Conservatives and Liberals Can't Agree on What Constitutes Reality

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/conservatives-and-liberals-cant-agree-what-constitutes-reality

According to a recent Pew Research Foundation report, liberals and conservatives live in different worlds. The report depicts a society where finding common ground to confront shared problems is all but impossible. Pew’s research provides empirical evidence for the common-sense notion that America’s political culture is broken.

The report details how those on the Left and the Right do not talk with one another, have separate social networks, different values, consume different news media, live in neighborhoods with politically like-minded people, and possess different attitudes about America’s changing ethnic and racial demographics.

The report notes that "far more liberals than conservatives think it is important that a community have racial and ethnic diversity (76% vs. 20%). At the same time, conservatives are more likely than liberals to attach importance to living in a place where many people share their religious faith (57% vs. 17% of liberals).”

Most importantly, the Left and the Right cannot agree on basic facts about the nature of empirical reality. Movement conservatives are immersed in a fantasy land of mythological thinking on a range of issues from global warming and science to the economy and foreign policy.

[Laelth]

1. k&r for exposure. n/t

-Laelth

[chervilant]

2. Mythological thinking...

That could be a cool thing, if it meant conservatives have a rich imagination. They sure do seem to live in la-la land.

[1StrongBlackMan]

3. Posted to for later reading. eom.

[Katashi_itto]

4. Everything is slowly getting set up for an American Rwanda.

RWer have no critical thinking ability whatsoever.

[malaise]

5. Get thee to the greatest page

Sadly ignorance is bliss for the Right

[LondonReign2]

6. Five minutes of discussion with a conservative proves this out

Observable facts and reality mean absolutely nothing to them.

[kentuck]

7. That is a challenge...

How do you break through the iron bubble of propaganda?

[tridim]

8. There is only one reality, Republicans.

It will still be here if you ever want to participate.

[Cosmocat]

9. Humans have a capacity to form opions and build facts from there

It is something we all do to an extent with things, and certainly "liberals" are not immune to it.

But ... This is a VERY prevalent process for "conservatives" and what I have come to realize is why trying to convince them of things with reality and facts is a lost cause.

They have these ideas, beliefs. concepts and just rationalize them however they can, and their veracity is not important.

Also, this is why AM radio, the endless string of books regurgitating their nonsense and conservative media is so wildly profitable and prevalent. There are a bunch of biases or beliefs that the republican party has come to rely on to build its "base" and there are an endless string of people willing to turn a buck peddling bullshit to help people reaffirm these beliefs.

Not sure what we can do about it until or if something really significant happens to force people out of their current state of comfort and apathy.

[el_bryanto]

12. That's the thing - Liberals value education and exploration

or many of them do. So even if we construct a bubble, there will regularly be people going outside it to see what people are thinking elsewhere.

Bryant

[AlbertCat]

10. The "browning" of America.

Hey Teabaggers!

Everything is global these days .... and looking at the whole globe I think you might find a majority of homo sapiens are of color, not white. America will reflect this. (How could it not?) So get used to it and maybe start being a little nicer to those with more melanin than you. Really, it's not scary!


But since you guys live in a la-la land of fear, I know you will ignore these facts.

[Moostache]

11. K&R...sadly with no surprise whatsoever

The majority of conservatives I deal with are completely out to lunch on every single issue. They parrot back talking points no matter how thoroughly debunked or ridiculous. It is bizarre and only getting worse and worse as they marinate in the Fox News / RW Radio cocoon. I am afraid of what may eventually emerge from that cocoon though...the most horrific things in the world have always been perpetrated by the most deluded humans of their eras.

[bklyncowgirl]

13. Interesting--and depressing

How do we get back to a place where common sense and yeah, sometimes compromise rules.

[mark67]

14. I remember in 2007 or thereabouts...

Sean Hannity (Yes I used to dip into that program for entertainment purposes) telling viewers "All I'm asking for folks, is 3 hours a day", which conspiracy theories aside, is more or less the formula for brainwashing someone to a certain point of view.

My brother's mother-in-law, in her 70s, wakes up and goes to sleep with Fox News blasting, and has it one all day, everyday. She is effectively, completely isolated from reality in many respects.

What's dangerous about the current "right-wing" media bubble is these same people retreat into it once they think their core beliefs are threatened with reality. Back in the day, you could call someone out-everyone (including Democrats and liberals) occasionally gets a crazy idea, but people call you out, pull you back towards the light, and keep you from embarrassing yo9urself further-or at least that's the way it used to work.

[DeSwiss]

15. We all live in our own reality tunnels.....

...some are simply closer or similar to others. Some aren't.

- The one thing that is the same in all our realities, is our uniqueness within it.....

K&R

''Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else.'' ~George Orwell, 1984

[Htom Sirveaux]

16. As Upton Sinclair said...

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!"

[Evergreen Emerald]

17. My theory is that we are in the midst of a "divide-and-conquer" attack

And we are buying into it. While we are fighting over the facts of the social issues, the elected officials are working hard for big business. They are creating a "serfdom" if you will where the middle class must work for pittance, while the big businesses take their money elsewhere. do not reinvest, and do not even pretend to "trickle down."

While we fight over the propaganda, and vote on issues like "guns" and "abortion" they take our treasure and destroy our democracy.

[canoeist52]

21. Yes. This needs it's own OP.

[drm604]

18. Try to discuss anything with a conservative on Discussionist.

They'll make a claim and, when you ask them for a cite, they insist that it's up to you to prove them wrong and that you're asking them to do your work for you. By their thinking, if you can't prove them wrong then they win the argument.

They can't seem to grasp the idea that it's the responsibility of the person making the claim to back up that claim. Either that or they know that they can't back it up so they're just trying to obfuscate.

This division, by the way, did not occur all by itself. Certainly there's been this type of division since before the Civil War. But the recent increase has been encouraged and nurtured by certain groups and individuals for their own interests, and with no regard for the dangerous situation they're creating.

[hootinholler]

19. Can't agree on basic facts?

Um, hell we can't even agree on what a fact actually is. Conservative opinion is viewed by conservatives as facts. Studies show if you correct them on a fact, they become more entrenched in their version.

[mountain grammy]

20. Reality became big in the 60's and 70's and it was too much for some people

So we got Reagan who said we don't need no stinkin' fairness doctrine and the race to ignorance was on. Just electing Reagan was a good start. Right wing radio began to rule the airwaves, interviewers would allow untrue statements to stand and Fox News was the dream that would come true. Every conspiracy theorist right wing nut gets to sit on the beautiful set with the beautiful bleach blonds and spout the dumbest shit you ever heard and a big chunk of Americans are glued to it.