Conor Friedersdorf’s valiant attempt to convert Levin fans irresistibly recalls The Guardian’s 2004 letter writing campaign to American voters. The American reaction (short version: “Suck it, Limeys!”) – and some pretty solid research on how the political brain functions – should give you a fair idea of how this experiment will turn out.
Will
Will writes from Washington, D.C. (well, Arlington, Virginia). You can reach him at willblogcorrespondence at gmail dot com.
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I don’t know what Conor’s aiming for here. But I’m of the opinion that scolding isn’t an effective form of rhetoric, so, you know, that’s the issue.Report
“I don’t know what Conor’s aiming for here.”
It’s called notoriety.Report
By now, I’d give up on talk radio listeners; if they haven’t learned by now, they’re hopeless.Report
Hahaha. Those are some of the funniest things I have read in awhile.
I think it was Texas that wrote: “I hope you have to get a tooth capped”. That doesn’t even make sense or seem particularly offensive but damn it’s funny. Thanks for posting that link.Report
I do think that the research done on how people react to admired/disliked politicians is interesting. Not that it is surprising that people make decisions based on emotion and then try to rationalize the facts in order to reaffirm the feelings. Any book on sales will tell you as much. People buy what feels good then support their decisions with facts. What I find more fascinating (dangerous would also fit here), at least to a nerd like me, is what the application of this behavior means with regards to everything else.
First question: Is there some kind of evolutionary benefit to emotional based decision making or is it merely a by product of the human awareness/consciousness? Any thoughts on that would be great to see.
Second: Could this behavior be the reason for wild swings in majority sentiment? In other words does the population just act irrationally based on feelings when there is a crisis, real or otherwise? How do we go from Carter to Reagan or Bush to Obama. Those seem like pretty big lurches back and forth.
I would argue that is the case which then leads me to believe that pure democracy may actually be a bad idea, to echo Burke. How then should the leader of the free world be chosen. Our Electoral College is a sad attempt to remedy this problem I think. I believe it was Calhoun who proposed like a three headed executive to temper the emotions of the majority. What are the opinions here of this conumdrum? If indeed it is a real problem.
Finally: Is this behavior, which I believe to be prevalent in most people, the reason why real genius is so rare? Are people like Einstein, Hawking, Glenn Beck (just kidding…wanted to see if you are still paying attention) able to do what they do because they can remove emotion from their thinking and reasoning? I believe the answer is at least partly yes.
Double finally: Why do women and some men as well, put so much stock in feelings and emotions that aren’t really beneficial on a biological level as far as I can see. I suppose the nurturing element for child raising could be argued here but is that it? I hope I am not coming across as sexist that isn’t my intention. I truly just find it cool to think about.
Let me know what everyone thinks.Report