Lisa Botwinick on Letters from an American

[Lisa Botwinick]

I heard the conference live this afternoon and such crap came out of his mouth! Why would a black person, male or female support him and any race? It's beyond me! Someone posted on Stitch.net today and I would like to post it here explaining about the Trump Maga people.

From a woman named Jeri in Seattle, WA.

I believe many of them do know what they are voting for, but they are so far gone down the rabbit hole, they believe he is their messiah of sorts. I see over and over again that those people don't believe in facts. They have a distorted view of the world that makes them believe they have some kind of special knowledge - that there is a whole army of them across the nation who have a special understanding that only "the chosen" can attain. It's the same kind of brain that accepts absurdities in their religion and allows them to ignore huge discrepancies that would prove them wrong if they were to acknowledge them. That's why so many religious people support this nonsense. They already had the kind of brain that prefers emotion to logic. Humans tend to be that way anyway. You have to train yourself to think logically. That leaves the intellectually lazy vulnerable to demogoguery. Science has discovered that politically conservative people have larger amygdala, the part of the brain that reacts to fear and perceived threats, and liberals have larger cingulate cortexes, the area of the brain that helps detect errors and resolve conflicts. When we lived in tribes, both of these kinds of brains were beneficial for the survival of the group, but now that we don't live with the constant threat of being eaten by tigers and bears, those overactive amygdala have to find threats even if they are imaginary. That leaves them wide open to a strongman type who will tell them, "I, and I alone, can protect you." The article is below from The Scientific American.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/conservative-and-liberal-brains-might-have-some-real-differences/

You can read this article and understand because you believe science is an independent venture aimed at arriving at knowledge, but one of Trump's supporters will only read a "liberal plot" to trick the public. Science, statistics, climate data, history, etc, are all threats to them now thanks to manipulative, power-hungry fools who think money is the only currency that counts.

What do you think? It makes a lot of sense to me. They don't understand about Critical Thinking at all! I'm not used to that as I am educated and grew up in a family that values education.

[Cathy Wampler]

Lisa, you made an excellent point about how religiously-minded people have dulled down their critical thinking skills in no order to be loyal to their religious beliefs. Fanatics who believe that the Earth is only 6,000 years old use the same impaired mind to believe that Trump would be a good president. A conservative cult is easy to manipulate.

What the nation needs is critical thinking skills taught at every level of school beginning with kindergarten. Of course, conservative politicians will be against this. Like Trump, they prefer the “poorly educated” cult.