Human Nature

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Politics and Human Behavior: Things To Know and Consider Truth: Spotting Lies and Liars Escaping the Culture of Fear Psychology of Voting How Language Shapes Thought - Understanding this can prevent others manipulating you New Mythos The ideas that run our brains come from the myths embedded in pop culture. If you like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, The Matrix - you are choosing new bases for thinking. Optimism Protects Against Death - by Robert Preidt Being an optimist may help reduce your risk of dying from heart disease and other causes. | Human Nature: Is It With Us or Against Us? Politics is about humans - how we govern ourselves, how we act in groups, how we set boundaries on human behavior. Yet despite constant political analysis, rarely do the nuts and bolts of human nature (especially the nuts!) enter the discussion. American discussion of presidential candidates is centering not on policy, not on political action and its repercussions, but on 'character', appearance, choice of wives, duty and honor, likeability and ungrounded perception. And though rarely will the so-called 'experts' discuss it, political strategy in large part consists of addressing how the nature of the candidate - his likeability and personality - are perceived by the electorate. Because of this, Americans vote based on easily manipulated emotions and perceptions, triggered by hot-button words and magical misdirection toward feelings of comfort and safety. Pushed and pulled wherever the spin doctors want them to go, perceptions of the American electorate can be directed at will. Meanwhile, the rest of the world marvels at our lack of assessment of the deep issues before us, and holds its collective breath while the giant military behemoth that is the United States chooses its president based on who is the more protective Daddy. This makes White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card's comment, that President Bush regards America as a ten-year-old child (September 7, 2004), a revealing window into the psyche of American politicians. Isn't it time we look through that window ourselves? Only by doing so can we inoculate ourselves through knowledge of our human frailties and tendencies against the Culture of Spin we find ourselves in. Conservative or liberal, Republicrat or Demoblican, we deserve better than outright manipulation at the hands of either politicians OR the media. But this can happen only if we disarm their techniques through knowledge. So it's up to us - and hopefully these pages make a good start.

Participant Comments follow below

It used to be that understanding the world was about understanding God... can we go back to that, in a fair-dealing way? 11/10/04 21:49:34 GMT

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It used to be that understanding the world was about understanding God... can we go back to that, in a fair-dealing way? 11/10/04 21:48:55 GMT

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LINKS Psychological>http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/topic.htm">Psychological Classics

- Advanced set of texts, but highly useful.
A. Harken
10/22/04 06:54:47 GMT