A 12-nation study found that compared to the people of other nations participating in the study, Americans are least likely to discuss politics with people of different views.
This applied more to the well-educated. College grads shelter themselves from uncomfortable perspectives, while high school drop outs had the most diverse discussion mates…
The result is polarization and intolerance.
Billy
reference in http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/opinion/19kristof.html
I don’t want to talk about this. Can we get Gilby to just make this go away?
FTFY. My views are reinforced. And I’m not going to listen to anyone who tells me any different.
I get the impression that many conservatives see universities as factories that turn out liberals as their product. My views are hereby underscored.
That’s it, I’m done with this discussion.
la la la la la
I can’t hear a word you say.
The article you linked to indeed displays a great deal of information on human nature, and I believe much of what it says to be true (though I’ve only read bits and pieces of it).
You know, I once tried talking politics with a high school dropout. This was in September or October or something, and he brought up the discussion with a question that I think was something along the lines of “wait, so who won that one election we were supposed to have?”. He was unaware that the election had not happened yet, and I don’t think he knew who Obama’s oponent was. The thing is, he knew virtually nothing on the topic, and therefore has not even really developed much of a prejudice. But as soon as people know enough about a topic to develop a prejudice (this amount varies from person to person), it is often very hard to sway them away from their prejudice, and it is likely that they will continue to convince themselves that they were right all along and are smarter than everyone else. It is simply more convenient to mask uncertainty.
I have seen this in action many times. If someone who knew absolutely nothing about the US army was told that US soldiers were evil, and they shot little babies, the person being told this would be likely to immediately become furious with the US soldiers. He would think, “How can they think that it’s right to kill innocent little babies?”. The next time he hears something about a US soldier, he would immediately go back to his previous knowledge, and try to connect everything with what he learned first, and what does not connect he would perhaps refuse as untrue, or the wrong opinion. The same goes for the other side. If someone who knows nothing about the US army was told “the US soldiers are great, they are brave, they fight for what is right, they fight to protect you and me, and they are willing to die for our rights”, that person is very likely to connect everything he later hears about the US army to this original statement, this original bit of knowledge he gained. As his original opinion is “supported” more, he will become even more strongly opinionated and later only listen to the ones who, in his eyes have common sense.
Great thread Billy, I don’t know what Harper’s problem is. I don’t think I will listen to what he has to say anymore.
It would be nice if Mr. Kristof would provide a link to the study, or even mention it’s name or who was behind it so that we could find it ourselves and link this thread to the actual study and not only a reference to it.
But I agree with Pele, educated people have more at stake in their political views than high school dropouts, who often don’t really have any self-formed political opinions.
Maybe human nature, but maybe you only think its human nature because you live in America, and most of the humans you know are American.
As a consequence of the fact that in your sample of humans, a huge percentage are Americans, maybe you confuse human nature with American nature.
Remember, Americans were more likely than those in 15 other nations.
Well, I have lived in Israel too… But that most definitely factors in.
I did not read the part that this is more common in America, nor do I know how trustworthy this is, but it seems to be something that is to a certain extent in all humans, perhaps moreso in America than anywhere else. When I think about it, it seems like Israelis may actually do this less…
Today (as the article further states), half of Americans live in counties that supported either the Demo or the Republican candidate by a landslide. That means they are surrounded by like-thinking individuals.
I think the response to this thread shows that Americans can laugh at themselves, or they don’t take their polarization seriously…
…or they have had it up to here`with your threads.
OooOO. You pwnd ME!!!
OOooo.
Good one!
Wasn’t I giving a reason for why people have not made abundant posts on your thread? I was not necessarily expressing my own views.
OOooOOo. You pwnd me AGAIN!
OOooo. Good one!
Sometimes I’m not sure if I’m to laugh at Billy or to slap him for his freshness.
eSlap. lol
Can you guess Billy’s response to this? (Or perhaps even his response to my response to this.)
“OOOooooOOoo, you just pwned me…Good one!”
That’s why they’re called universities and not diversities.
Good one. I think you just pwned this thread. OOOOooooOOO
I’ll stop.