gbaji wrote:
At the risk of giving much weight to the study at all, that's not remotely what the findings actually show. The larger area of the brain related to processing fear determines whether one faces fears or shrinks away from them. Predictably, conservatives face fearful situations, while liberals tend to run away.
Similarly, the larger area associated with "understanding complexity", really isn't about understanding it so much as accepting it. Specifically, it measures a willingness to accept contradictions out of a belief that complex systems can't be understood fully anyway. Conservatives are less inclined to accept such things.
Which kinda perfectly explains their different views on things like global warming, for example. If we're taking the study at face value anyway.
Similarly, the larger area associated with "understanding complexity", really isn't about understanding it so much as accepting it. Specifically, it measures a willingness to accept contradictions out of a belief that complex systems can't be understood fully anyway. Conservatives are less inclined to accept such things.
Which kinda perfectly explains their different views on things like global warming, for example. If we're taking the study at face value anyway.
I'm going to tell you all the things you've done wrong here.
1. You've brought more attention to the original topic. While a few posters were giving themselves a handjob over the studies, most were willing to laugh it off and move on, not concerning ourselves with the results. This thread would have been a topic about cookies for a page more at most and then died never to gain much attention. Now you've only drawn more attention to scientific study that can be seen to put your chosen ideological demographic in an unfavorable light.
2. Not only that, but because your refutation is so ridiculous and contains so much blatantly dishonest insertion of speculative reasons for why such results were obtained. This thread--if any of the usual suspects are bored enough--is now going to be all about how incredibly wrong you are and consequently give just that much more validity to the notion that typical conservative leaning individuals are just that much more paranoid.
3. You've left yourself without your typical exit. You have already accepted the study as valid source materiel, and so you've completely closed off the "liberally biased results" door.
In terms of strategy, posting in this thread with anything but a dismissing jest was an awful idea.
