Political Bias

A series of somewhat recent studies suggest that the politically biased are virtually addicted to lying. These studies make use of the Electroencephelograph, where a Computer reads and records brain activities

Apparently most people constantly lie to themselves to maintain their view that their party and its leaders are flawless. People from both sides of the spectrum are equally affected by this bias.

When viewing truth that doesn't suit our ideals, most of us deny it and go on as if it never happened. The centers largely on the fact that few of us understand the way that bias affects us and can make us completely irrational. Most often, this bias is hidden behind terms such as "nationalism". Many think that blindly believing what our government wants us to believe is "patriotism".

The EEG readouts of brain activity show that when people see contradictions in thier political beliefes, they subconsciously lie to themselves because of political bias. And then their pleasure centers of the brain fire off REWARD signals. In other words, they get a rush out of deluding themselves and denying the truth!! This is scary, they are literally addicted to lying and suffer from what can only be termed "mental illness". You may be experiencing this right now, but its not your fault....


Of course, politicians use this to their advantage.

Many people are apparently convinced that our leaders would never do anything that was not in our best interests, despite mountains of evidence to the contrary. Denying reality is also known as "delusional".

Now both parties embrace "big business" and "big government"... what is the difference between the parties anymore? Where's the "option" in an election? This asshole or that one, no other choice??!! How is that "good for the people"?

Yet everyone seems to continue to perpetuate the myth that "government" as an entity is entirely "good".

There is no right or wrong... only right and left.

But NOBODY cares....


Brain Scans May Unlock Candidates' Appeal

Democrats and Republicans Equally Adept at Ignoring Facts

-Study Ties Political Leanings to Hidden Biases

-Dick Meyer On Science And The Limits Of Political Argument

-Emory Study Lights Up The Political Brain

*Science demonstrates that the politically biased are legally insane and medically addicted/diseased

-Poli tical bias affects brain activity, brain scans prove politically biased people aren't in touch with reality[/rul]

[url=http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/iadeghe/entry/ignoring_arguments_conservative/]Ignoring Arguments & Conservative Policy

Confirmation bias

List of cognitive biases

Disconfirmation bias

cognitive bias

selection bias

statistical bias

Ignorance Isnt Bliss

[edit on 29-10-2006 by sp00n1]

Wow...
This is a great find. *Votes for Way Above*

This explains why PTS is so heated.

As a personal opinion, how do you think the brain reacts to people whom carry non-conventional or abstract political ideals such as anarchy or true anarchy? And those who 'just don't give a damn'?

Also, there is one more thing...Those who are brought up in societies where they have happily only known one political leaning for generations. Places such as Germany before Berlin was divided. Would they question the new ideas in the same manner which you said the brain reacts?

EDIT:Re-phrasing.

[edit on 25-01-2004 by Gear]

It would seem that everyone holds some level of bias that their views, their party, their leaders and / or their country is flawless.

For anarchists, they dont really have a party or leaders. However, many of them do still believe that their views are flawless, despite the numerous shortcomings and contradictions of a true anarchy. In order to maintain anarchy, you need to enforce it. But enforcing it requires an organized effort, thereby in and of itself being self-defeating.

I do have some favorable leanings to anarchistic ideals, but i would never embrace such a notion personally.

I like some of the philosophies of anarcho-capitalism.

For those only having been exposed to one political leaning being forced into a new one, im sure there would be some resistance. However, they will assimilate to a new bias.

You can replace one bias with another, but it would seem that it is impossible to entirely eliminate biases altogether.

The thing about bias is that you do not realise that it is affecting you. The best defense is to be aware that we all suffer from biases that we are not aware of and to try to watch for how it subconsciously affects our decisions everyday.


Those that 'dont give a damn' hold the ideal that they dont give a damn. So they filter everything past that cognitive filter and force themselves to only accept information that corresponds with their ideals. In other words, they do give a damn but they dont want to believe that they do. I know a lot of people are very fed up with the whole system and withdrawl because they would like to believe that burying their heads in the sand will somehow make it less painful...

[edit on 29-10-2006 by sp00n1]

I think that this topic is too neutral....


People seem to like arguing over politics.

Originally posted by sp00n1
People seem to like arguing over politics.

Allow me to stir the pot.

The links offer several interesting results which could be construed in any number of ways, some of it makes for questionable conclusions, but others are just interesting open-ended questions.

Consider this, from Sp00n1's first source.

And when voters were shown a Bush ad that included images of the Sept. 11 attacks, the amygdala region of the brain _ which lights up for most of us when we see snakes _ illuminated more for Democrats than Republicans. The researchers' conclusion: At a subconscious level, Republicans were apparently not as bothered by what Democrats found alarming.

So the question in my mind is either why are the democrats more agitated or why are the republicans less so.

Are democrats simply more thin-skinned, or does it have something to do with the ensuing policies which have hightened the threat? The fact that it was an AD is also relevant. Was it a Republican ad, and if so does that mean that democrats fear that its an issue their party could lose on?

What about the Republicans then? Do Republicans see 9/11 as a mixed blessing? It has afterall given them a pretty free hand in foreign policy. Do Republicans just take it in stride more because they are only appalled by wars they might lose, and realize that Al Qaida hasn't stood up very well, whereas perhaps war in any form was more likely to rattle democrats (in other words, are republicans warmongers?) Or was the context of the ad just such that the prevailing message was not one threatening to Republicans, despite the threatening imagery, whereas democrats might ahve found a republican ad featuring 9/11 to be threatening on both levels?

What say you people?

I was waiting to see if anybody else would respond, but....

Now, i am no democrat, nor am i a republican. I consider myself pretty moderate. Some issues i am liberal, others i am conservative. Sometimes im libertarian, other times statist.

For instance, i believe in small government and lower taxes. But i also think that our government needs to provide certain things; police, military, economic protections...

I am no big fan of abortion, i am personally fairly opposed. However, i sure as hell dont want to force my beliefs on anybody else. I think abortion should be legal.

I am all for stem cells, the embryos just get wasted if we dont use em anyway.

Drugs should be legal, the only reason why they are illegal is so the government can sell them to us for major profits and then put us in jail.

In some instances i support teh death penalty, but i think our system has serious flaws that need to be fixed first.

I kinda hoped bush would win in 2000 because i wasnt too found of gore. What a F%^$IN' idiot i was!!!!



In regards to the Ad with the 911 video. It makes me sick that anybody, republican or democrat would use that as a political ad, I am also really upset about movies like United 93 that make money off of the pain and suffering.

911 was terrible. The most charitable explaination is that there was a COLOSSAL snafu, and people need to be held accountable.

I now believe the govt orchastrated the whole thing, but even before i reached this conclusion i though it was sick that Bush got a huge bump in the poles for NOT acting on actionable intelligence to stop 911.

Bush is a miserable failure. His policies are destroying this country.

Even if terrorism is a risk, What's the point of saving our republic if it means destroying everything that it stands for? If it means loosing the rights that make this country what it is?!?!

I guess the whole point that i am trying to make with this topic is this;

Both parties are equally adept at willingly ignoring facts that dont suit their desires.

The Dems and Repubs are two sides of the same coin, if one is bad they both are!!

Our political system is based entirely on lying, cheating, and stealing. You dont like your party because they do good things and help people, you like your party because you HATE the other guys. Your party doesnt need to be good, your party doesnt need to be right. All that matters is that the other guy is wrong!

This is Orwell. 1984.

We're at war with the East Asians, NO! We're at war with the Eurasians, NO! we're at war with East Asia!!

Oceania is at war with East Asia, and we always have been!!!

Politics is manipulated with hate and fear, not reason and logic.