[MD] Politics, faith and fear

[david buchanan]

Ian said:
...interesting to tie physical (biological) fear to political views ... no?

dmb says:
I'd argue that the relation is correlative rather than causal, but yea, it's interesting to notice that conservatives tend to have a lower tolerance for fear. I heard about a parallel situation in a lecture on the psychology of religion yesterday. Apparently, religiosity correlates to a low tolerance for insecurity and uncertainty. It is not only a religious version of the same in political ideology, it explains why conservatives tend to be religious and vice versa. They're both part of a larger system of comforting ideas, comforting especially with respect to negative emotions such as fear, insecurity and uncertainty.

And if the implications of these studies make you feel angry or defensive, then they're probably about you and your beliefs. That's another feature of this thought-style. They tend to get angry when those comforting ideas are challenged or questioned. As you can imagine, this type would make a very unlikely philosopher. 

This would explain the style of conservative talk radio too. Just by citing certain facts, you can get these hosts to scream at you, hang up on you and sometimes both. Try it some time. It's fun.



                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
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