Republicans: different brains, different tactics

02/20/2013

 
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That Democrats and Republicans think differently is rather obvious to most.

But these opposing political supporters even think from different parts of the brain, a recent study found.

According to the recent (and appropriately titled) “Red Brain, Blue Brain” report, Democrats have higher activity in the left insula – the part of the brain that processes internal cues and emotions – when facing risks.
When Republicans think about risk, however, they have much higher activity in the right amygdale, the region of the brain associated with fear and exterior cues.  As a result, these conservative-leaning voters “show greater sensitivity to threatening stimuli,” the report concludes in its summary.

In other words, Democrats tend to think through challenging circumstances before responding, while Republicans are more prone to react impulsively and emotionally to outside influences.

The “Red Brain, Blue Brain” study was conducted by professors of medicine, psychology, psychiatry, biology and (of course) political science, and was released by the Public Library of Science on Feb. 13.

Eighty-two subjects who identified their political preferences participated in the research, which included MRI tests conducted as they participated in risk-taking mental exercises and games. Researchers confirmed subject party identification by voting records. 
Although the study was just released, similar ones have circulated in recent years, and it seems the Republican Party has kept up with the topic, too.

For example, a 2008 study published in Science noted that conservatives have much quicker and stronger physiological reactions to sudden noises and alarming photos than do liberal Democrats, and establishes connotation between Republicans’ knee-jerk responses and their political beliefs of increased military spending and capital punishment. 
Republican campaign platforms and political ads used that year and in following have been laden with such tactics, too. For example (and see slide show for images at the bottom of this page):

  • The McCain campaign was often criticized for using “fear factors,” such as calling opponent Obama a “terrorist” and implying racial division in 2008. 
  • Hoping to build support for offshore drilling, the GOP falsely claimed that China was drilling immediately off the coast of Cuba, threatening U.S. oil supplies. 
  • Arguments against the Affordable Care Act from 2009 and 2010 told of “death panels.”
  • Both Republican candidates and the National Rifle Association continue false claims that “Obama will take away your guns.” 
  • The “Obama is a Muslim” tactic has been continuously promoted, and at times in support of the juvenile “birth certificate” argument. 
  • In March 2010, an internal party presentation that was leaked to media showed how the Republican National Committee intended to promote the term “socialism” as a fear-inducing tactic in voter outreach and fundraising. 
  • Voters saw that fraudulent “socialism” tactic regularly used in 2012, too, and from Republican candidates for U.S. Senate and U.S. House, not to mention the presidential race. 
  • A tactic now known as “Medi-scare” – a false claim that the savings Obamacare produces for Medicare were actually cuts to its benefits, thus threatening the well-being of seniors – was widely used by many campaigns. 
  • And in last year’s elections, strongly religious voters were pelted with ads and other communications that frequently referred to “danger” and “threats” to “Judeo-Christian” values. Some were even told that a vote for President Obama was equivalent to “reject(ing) Jesus Christ” and would “put your own soul in jeopardy,” and were threatened with the claim that their votes would “be recorded in eternity.” (See video at bottom of this page)
Apparently, and as 2012 election results showed, the population of “blue brain” Americans seems to be dominant.

Another study associating political beliefs to specific operation of the brain was released recently, as well.

Last year, the Univ. of South Carolina released a neurological study of similar format but focusing on different areas of the brain. Similar to the “Red Brain, Blue Brain” results, this study found members of the opposing parties to have higher activity rates in different cranial areas.
Democrats have more activity in the part of the brain connected with wider social connections, such as friends and issues that affect more people and are inclusive of other parts of the world, the USC study concludes; on the other hand, Republicans are dominantly active in the brain region associated with tight social connections, such as family and their own personal properties and interests. 

 

Kincannon caught in twisted tweets

02/05/2013

 
While millions across the country watched Sunday's Super Bowl, a prominent South Carolina Republican spent the time tweeting crude comments about the game and its participants, leading to a series of arguments that are still ongoing.

Todd Kincannon, a Columbia attorney and ranking member of the South Carolina Republican Party, apparently drew the last straw in the Twitter community with the following message, submitted at 9:09 p.m. on Feb. 3:
“This Super Bowl sucks more d--- than adult Trayvon Martin would have for drug money.”

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Martin was the unarmed, young African-American who, while walking in his father’s subdivision, was shot and killed by a Neighborhood Watch coordinator in February 2012.

Retorts from many were quickly responded to in counter-tweets from Kincannon, who responded with insults and additional questionable comments on race, violence and homosexuality.

In other tweets submitted during the game, Kincannon referred to Colin Kaepernick, the biracial quarterback who started for the 49ers in yesterday’s game, as “quadroon” and “mulatto.”

In an interview yesterday with Huffington Post Live, Kincannon defended his Twitter statements, saying “they were just for fun.”

Between 2004 and 2010, Kincannon served as executive director and general counsel of the state GOP. He also once served on the Republican National Committee, and in 2011 ran for state party chair. 

While this series of vulgar tweets might take some aback, Kincannon’s already well-known for offensive Twitter communication.  For example:
  • In October 2012, a conservative online journal reported that Kincannon was caught “sexting” (not once, not twice, but three times), submitting nude photographs of himself and requesting the same from women in the Columbia region. 
(See slideshow of those tweets and other images below)

This history contradicts his public statement against former Rep. Anthony Weiner, who resigned from congress in May 2011 after caught tweeting suggestive photos of himself – the same misbehavior for which Kincannon himself is now accused. On Sept. 13, 2011, Kincannon suggested that people send the Republican who replaced Weiner “some disinfectant. The office needs it.”

