Malcolm X

This_person

Well-Known Member
17795880_1302836713104688_3453041173277863716_n.jpg
 

This_person

Well-Known Member
Point being?

It would be great if the people being used as political pawns by one party would wake up and recognize they're being played. Vote for policies, vote for platforms. Don't vote based on party alone.

It would be great if we ALL did that, but there are some who vote in near lock step based on race, and that makes no sense.
 

Larry Gude

Strung Out
It would be great if the people being used as political pawns by one party would wake up and recognize they're being played. Vote for policies, vote for platforms. Don't vote based on party alone.

It would be great if we ALL did that, but there are some who vote in near lock step based on race, and that makes no sense.

It is innate in us. We WANT to believe, we WANT to belong. We'll identify with total strangers as being one of us if we're told the right things about it. We'll believe anything.
 

This_person

Well-Known Member
It is innate in us. We WANT to believe, we WANT to belong. We'll identify with total strangers as being one of us if we're told the right things about it. We'll believe anything.

Even if that is true, then some would believe and choose to belong to one side, others would believe and choose to belong with the other. That just explains why a side is chosen, not why a particular side is chosen.
 

Larry Gude

Strung Out
Even if that is true, then some would believe and choose to belong to one side, others would believe and choose to belong with the other. That just explains why a side is chosen, not why a particular side is chosen.

Once you accept that this is innate in us, we're predisposed to it and you observe how religion or a sports team or a political party is/are imposed on kids, it's pretty simple stuff. Get 'em while they're young. Works pretty good.
 

This_person

Well-Known Member
Once you accept that this is innate in us, we're predisposed to it and you observe how religion or a sports team or a political party is/are imposed on kids, it's pretty simple stuff. Get 'em while they're young. Works pretty good.

Again, that explains why people choose A side, but not why they overwhelmingly choose THE side they choose.
 

Larry Gude

Strung Out
Again, that explains why people choose A side, but not why they overwhelmingly choose THE side they choose.

You're looking for a complexity that does NOT exist. People might work up a real good issue why they are a D or an R or a Redskins fan or a Methodist or Episcopal yet it stands about 2 seconds of scrutiny when compared to all the other choices. In other words, it's not WHY we choose sides or teams or parties. It's just that we do. Innately and as part of our nature. You're looking for rational thought where none exists. We just want, and need, to believe. So, we do.
 

This_person

Well-Known Member
You're looking for a complexity that does NOT exist. People might work up a real good issue why they are a D or an R or a Redskins fan or a Methodist or Episcopal yet it stands about 2 seconds of scrutiny when compared to all the other choices. In other words, it's not WHY we choose sides or teams or parties. It's just that we do. Innately and as part of our nature. You're looking for rational thought where none exists. We just want, and need, to believe. So, we do.

How many NFL teams? How many variations of the Christian religion, let alone all other religions?

How many major parties?

Two choices, pretty much. If 90+% of white people, or yellow people, or red people, or brown people, or black people chose just one of the two choices (as opposed to a random scattering like most other things), wouldn't you wonder why? Yes, we want to belong, and we act according to our groupthink once we belong - by why not an even disbursement between the two parties, like white and yellow and red people?
 

Larry Gude

Strung Out
How many NFL teams? How many variations of the Christian religion, let alone all other religions?

How many major parties?

Two choices, pretty much. If 90+% of white people, or yellow people, or red people, or brown people, or black people chose just one of the two choices (as opposed to a random scattering like most other things), wouldn't you wonder why? Yes, we want to belong, and we act according to our groupthink once we belong - by why not an even disbursement between the two parties, like white and yellow and red people?

Unlike religion, the NFL is limited. Countless 1,000's of religions have come and gone. The parties have come and gone, too. Try not to lose sight of the dominant party in the US being "E, none of the above". That alone is enough to give me some hope, some faith.
 

Monello

Smarter than the average bear
PREMO Member
a sports team or a political party is/are imposed on kids, it's pretty simple stuff. Get 'em while they're young.

Most of my nephews root for the same team as their dads. And they aren't the local team of the region. I find that interesting because it was like they didn't have a choice. "Son, we are mudhen's fans in this house!"
 

Larry Gude

Strung Out
Most of my nephews root for the same team as their dads. And they aren't the local team of the region. I find that interesting because it was like they didn't have a choice. "Son, we are mudhen's fans in this house!"

That IS the interesting part ; how we teach and inculcate. There was a time when this was a matter of survival which makes it a good thing, then, that it is innate in us. Now, we're past that and ought to be able to think our way around and through things. But, that is a lot of nature to battle.
 
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