vs. Nurture relate to Free Will by MarkPNeyer · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm not sure why I'm conservative. Maybe something to do with the way I was brought up?

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    My blog
  22. Red vs. Blue? by BrokenStructure · · Score: 2, Funny

    What about Bad Brains?

  23. Re:Jesus H Christ by ArsonSmith · · Score: 2, Funny

    We don't have free will but we chose to ignor that?

    That's funny.

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