Liberal Brains Liberal Pains

Anthony Watts:

Jorge Smirnoff just poked the bear one too many times. The gloves are off.

This letter to the editor is the bare truth of what Rush Limbaugh once said and Michael Savage wrote a book about: "Liberalism Is a Mental Disorder"

Letter: Differences in brains, and understanding science

It is safe to say that most well-educated and perceptive people around the World are cognizant of the dangers presented by Anthropogenic Global Warming.

Sadly, that excludes many people of the conservative persuasion.
One reason for that is due to the nature of the conservative psyche.
Several scientific studies, including MRI scans, show a physical difference between liberal and conservative brains.

Liberalism is associated with increased grey matter in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex, which is responsible for anticipating tasks, attention, motivation, etc.

Conservatism is associated with an enlarged Amygdala. The Amygdala processes fearful and threatening stimuli and activates fearful behaviors.

One could say liberals are intellectuals driven by facts, and conservatives are scaredy-cats easily manipulated by disinformation.

True story — Google "differences between liberal and conservative brains.”

A prime example is Dave Walton and his vacuous letter 7-29. Said rant contributes nothing to scientific knowledge because Dave knows nothing about the climate, is oblivious to the daily ravages of AGW, and is afraid to find out the truth from scientists who are knowledgeable about the topic.

Instead, Dave Walton promotes the Heartland Institute’s climatological disinformation and Anthony Watts’ pseudo-scientif ic blog.

Let us hope that a clever student beats Anthony and the Heartland Institute at their own deception game by writing a BS essay about the climate crisis and runs away with a thousand bucks which they could apply towards a good STEM education and recant the silly essay afterward.

— Jorge Smirnoff, Chico

Tim adds:

They're starting that crap up again? It was idiotic then and is idiotic now. These "brain differences" are so nominal as to be below any acceptable scientific threshold.

I would add that a great many people are liberal when young and become conservative when they get older. So what does that mean? Do their brains change? Or is it they have been mugged by reality, as Irving Kristol observed. People change sides often.

Also, what determines "conservative" and "liberal"? There are degrees of thinking, subtle shades. A Lenin is quite different from a Hubert Humphrey. By this reasoning Lenin should have a much more developed Anterior Cingulate Cortex than old Hubert Horatio Hornblower (as Jimmy Carter once called him.) But we have no such evidence of any of this.

Also, the role of these brain regions is not as well understood as we like to believe. And if so, so what? The Amygdala is, in part, a threat assessment. It may well be the Left is just crazier, engaging in riskier behavior than does the right.

Who says our amygdala is too large; rather, isn't it likely theirs is stunted? The Anterior Cingulate Cortex is involved in emotion regulation and decision making as well as autonomic processes. Well, liberals are more emotional. That is well established. They lead with their hearts. Doesn't that suggest they're suffering from an abnormal Anterior Cingulate Cortex? They can't regulate their emotions, feeling sympathy for murderers and cutthroats and terrorists while despising good people trying to live their own lives.

I wrote about the stupidity of much of these types of claims at American Thinker years ago. https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2007/09/junk_neuropsychology_comments.html

Also, if there ARE brain differences between conservatives and liberals, why do the liberals hate and mock conservatives? Aren't we told we are to accept those different from us? We are supposed to be tolerant of every sort of bizarre behavior, be it transgenderism, infantilism, or whatnot. But we can't be tolerant of conservatives who, by THEIR definition, are suffering from a disability. Strange how they punish and abuse the disabled!

And who is afraid? They claim conservatives are more fearful, yet it is the liberal who fears such things as climate change without sufficient evidence. liberals walk around in fear all the time. They fear overpopulation, war, protesting conservatives doing a self-guided Capitol tour (who they think are Nazis), they fear the SCOTUS abortion ruling will institute a theocracy with the Handmaids Tale becoming a reality, etc. The Left is far more fearful than the Right. They are just crazier, willing to take more risks with their safety, with society, and with the lives of many. And history has born that out. In pursuit of their utopian dreams they have killed far more people than ever has the "right wing".

The difference between conservative and liberal is one of trust. We don't trust those who are telling us what they would have us believe, and we can back up our distrust. They trust those who are telling them what to believe and hate us for raining on their parade with facts and logic. They are the kids who do whatever they are told. They are the ones who sought guardrails on their beds when growing up. They want to be protected, to be coddled. They aren't the explorers. They are the ones who want to be kept safe and taken care of.

Oh, one final point; almost all of these studies are based on self-identification. Most liberals don't even call themselves liberal. They think of themselves as moderates except the rare few who are honest with themselves. How does that skew these studies?

In the end most of this research is shoddy and intended to serve the purposes of those who want to fundamentally remake society. Psychology has always been full of activists pretending to be scientists, and that has bled over into neuroscience is many ways. It's part of the general decline of science in our post-modern world.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 09:54 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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