A Continuum, Not a Chasm

Jackie Headapohl reports that political ideology might be hard-wired into our brains. That is to say, some of our political differences might be due to differences in our brains.

"A study out of the University College London suggests that the brains of those who hold right-wing views are structured differently than their liberal colleagues."

"Researchers studied the brains of 92 people and found that those who were conservative in their ideology has "larger amygdalas, almond shaped areas in the center of the brain often associated with anxiety and emotion, and smaller anterior cingulates, an area at the front of the brain associated with courage and looking on the bright side of life."

Don't blame me for feeling a little anxious! Blame my enlarged amygdala! And maybe my sunnier attitude toward life is because I have a larger anterior cingulate!

Try that argument out on your Tea Party neighbor; the one with the modified Constitution and Second Amendment State Militia muzzle loader! "You, sir, have a peanut-sized anterior cingulate! Or maybe none at all!"

A grain of salt is always a good thing: I rather imagine there are anxious liberals, as well as optimistic conservatives. Even so, it would not surprise me, at all, to learn that there are, indeed, differences in human brains that partially account for anxiety, on the one hand, and optimistic courage, on the other. After all, think about the sheer volume of conspiracy thinking that characterizes so many right-wing politicians: "Obama was born in Kenya! He is a communist, trying to destroy America! Nancy Pelosi is evil! Health care will kill us all; especially Grannie! Or looniest of all: God wants either Sarah Palin or Michele Bachmann to be President! (God will decide soon, maybe after the Iowa caucuses.)

It is important to remind ourselves that we are spread along a continuum; some with more anxiety, some with more optimism, but all of us with some of both. Politically, we have been acting as if all the truth were over on one side, and all the error on the other. "Just say 'No!'" Michele Bachmann thinks that Democrats are "Anti-American". Whoof!

There is a lot of anxiety in the nation, right now. Maybe the conservatives do feel it most strongly. But it is not just they. Maybe the liberals are more optimistic, more ready to move ahead, anyway. We ought to talk about that, instead of pretending that only conservatives have amygdalas, and only liberals have anterior cingulates.

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