Mere coincidence??

....of...because if I am not angry or afraid, I am a chump and nobody is gonna
put one over on me like they would do if I wasn't vigilant about hating and fearing
something or someone...plus I know all I need to know about that, get it?....whew....

Tikki

They want to emote and rage because they're addicted to it. They love hating Obama and Liberals because they get an emotional fix when they do it. Facts don't do it for them. It's boring and they get sleepy. That's why their eyes glaze over.

I get told I'm full of crap, etc. etc. etc.

It really scares me that such a large group of similarly minded people can be so ignorant...nothing seems to get through to them.

I pray people will see exactly what this is, and soon.

They only know what the tv machine tells them they should know. Then they begin to spout nonsense that the tv machine told them they should spout!

If it doesn't fit on a bumper sticker then it isn't worth their time to know it.

I quietly encourage them toward more and more extreme views. It's much easier.

Hi. Welcome to DU.

initiating the conversation or are they? I often find when they start the conversation it's like trying to bait me. Don't work though

I was told that all the fact that anyone needs can be found in the Bible. I assume you are dealing with people of the same mindset. It makes a reasonable debate nearly impossible.

Next time a conservative says that, you should say "I'm glad you mentioned that", then pull out a copy of the New Testament.

"There's this fella called Jesus, he had some interesting ideas".

Then turn to the Sermon on the Mount and see if they want to read it...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sermon_on_the_Mount

and that is a fact

Remember, we're dealing with authoritarian types who restrict themselves to a very narrowly defined bunch of "authorities" in the media. Hearing anything outside that is very painful to them, that's why their eyes glaze over, they get defensive and nasty, and then they run away.

The more we hammer away at them to wake the hell up, the tighter shut they clench their eyes.

You can't convince them with facts, they're too baffled by bullshit.

All we can do is make sure we outvote them and marginalize them. If we fail, the country will.

the common person doesn't have time to catch up or keep up and know what is going on.

My kids do the same when I mention anything political. Their eyes roll, they change the subject or tell me they don't get into politics anymore because our country is such a mess. As a compromise, I just tell them to trust me and vote for only Democrats...otherwise, their lives will be miserable if the WH and House are taken over by Pugs. Trust me!!!!!

If the news is on, it is background noise and no one is really listening. Look at how deep we have to dig to find the truth or at least the facts to back up what we're told is true. Most people don't have the time or the patience to search for facts. No one feels they can believe a politician anymore, no matter which party. Hey, how often has someone on DU said, "You can't make this up...If someone made a movie out of today's politics, who would believe it?" So, rather than mess up their lives by keeping up with everyday events, they are ignoring the whole scenario until closer to the election.

Unless there's a sex scandal, the common person just gets on with their life...nothing they can do to change it anyway.

It's a sad state of affairs, but it's true.

Let them get used to the water before you try to get them to swim on their own.

then remind them how much the GOP 'fell in love' with Lieberman, especially at the convention. Wonder how they feel now.

Maybe if they see how short their attention spans are they'll realize (albeit NEVER admit) you are right about it

It's a matter of faith. I don't mean religion, but ideological commitment. If you want people to share your ideology, you have to inspire them to join you.

People will "find" the facts and the reasons to support their beliefs. Everyone does it, we all want to stay with our group. Being objective is hard. People need inspiration and must trust the inspirers.

so when we show them facts that reveal a long held a cherished rw mantra is a lie, they take that to be an assault on them personally. i have spent years trying to understand just how we got into the heaping pile of poo that we as a nation are in and i believe that we really won't be able to pull out of this downward spiral until we address the fact that we all appear to be speaking in tongues to others who don't share our pov.

look at the pure absurdities that are accepted without a thought, but because adopted as a part of their identity will be defended from all facts. rw christians. now there's an absurdity that most people do not need anything explained to them to understand how ridiculous on its face the entire concept is. to attempt to use the new testament to challenge them when they use the bible to spread hate will be futile. much quicker and effective to tell them to get back to you after they have written an 8th grade book report on the new testament.


lack of attention span as the problem? doubtful, they sure can hold their attention on what the nra or other rw hate monger sent them in an e-mail. they have been told and made to feel that all of these bat-shit crazy and hateful issues that define modern conservatism is a part of who they are as human beings. my social psychology professor repeated through out the semester that people believe themselves to be moral and intelligent, and most behavior is driven by our desire to support the idea that we are as moral and intelligent as we think we are.

we need to find a way to talk to each other again, the way we're doing it isn't working.

I really like the way Jonathan Haidt explains this. He talks about the moral roots of liberals and conservatives. I think he makes a lot of sense.

http://people.virginia.edu/~jdh6n/

http://people.virginia.edu/~jdh6n/

He has a good talk on TED that explains the differences between liberals and conservatives and why we can't hear each other. He does have more than one talk on TED.