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LOS ANGELES CA (ID) Diorama exhibits at the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History and Anthropological Studies will include a new sociology exhibit of obsolete or regressive political movements. One exhibit titled “Predicate Thinking in Political Parties: Neurosis as a Political Identity”; examines the total lack of reason in political decision making which results from “loyal” allegiance to a political party. Seen here in the “Hairy Pit Feminist” diorama aside Madonna is Maureen Dowd, New York Times columnist and author of “Are Men Really Necessary?”
She is situated next to the “David Duke in Heels/Airhead Party Cheerleaders” exhibit, which features none other than white supremacist Ann Coulter. The latter pundit, incidentally, is now protected by a urine-proof casing after several unfortunate incidents wherein disgruntled patrons mistook the wax-likeness for the real thing (including yours truly). Coulter’s wax likeness is complete with red pom-poms, a speech which was actually a high school football cheer before the rhymes were removed, and “George Wallace for Prez” buttons plastered all over the imbecile’s bony likeness. But in all seriousness… Surprisingly, a new study confirms the basic premise of the satirical diorama above. Democrats and Republicans are both equally prone to a crippling loss of critical decision making faculties- particularly reason- when it comes to life-altering choices such as electing leaders in high office. A LiveScience article notes:
“We did not see any increased activation of the parts of the brain normally engaged during reasoning,” said Drew Westen, director of clinical psychology at Emory University.
“What we saw instead was a network of emotion circuits lighting up, including circuits hypothesized to be involved in regulating emotion, and circuits known to be involved in resolving conflicts….
“The test subjects on both sides of the political aisle reached totally biased conclusions by ignoring information that could not rationally be discounted”, Westen and his colleagues say. Then, with their minds made up, brain activity ceased in the areas that deal with negative emotions such as disgust. But activity spiked in the circuits involved in reward, a response similar to what addicts experience when they get a fix, Westen explained….” “The study points to a total lack of reason in political decision-making.”
For more on this study, have a look at this article:
- Democrats and Republicans Both Adept at Ignoring Facts, Study Finds
- P.S. Actually, I love Maureen Dowd. This piece is a brain fart.
