It’s not easy.
Like I’ve talked about in this space before, the human mind is built for action. Built to make decisions. And that means it is always assumes that the information that it has is complete, even when it patently is not.
So people extrapolate. This is what leads to, among other things, the fundamental attribution error, where we tend to assume that other people’s behaviour is the result of permanent attributes of their character but attribute ours to any number of factors and circumstances depending on the situation.
For example, say you just got cut off in traffic. What do you assume? That the person who did it is an asshole.
This is not logical. You know almost nothing about the person. For all you know, they are a perfectly lovely person and that’s the only time they have ever cut anyone off and they are currently delivering kittens to orphans.
But you conclude that this person is an asshole anyhow, because based on everything you know about them, they are.
You see how that works?
Now, in our traffic example, the error is harmless. This person will never know what you think of them, and calling them an asshole makes you feel a little better.
The problem is that people do the same thing in much more important situations and about groups much larger than one shitty driver.
It becomes especially problematic with people, usually conservatives, who lack faith in their ability to figure things out rationally and methodically, and their solution is to make broad sweeping snap judgements and then stick to them in blind desperation.
This would be like if, in our traffic example, you were shown reams of definitive proof, including video testimonials by Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter, and Pope Francis, that the person who cut you off is a wonderful, angelic person who only cut you off in order to avoid sideswiping a busload of nuns, and you still insisting, “Nope, they’re an asshole! End of story!”.
Sound like any conservatives you know?
And the root issue is that they do not feel like they can examine all the facts and reach a well thought out, reasoned conclusion. So from that point of view, they have no choice but to rely strictly on snap judgments and emotional and/or magical reasoning.
In their minds, the only thing that can come of opening up their snap judgments to new information is them becoming hopelessly lost and confused and maybe even having to face the stark and horrifying possibility that, despite being adult citizens of an individualist society, they are not smart enough to understand what is really going on.
And that, in a society where every citizen is supposed to be a rugged individual who makes up their mind about everything and contributes that point of view to the collective decision making process, would mean that person is a profound failure.
Think about it. Imagine if someone actually said, “Oh, I’m not smart enough for politics, so I leave that up to others.”
You would feel contempt for that person, wouldn’t you? Like they were letting everyone down by not doing their part.
You would probably also assume they were retarded.
So the stakes are high. That’s why that person who insists the driver is an asshole despite all evidence is not merely being stubborn – they are terrified. As far as they are concerned, they are besieged by chaos and oblivion on all sides, and the only course of action available to them is to cling to their life raft of preformed opinion until the flood waters recede and they can relax again.
More after the break.
The tenuous position these theoretical conservatives of mine find themselves in when it comes to figuring out what is really going on also explains their dependence on right wing “news” sources like Fox New.
For one thing, like I have said before, the underlying message of Fox News et al is that you are NOT too stupid to understand the world, things really are as simple as you need them to be, and anyone who says different is an evil person trying to confuse you.
This message is very soothing to conservative types. It keeps the demons of fear and doubt at bay. It keeps them from ever having to truly face the facts.
Problem is, their rational minds keep trying to wake up and take over. So they need this steady IV drip of reassurance to keep it at bay.
Because of this, the people at Fox News actually have to work quite hard to come up with the bullshit and lies they spew. ;Everything they say has to fit neatly within their audience’s existing preconceived notions, with absolutely nothing truly new or startling, or they risk breaking the spell for their viewers, causing them to wake up cranky.
That’s also why so much of what they say is not merely offensive but seemingly laughably absurd right on the face of it.
Sure, it’s absurd to us liberal intellectual types who are used to figuring things out. But we are not the Fox News audience.
They want to be fooled, and are therefore not exactly hard to convince – provided, of course, that the message stays soothingly unchallenging to their existing beliefs.
I am starting to repeat myself. Time to change subjects.
Here’s a stab at figuring out what, exactly, my problem is :
My problem is that I have all this talent and intelligence and creativity and so on that desperately wants to be expressed into the world, but there is something in the way.
That something is the psychological damage from my rape at the age of four. And whatever subsequent damage I have accumulated in the same place.
My fabulous potential pushes to be released, but my damage refuses to budge.
And that…. hurts.
Like trying to pass a stone, it hurts.
And the pain makes me stop. But the pressure to express pushes from the other side and makes me start again.
And little ol me is squished in the middle.
Not bad! Best one so far.
I will talk to you nice people again tomorrow.