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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsA neuroscientist explains what may be wrong with Trump supporters’ brains
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/08/a-neuroscientist-explains-what-may-be-wrong-with-trump-supporters-brains/Summary- Ill informed/stupid, easily spooked, look at the shiny object.
C_U_L8R
(44,983 posts)They're the looked over - they want respect and something they can own for themselves.
Zing Zing Zingbah
(6,496 posts)based on entertainment value. I guess watching too much TV really has rotted their brains.
Snarkoleptic
(5,996 posts)This is how we got Illinois' nighmare gov Bruce "Ruiner" Rauner.
Voters thought that the rich guy, who's never held elected office, must know how to govern.
That plus vague promises to shake things up.
Hayduke Bomgarte
(1,965 posts)I don't think it's watching too much TV as much as WHAT they watch.
Of the RWNJs I have as co-workers and even relatives, The TV shows I hear many of them talking about are mostly reality shows. The likes of Survivor, Dancing with the Stars, etc. Nothing with any sort of plot to follow. Nothing to stimulate the imagination or provoke any actual thought. Just sit, slacked jawed and drool, while soaking up the stupid.
JMO
Siwsan
(26,241 posts)This individual is a hard core tea partier, and she would sit in my cubicle and blither, always prefacing the blither with I have a friend who is a Liberal, like you, and he was telling me about.... and she would go on a rant about the the Amero, and some mysterious and nefarious super highway that was being built. One conspiracy after another. Id engage in the conversation as little as possible - mostly saying I was busy and didnt have time to talk or listen, but this went on, several times a week, for months. And she knew I was a Liberal only by reputation - certainly not by interaction because she was one scary individual with a well known reputation for vengeance and intimidation. You didn't DARE disagree with her because she'd get pretty nasty.
One day I had finally had enough, threw caution to the wind and asked, Is your friend a Libertarian? Of course, she responded Yes.
I smiled and said Well, even you MUST know that a Liberal and a Libertarian are not even remotely the same thing!! and I laughed at her. Yea - maybe I was rude and risky, but it was obviously a I cant believe you are that ignorant! kind of laugh.
She turned BRIGHT red, kind of hissed at me, and stormed out of my cubicle. Thus ended her visits.
Unfortunately, I spent the next 6 years in her cross hairs because calling her a hard core tea partier isnt as accurate as calling her a rabid, insane, hard core tea partier who bore a significant grudge. I made her look foolish and so I had to pay the price. She ended up being the #1 reason I gave, during my exit interview, for retiring three years ahead of my plans. Life is just too short.
And as a side note, the company was fully aware of her behaviors. Unfortunately she is extremely litigious, and she owes her job to a completely incompetent HR department. However, my old company was just 'partnered' with another so hopefully her reign of terror will be ending, soon.
Buckeye_Democrat
(14,852 posts)That's probably why so few scientists are Republicans now:
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2010/12/lab_politics.html
A Pew Research Center Poll from July 2009 showed that only around 6 percent of U.S. scientists are Republicans; 55 percent are Democrats, 32 percent are independent, and the rest "don't know" their affiliation.
When I was in college, the professors challenged our beliefs constantly. It helped students to doubt themselves and consider more information before making strong judgments. That especially happens in scientific endeavors where the focus is typically on disproving ideas.