Arguing about politics is futile. I’ve never had a conversation, or heard a conversation on the subject of politics that ended with, “You’ve really opened my mind up to your point of view and I now see that I was mistaken in my beliefs!”
Last week, after talking on air about how Hillary Clinton made history by becoming the first female presidential nominee for a major American political party, the angry texts started rolling in. Keep in mind that there was no hyperbole – we merely discussed the event, its place in history, and played some snippets from her speech at the Democratic National Convention. One texter called me a “disgusting Liberal” and a “small-minded, uneducated media hack”. That’s enough to give you the flavour of them.
So, I responded to one especially angry texter, “You’re trying to tell us that we can’t deliver the news if it doesn’t fit with your views or agenda? You accuse me of bias but you would have us squelch the fact that a woman made history.” It went back and forth a few times until the texter finally said, “I guess I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Have a good day.”
They’re a Republican-leaning Canadian and there’s nothing I can say that will change it. A forensic psychologist backed me up on this over the weekend. Dr. N.G. Berrill is the Executive Director of the New York Center for Neuropsychology & Forensic Behavioral Science. He calls the unmovable devotion to Donald Trump a case of Cognitive Dissonance. That’s where someone maintains complete devotion to an idea or a person despite any evidence that shows inconsistencies, lying or hateful, hurtful positions. Their brains simply ignore whatever proof there is that someone’s revising history or out-and-out misleading them. Any discussion about opposition to him – such as Hillary daring to run for the Democrats – is unacceptable. No matter what, they’ll maintain their position of total support. Trump’s “make America great again” message is speaking directly to a large segment of the U.S. population that’s unsatisfied, and it promises them a better future. It’s no accident that many of Trump’s supporters are white, male and poor. They see women and minorities making fundamental changes to society and it freaks them out. So they’ll ignore actual data that proves Trump is lying or racist or a bully because maintaining that good feeling of hope means more to them.
It’s just a theory but it’s one based on science. There are many people who back Trump for other reasons, but this one explains the inexplicable: how a man who has told bald-face lies, said he wanted to punch people in the Democratic party, and basically acts as un-Presidential as you can imagine, hasn’t been abandoned by hoardes of voters. I do lean toward Liberalism and I’m not likely to get talked out of it, either.
In finance we call that “investor bias” and “heard mentality” which evolves over ones life as we shift from an “emotional” brain to that of our “logical” brain where all the facts mean nothing. You can’t apply logic to an emotion since emotions aren’t based in logic to start with, there a reactionary response and this effects seniors more than youth.