Don't Confuse Me With Facts

Can you remember on numerous occasions trying unsuccessfully to convince someone about a particular subject. Has anyone ever said to you, "Don't confuse me with the facts. My mind is already made up."

It seems that researchers at Emory University conducted a study in 2005 and found that both Democrats and Republicans are adept at ignoring facts. I know that will shock some of you. But the interesting part of the Emory University study was that some of us actually enjoy (derive pleasure) ignoring facts. The pleasure centers in the brains (?) of some people receive positive feedback when we ignore facts that might contradict strong beliefs that we consider "cherished." Apparently, truth can be very painful to the politically devout.

Researchers asked ‘staunch’ political party members from both sides to evaluate information that threatened their view, or the view of their preferred candidate prior to the 2004 Presidential election. The subjects' brains were monitored. Researchers did not see any increased activation of the parts of the brain that normally engages during reasoning. They saw instead a network of emotion circuits lighting up, including circuits hypothesized to be involved in regulating emotion, and circuits known to be involved in resolving conflicts. Test subjects, irrespective of political party affiliation, reached biased conclusions by ignoring information that could not rationally be discounted. None of the circuits involved in conscious reasoning were observed to be significantly engaged. many of you will observe that this is not unlike religion, but that is the point. Socialism is a religion. Socialists would argue that Capitalism is no less a religion to many proponents.

And here is the rather amazing part. It appears as if political partisans twirl the cognitive kaleidoscope, rejecting unfavorable images until they get the conclusions they want, and then they get massively reinforced for it, with the elimination of negative emotional states and activation of positive ones. In other words, people get positive vibes from ignoring negative information (that is damaging to their own strong biases). Once again, notably absent were any increases in activation of the part of the brain most associated with reasoning.

It is an unusual person who acts differently. They are called conservatives whose philosophy revolves in a universe of facts.

The study tests involved pairs of statements by the candidates, President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry in this case – statements that clearly contradicted each other. The test subjects were asked to consider and rate the discrepancy. Then they were presented with still another statement that might explain away the contradiction. The scenario was repeated several times for each candidate.

The brain imaging revealed a consistent pattern. Both Republicans and Democrats consistently denied obvious contradictions for their own candidate and instead focused solely on detected contradictions in the opposing candidate. The result is the inescapable conclusion that partisan beliefs are calcified, insoluble with facts, and such a person will at a minimum have difficulty and may refuse to learn from information derived from new data.

Have you ever heard of Yellow Dog Democrats? If you grew up in the south, and particularly in Texas, people would only vote for a Democrat, even if the Democratic Party only put a yellow dog on the ballot. Things can and do change over time. Republicans are now being elected even in yellow dog counties, and blue candidates are being elected in the red states. But it was a long time for that change to come. Now, we see some of the opposite patterns. But it is that way all over the world. And that is the way it is in Palestine and particularly when you have to deal with the belief systems inherent in the Middle East. Now you see where this is heading.

That is why you can reliably predict what a "core" vote will be. It is what makes political gerrymandering so effective and easy.

There is a small group of voters in the middle, who the media calls “undecided’s,” whose minds do not get a positive stimulus from ignoring factual data. The competition for their hearts and minds is intense. American political problems are a product of the human condition just as they are in the Middle East. We come to the table with our biases, as does every voter, even in the Middle Eastern attempts at democracy.

It is only when there is a serious crisis of some kind that we seem to look for answers outside our calcified biases.

It is so important that Americans understand how our own thought processes routinely deceive us into acting in ways that are not consistent with good foreign policy or national defense. Too often, the media and the State Department simply believe what they want to believe. Every conservative understands this phenomenon. The holy grail of conservative life is facts. Most conservatives would tell you that liberals seem impervious to facts and are too often consumed with calcified biases. Liberals, when confronted with facts that would not be helpful, or contradict their deeply felt point of view (their calcified bias), they ignore the facts and try to explain away the contradictions. Often you can listen to a national figure attempt to find some novel new interpretation of the data. Failing that, there must be a Congressional hearing to look for more facts which favor our calcified position. Why should we expect anything less from the Palestinian Muslims?

How do you think people in business and government interpret the data? They choose that which leads to the best conclusions for themselves and their prospects? We all want to believe that things are going to get better. Facing hard facts is so against our psychological systems that it is the truly rare leader who can do it.

Rather than letting the data and information "talk to us," media outlets are notorious for trying to tell the data what to say, or tell us what they wished the data had said. The media will let an improperly constructed and poorly interpreted poll (a survey device to determine if the propaganda is working) convince them that a particular outcome is preferred by the American people. The media will bet everything on it.

Regardless of what we do in the financial markets, in the political markets we typically invest for the long term. Once our political allegiance is invested, we seldom change it. Changing political party typically only happens after an extended period of time and crisis after crisis of conflicting facts. Once committed, most human beings take the path of least resistance. Why should we expect the Palestinians to behave differently, particularly in the face of being labeled a "non-conformist malcontent" in an Islamic society?

One example may be too close to home. The path of least resistance more often than not leads to a dead-end alley where you get mugged and your retirement is taken from you. The prospect of lower benefits, increased taxes, reduced standard of living and working much longer than you wanted to is staring all United States citizens in the face. Who in their right mind wants to reform Social Security and Medicare knowing how reform will negatively affect all United States citizens? The path of least political resistance in Congress is to do nothing. Why should we expect Democrats and liberal Republicans in Congress to behave any differently? Only when the path of least resistance favors massive reform of Social Security will change occur. Congressmen derive the greatest personal benefit by doing nothing.

The path of least resistance for America in the Middle East is identical - to do nothing, which will undoubtably exacerbate the final outcome. Such is the case of Iran and the administration attempting to "manage" the war.

Typically we look for answers after any family, county, state or national crisis, after we have taken the beating. An Islamic beating is not one you want to endure. Having said that, win or lose; those are our only choices. Act, or continue to take an Islamic beating. As we ponder the choices, it is important to realize that the least competent among us, those who stalk the halls of Congress, are making these decisions in our behalf. Doing anything involves risk and Congress functions only in self-interest.

Red State Patriot

Posted January 28, 2006 03:50 PM
Read more on Domestic Issues and Politics ~ Islam, Terrorism and WMD