Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
After Brexit, hate crime has spiked in the UK and “respectable racism” risks entering the mainstream. This climate offers a free pass to normalize and condone xenophobia. In the United States, where partisan politics is nothing new, the present discord between Republican and Democrat candidates and their supporters has still managed to leave many pundits at a loss.
In the attempt to understand how politics has become so viciously divisive, neuroscience might offer some interesting answers. Important advances in neuroscience and brain imaging technologies in the past decades have revolutionized our understanding of the self, emotionality, and morality. These breakthroughs can be uncomfortable because they confront us with evidence that our morality is not static and that we are much more emotional than we believe. However, these preliminary findings can help explore the underlying neural mechanisms that motivate individuals to espouse radical views and an “us versus them” mindset.
This is a very decent explaination of what I typically see here and on other forum sites, as well as what seems to be happening in the "news"rooms everyday.
Impugning "us vs them" tribalism is biasing the discussion against right wing politics, which divides people vertically into tribes based mostly upon region of origin. "Us vs them" politics is also a fact on the left, except the division there is horizontal between classes within society.
Taken to an extreme both forms of xenophobia are destructive, and both are necessary in moderate amounts. That the author singles out only one form of division makes me think they have their thumb on the scale in service of an agenda.
Impugning "us vs them" tribalism is biasing the discussion against right wing politics, which divides people vertically into tribes based mostly upon region of origin. "Us vs them" politics is also a fact on the left, except the division there is horizontal between classes within society.
Taken to an extreme both forms of xenophobia are destructive, and both are necessary in moderate amounts. That the author singles out only one form of division makes me think they have their thumb on the scale in service of an agenda.
Most articles nowadays have an agenda, this one seems to try to state facts and therefor not too partisan.
Most articles nowadays have an agenda, this one seems to try to state facts and therefor not too partisan.
I just explained how the author is pushing an agenda.
It's a common tactic on the left, to frame an isolated scientific observation within their own political agenda to advance that agenda. The right often does the same with economics.
The very title of the article uses loaded terms: "primordial" connotes images of chaos and primitivism, "determinism" of hopelessness and fatalism, "responsible" is of course positive, and "egalitarianism" is the foundational value of the left, revealing the agenda. It's all right there in the title.
I just explained how the author is pushing an agenda.
It's a common tactic on the left, to frame an isolated scientific observation within their own political agenda to advance that agenda. The right often does the same with economics.
The very title of the article uses loaded terms: "primordial" connotes images of chaos and primitivism, "determinism" of hopelessness and fatalism, "responsible" is of course positive, and "egalitarianism" is the foundational value of the left, revealing the agenda. It's all right there in the title.
Sure I can appreciate that. Funny thing is I personally feel that both sides of this argument could fit the molds set by the author. Despite which side of the political spectrum you fall under, this could be said of both sides and their actions.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
