The problem as I see it isn't so much education as instincts.
Most people (especially as they get older,) think with their guts, not their brains. You can present them with factual information, but if it contradicts something they want to believe is true, it won't penetrate. You can present them with emotional appeals, and even if it makes no sense, it'll penetrate.
It's like when I talk to my mum about food, and she starts talking about things she's seen in margarine ads. I don't care where you stand on the butter issue, ads ain't the place to get your info. But ads aren't trying to be logical, they're trying to trigger your reptile brain, and that's why they work.
You can't. The best you can do is try to sculpt your arguments to appeal to them. Don't try to remake them to get them to listen to your arguments; just remake your arguments to appeal to them.
Or just ask questions until they contradict themselves.
pastorlenny is only relevant when talking to pastorlenny, and he falls into the reasonably politically cognizant camp, anyway.
Beck is on TV and so not someone you can actually converse with, and not someone I would try to converse with, anyway. But if you really wanted to, after he asserted that he educated himself in a library, you could ask if he considered libraries socialistic. If he says yes, ask him if he supports socialist libraries, and if he says no, ask him how he differentiates between a socialist and a non-socialist public goods project.
At the very least, you'll gain some insight into how another person thinks about politics.
Most people (especially as they get older,) think with their guts, not their brains.
And young people don't do this? I'd say that young people tend to be even less logical than the old fogeys. In fact, young people are often the main targets of any propaganda:
"It is common for propaganda to be aimed at children and young adults, because they lack the critical reasoning skills and contextual comprehension abilities to help determine the objectivity of a particular message."
The scientific studies I've read involving brain scans of teens and adults being presented with various situations revealed that the teens think more logically overall and the adults think more emotionally. Adults have enough built up memories and experiences that they don't have to logic their way through every new idea and situation, whereas teens don't and therefore are more reliant on pure reasoning. Unfortunately, teens are also saddled with lowered inhibitions, so they can't always use their superior reasoning skills very well.
The scientific studies I've read involving brain scans of teens and adults being presented with various situations revealed that the teens think more logically overall and the adults think more emotionally. Adults have enough built up memories and experiences that they don't have to logic their way through every new idea and situation, whereas teens don't and therefore are more reliant on pure reasoning.
Got a scource? I'd like to look at that.
Unfortunately, teens are also saddled with lowered inhibitions, so they can't always use their superior reasoning skills very well.
But wouldn't that contradict with your statement about teens being more logical? I mean, letting lowered inhibitions influence one's decision making qualifies as being ruled more by emotion than logic.
Inhibitions (or the lack there of) have more to do with how we evaluate and discount risk than our emotions. For example, when faced with the question of, "would you eat a cockroach," an adult is likely to react immediately, "Ew!" The teenager is more likely to think, "Well, what sort of cockroach? A Madagascar hissing cockroach? Cockroaches probably taste pretty icky. Ew!" But if you dared the teenager to do it, they'd be much more likely to actually go ahead and do it.
"Most people (especially as they get older,) think with their guts, not their brains."
Biologists say that the intestines is like a second brain, because of all the nerve connections there. I think western medicine has made some mistakes in identifying thought with the brain, and that this has been done more for cultural reasons having to do with Christian ideas of the soul than for scientific reasons. In the east, the seat of thought is often identified as in the guts. I think this is what you are talking about here. But to be fair, I am lying.
Most people (especially as they get older,) think with their guts, not their brains. You can present them with factual information, but if it contradicts something they want to believe is true, it won't penetrate. You can present them with emotional appeals, and even if it makes no sense, it'll penetrate.
It's like when I talk to my mum about food, and she starts talking about things she's seen in margarine ads. I don't care where you stand on the butter issue, ads ain't the place to get your info. But ads aren't trying to be logical, they're trying to trigger your reptile brain, and that's why they work.
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Or just ask questions until they contradict themselves.
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I tried doing that and pastorlenny said I was being anti-semitic.
Since when do contradictions stop them? Beck bitches about socialism but "educated himself" in a public library!
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Beck is on TV and so not someone you can actually converse with, and not someone I would try to converse with, anyway. But if you really wanted to, after he asserted that he educated himself in a library, you could ask if he considered libraries socialistic. If he says yes, ask him if he supports socialist libraries, and if he says no, ask him how he differentiates between a socialist and a non-socialist public goods project.
At the very least, you'll gain some insight into how another person thinks about politics.
Reply
And young people don't do this? I'd say that young people tend to be even less logical than the old fogeys. In fact, young people are often the main targets of any propaganda:
"It is common for propaganda to be aimed at children and young adults, because they lack the critical reasoning skills and contextual comprehension abilities to help determine the objectivity of a particular message."
Scource
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Got a scource? I'd like to look at that.
Unfortunately, teens are also saddled with lowered inhibitions, so they can't always use their superior reasoning skills very well.
But wouldn't that contradict with your statement about teens being more logical? I mean, letting lowered inhibitions influence one's decision making qualifies as being ruled more by emotion than logic.
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Inhibitions (or the lack there of) have more to do with how we evaluate and discount risk than our emotions. For example, when faced with the question of, "would you eat a cockroach," an adult is likely to react immediately, "Ew!" The teenager is more likely to think, "Well, what sort of cockroach? A Madagascar hissing cockroach? Cockroaches probably taste pretty icky. Ew!" But if you dared the teenager to do it, they'd be much more likely to actually go ahead and do it.
Reply
Biologists say that the intestines is like a second brain, because of all the nerve connections there. I think western medicine has made some mistakes in identifying thought with the brain, and that this has been done more for cultural reasons having to do with Christian ideas of the soul than for scientific reasons. In the east, the seat of thought is often identified as in the guts. I think this is what you are talking about here. But to be fair, I am lying.
Reply
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