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I have arrived at the conclusion that people just can't be changed. It does not matter how many discussions take place on City Data. People still stick to their original ideology...even when proven wrong.
I think it is just genetic. If you take a look at extreme right wing people and extreme left wing people the biggest contrast IMO is fear. Maybe an extreme example of an extreme liberal is someone like Timothy treadwell who was an eco-warrior so much so that he would sleep beside bears...that is until one of them ate him and his girlfriend for lunch. This was a guy who had no fear, when he should have had some.
On the other side of the extreme example you have people like Beck who is simply afraid of everything...irrationally so much that he sees a conspiracy against him and people like him at every corner. Beck is probably not the most extreme on the right. I am sure there are others far worse, but you get my point.
A little bit of fear is a good thing, but too much and you will end up living out in the woods carrying a weapon every where you go. No fear and you end up being bear food or a perpetual victim.
A certain way of believing is probably genetic to some degree. I think there's already been a fairly intense study done on the "God" gene which shows that people have a predisposition to be religious and it's not entirely "nurture" or environment that causes it.
I do feel I'm sort of wired to feel a certain way about things. The funny thing is, is that my political affiliations have changed. Up until the last election I always voted Republican. I don't feel like I changed though. To loosely quote Ronald Reagan, I didn't leave the Republican party, it left me.
That's pretty silly. I was raised conservative, liberal from adolescence through my twenties and thirties, then became a mix of conservative and liberal in my forties. Political views are entirely shaped by experience and knowledge. If it were genetic, it would be more constant (and anyway, I think it's pretty obvious that genes cannot possibly determine the complexity of thought that goes into developing political beliefs.)
A certain way of believing is probably genetic to some degree. I think there's already been a fairly intense study done on the "God" gene which shows that people have a predisposition to be religious and it's not entirely "nurture" or environment that causes it.
I do feel I'm sort of wired to feel a certain way about things. The funny thing is, is that my political affiliations have changed. Up until the last election I always voted Republican. I don't feel like I changed though. To loosely quote Ronald Reagan, I didn't leave the Republican party, it left me.
I too use to vote Republican, but it has become way too extreme right for me. I am an Eisenhower Republican. On one hand you have FDR saying the only thing we have to fear is fear itself, which is BS, and the other extreme the tea party says the only thing we have to fear is everyone else.
That's pretty silly. I was raised conservative, liberal from adolescence through my twenties and thirties, then became a mix of conservative and liberal in my forties. Political views are entirely shaped by experience and knowledge. If it were genetic, it would be more constant (and anyway, I think it's pretty obvious that genes cannot possibly determine the complexity of thought that goes into developing political beliefs.)
Not so silly.
From a 2007 science article...
Quote:
The other factor that determines a person’s political beliefs is biology. Research by John Hibbing, a University of Nebraska political scientist, showed that identical twins share more political beliefs than fraternal twins. They also, of course, share more genes.
“Forty, perhaps 50 percent of our political beliefs seem to have a basis in genetics,†said Hibbing, whose studies were included in Jost’s analysis. While genetics are unlikely to “hardwire†people into being liberal or conservative, Hibbing said that genes could make people more or less likely to have certain values or react to situations in a particular way.
I have arrived at the conclusion that people just can't be changed. It does not matter how many discussions take place on City Data. People still stick to their original ideology...even when proven wrong.
I think it is just genetic. If you take a look at extreme right wing people and extreme left wing people the biggest contrast IMO is fear. Maybe an extreme example of an extreme liberal is someone like Timothy treadwell who was an eco-warrior so much so that he would sleep beside bears...that is until one of them ate him and his girlfriend for lunch. This was a guy who had no fear, when he should have had some.
On the other side of the extreme example you have people like Beck who is simply afraid of everything...irrationally so much that he sees a conspiracy against him and people like him at every corner. Beck is probably not the most extreme on the right. I am sure there are others far worse, but you get my point.
A little bit of fear is a good thing, but too much and you will end up living out in the woods carrying a weapon every where you go. No fear and you end up being bear food or a perpetual victim.
Boy are you way off base. Did you bother to listen to Obama's campaign speech on the "deficit" today? He was nothing but finger pointing and fear mongering.
Boy are you way off base. Did you bother to listen to Obama's campaign speech on the "deficit" today? He was nothing but finger pointing and fear mongering.
Hell, why not. It's been proven to be very successful and seems to work best with the current population. I wonder if we'll get back to the color coded terror alerts. That works really well closer to election time.
That's pretty silly. I was raised conservative, liberal from adolescence through my twenties and thirties, then became a mix of conservative and liberal in my forties. Political views are entirely shaped by experience and knowledge. If it were genetic, it would be more constant (and anyway, I think it's pretty obvious that genes cannot possibly determine the complexity of thought that goes into developing political beliefs.)
I tend to agree with you, because the views that you have when you are younger, may change as you get older. Life experiences do shape the way people view certain topics.
Some beliefs may be inherieted, but that does not mean that as your grow, and mature, your views simply cannot change. As was stated, life experiences do help shape the views of many, even if you grew up believing a certain way. If that were the case, i know too many cases, where the opposite is the direction i see some family member in. Some politicial views even in one family i have witnessed, are the total opposite of the specturm. But genetics may still play a role in shaping how one feels aobut politics.
That's pretty silly. I was raised conservative, liberal from adolescence through my twenties and thirties, then became a mix of conservative and liberal in my forties. Political views are entirely shaped by experience and knowledge. If it were genetic, it would be more constant (and anyway, I think it's pretty obvious that genes cannot possibly determine the complexity of thought that goes into developing political beliefs.)
That is the other side of the argument, but you yourself said you were a mix of conservative and liberal so you would be kind of in the middle...probably more to the right, but certainly not on the extreme right. That would put you more in the normal range and not on the extreme. You would have to admit that some on the extreme right are afraid of everything while those on the extreme left seem oblivious to obvious danger.
Most people get more conservative as they get older. Probably has to do with having family (so everything looks like a potential threat to them) and also with having pretty much settled on a certain set of beliefs. Anything that deviates from or challenges those beliefs may be perceived as a threat. Plus, one's own childhood moves further and further away, thus one tends to forget the natural opposition to what one's relatives wanted, gradually becoming more similar to one's parents without noticing it.
But CD offers good protection against becoming conservative
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