Sunday, July 2, 2017
Sunday Science Blog
From Scientific American:
How the Science of “Blue Lies” May Explain Trump’s Support
They are a very particular form of deception that can build solidarity within groups
This research...highlights a difficult truth about our species: we are intensely social creatures, but we are prone to divide ourselves into competitive groups, largely for the purpose of allocating resources. People can be prosocial—compassionate, empathetic, generous, honest—in their group and aggressively antisocial toward out-groups.
When we divide people into groups, we open the door to competition, dehumanization, violence—and socially sanctioned deceit. “People condone lying against enemy nations, and since many people now see those on the other side of American politics as enemies, they may feel that lies, when they recognize them, are appropriate means of warfare,” says George Edwards, a political scientist at Texas A&M University and one of the country’s leading scholars of the presidency.
If we see Trump’s lies not as failures of character but rather as weapons of war, then we can come to see why his supporters might view him as an effective leader. From this perspective, lying is a feature, not a bug, of Trump’s campaign and presidency.
VIDEO OF THE WEEK:
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin is NOT impressed with Lord Damnut's gobbledegook about "space."
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3 comments:
Great article. Honest and straight forward. I particularly liked the articles closing.
We humans indeed continue to be tribal. We are after all animals and still are driven to one degree or another by primal instincts. Self and tribe preservation.
A wingnut wrote:
"Funny, last time I checked the Constitution, the only prerequisites for serving in the office was that he be 35 years of age and a natural born citizen. There were no "soundness of mind" requirements."
Do we need anymore proof of the wingnuts total immersion in stupidity and idol worship that they'd defend keeping a mentally deformed person in office cuz the Constatooshun says nothing about removing a mad man? Good for them to be so transparent in their idiocy.
RN, it is tribalism that keeps otherwise sane people from recognizing Trump's appalling lack of self-control. The only good thing that may come out of this past week's Tweetantrums is that they may drive his approval numbers even lower than they already are.
Uncle Sam, the wingnuts are terminal, as I've said again and again. Even Lord Dampnut knows this because he's said that even if he shot someone in the middle of 5th Avenue his supporters would stick by him. That's the definition of insanity, and we're pretty convinced that his supporters have lost their grip on reality. As RN said, it's mostly tribalism that keeps them supporting the wreck of a human being and lying liar that he is.
They own him.
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