Krugman: The Backfire Effect

[highplainsdem]

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/16/the-backfire-effect/

I’m coming to this a bit late, but I see that there’s now extensive evidence that facts not only don’t win arguments, they make people on the wrong side dig in even deeper: “When your deepest convictions are challenged by contradictory evidence, your beliefs get stronger.”

I think this explains a lot about how the Tea Party has handled the growing evidence that it was not, in fact, going to be able to use the shutdown and the debt ceiling to achieve what it failed to achieve in the 2012 election.

-snip-

[cheyanne]

1. There is a typical life span of extremist movements.

Before the Tea Party got to the "ideological purity" stage, it was in the conspiracy theory build up.

Once a group has accepted a conspiracy theory since it explains all events, they can enjoy defeat after defeat without a tremor. Some members will get tired of losing and leave the group.

However, once the group starts to eat its own, a is happening now, it will become smaller and more extreme. It will have less influence in society.

The next step is violence.

Then the theory will lie dormant until the next economic crises, when it will bloom again.

[lumberjack_jeff]

2. Yes. One loses credibility points for being right. It's extremely vexing. n/t