Following his still-ongoing Twitter tirade, a Columbia TV station issued a formal statement denying any affiliation with Kincannon. “He is not now – nor has he ever been – an employee of WACH Fox.”

Kincannon had appeared as a legal commentator on WACH’s “Good Day Columbia” four times in 2011, including a Sept. 15 broadcast that year on the legality of sexting.

On Jan. 5, Kincannon began promoting a retaliation method against what he alleged to be organized campaigns to falsely label false conservative tweets as spam, thus limiting their reach and damaging Twitter accounts.

This “#TGDN” (or “Twitter Gulag Defense Network”) method is reportedly used to hinder the Twitter accounts of non-conservatives, however.

 

On roadways, racism and Internet news

03/09/2012

 
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Since the advent of the Internet and its near-takeover of modern media, it’s bizarre what passes for “news” nowadays. 

For example, a project to address local traffic safety needs has been turned into – and with no factual basis, mind you – a racist fodder festival.

Specifically, a story-of-sorts titled “SCDOT moves to bulldoze Confederate Monument” has circulated on the local Examiner since last Sunday, and even progressed to “NAACP linked to effort to bulldoze Confederate Monument” in a follow-up posted yesterday.

Thing is, though, there’s no bulldozing to be done, and the NAACP didn’t even know about this project, much less had any influence on it.  

Here’s the case: two busy highways in Orangeburg merge at an odd angle. Drivers on Russell St can’t see well enough to get onto John C. Calhoun Dr (there’s no merging lane, either) and many accidents occur at that oddly-shaped corner as a result – 30 rear-end collisions alone in the last three years, in fact.

To make needed improvement, the state’s Dept. of Transportation has proposed to create a 90-degree corner at that point, instead, complete with stop sign. 
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The point where the new merge would be made, though, borders a 120 square-foot spot maintained by the Sons of the Confederate Veterans organization. And a small monument the SCV put up there just a few years ago might block line-of-sight, and would thus have to be moved. (A needed roadway drainage pipe plays a part in that, too.)

But did you notice I said “moved”? That’s right – moved. Picked up and relocated – not “bulldozed,” as some wannabe-reporter declares in the title of his first article on the subject.

And to where, exactly, would it be moved? On to same-sized property that SCV would get in exchange, according to Kevin Gantt, who’s managing this project for SCDOT.

This didn’t create a SCV vs. SCDOT ring match, either. A public meeting on the project was held Feb. 23 at Orangeburg’s Chamber of Commerce facility.   And instead of the roaring ruckus the “writer” seems hopeful to promote in reader response, the meeting barely produced any burps.

In fact, the local SCV commander Peter Boineau seemed agreeable to the road improvement. “As long as we can come to an agreement with our monument and our flag and as long as it is a visible place with all the camps in agreement, I see no problem in this being resolved,” he told the local newspaper.

“There is no need for anybody to get upset about anything as long as there is a place where we can meet in the middle.”

There could actually be quite a few middles to meet, too, according to Gantt, who says there could be a few locations to choose from when that time comes, and some locations were even proposed by SCV members at the meeting.

As for the “NAACP linked to” part of the title used in one of those cheesy write-ups?

“I don’t know where that claim started,” Gantt said. “We’ve had no contact with the NAACP.”

Not only did the NAACP itself confirm that it had no contact with anyone on this project, but it didn’t even know about the project.

I had to inform Barbra Williams, president of the Orangeburg branch of NAACP, about the proposed roadway improvement. “I have no knowledge of that,” she said.

One of the so-called articles claims the intersection was selected by the Lower Savannah Council of Governments, the chair of which is a “major supporter” of the local NAACP, it reads.

But COG doesn’t play any part in this planning phase, according to Gantt. “The projects are (first) identified by local entities,” he said, adding that COG’s agreement to fund comes later. So far in this project’s development, COG “has had no communications on it.”

I don’t want to give the person who wrote all that drivel the chance to earn a single cent from his tomfoolery, so I won’t offer links to the articles in question from that particular Examiner site. But if you care to actually read the gibberish, here’s a link to the first one from another source: “SCDOT moves to bulldoze Confederate Monument.”

Be forewarned, though; that link will bring you to the site of American Renaissance, a hate group labeled by the Southern Poverty Law Center to be of “white nationalist” persuasion. (Incidentally, SPLC also notes the author of these so-called articles to be a “new racialist.”)

So is there any lesson in all this? Well, there could be few to learn.

For starters, a problematic traffic corner in Orangeburg can be corrected. SVC is willing to work with SCDOT on that project. The Confederate monument that’s currently at that corner will be moved to a new location.  And no matter what any lunatic may still be claiming, the NAACP didn’t have anything to do with the plan – in fact, it didn’t even know of the proposed road project until I personally told its president about it this evening.

A more important lesson that I hope everyone would know by now, though, is to be very, very critical of what attempts to pass itself off as “news” on the Internet.

Always question. Always verify.

As I hope I’ve demonstrated, the worldwide web seems to have opened the closet doors of quite a few kooks – and racists, too.