Reply #73: "Belief people" are definitely vulnerable to fascist beliefs, but. . .

[pat_k]

. . . I think belief people are found across the political spectrum.

From the discussion that followed that original post on Salon's TableTalk

Post #3623

. . .When beliefs are adopted because authority figures promote the belief, the whole process becomes "people-based." This is why belief people tend to attack a belief by attacking the people they view as the source, not the facts behind the belief.

The thing that varies so much are the people a belief person identifies as an authorities. There are positive and negative authority figures. They can adopt beliefs that are grounded in reality and beliefs that are not. Im my view, there are belief people across the political spectrum.

On the other hand, knowledge people are less likely to adopt beliefs and opinions that are at odds with reality, so very few knowledge people adopt political views that are at odds with reality, counter-productive, or just plain fascist.

Just because a vast majority of the members of the opposition are belief people, doesn't mean that all belief people are members of the opposition.

In case you're interested, here are some other posts from the belief people/knowledge people discussion.

• Post #3625 -- Franken v. Luther dialog with commentary (typical knowledge person v. belief person exchange (continues in Post #3626 and Post #3628)


• Post #3693 -- Using the "theory" to communicate more effectively.


• Post #3696 -- Stab at an operational definition


• Posts #3608, #3615, #3813 -- More on using the "theory" to deal more effectively with belief-people (or at least make the dealings less frustrating)