Politics and Human Nature

[Jerrel]

After a perticular thread about a perticular nationality I got to thinking. Why, when speaking about politics, do people's intellectuality degrade so much. I envy those who keep calm when debating things that most of us would get into shouting matches over. I often try to emulate their calm with varring degrees of sucess and failure.

One thing I notice that people do is when talking about things that tick them off about the leadership of a nation, political party, or religion we simply say the name of the nation, political party, or religion. This gives others the impression that the speaker feels that all members of the given group are guilty of what ever the speaker is complaining about. We all use generalizing terms and we all mistake anyone doing that same as lumping the good in the group with the bad. Humanity is guilty of doing both things. There are those out there that do believe that every one associated with a sertain group are corrupt or rightous but I do believe the majority of us simply fall into this pitfall of thought.

I wonder why we do it even when we realize that we are doing it? Why do I say the French are this when I mean the French Government and why when reading something some one wrote about Republicans, do I feel that speaker is talking about me as well when I know the speaker means the Republican Leadership?

With every ounce of rational thought I have I cannot think of any other reason that human nature. We defend those we see as brotheren and we see groups we are not members of as a single entity instead of a collection of individuals. I try to fight these inpulses but I am Human making escaping the negative aspects of human nature imposible.

[Sai'nu]

This is a bit of a livewire; However I think the best way we can put this is...

It simply 'is' Human Nature. We have a tendancy to attack what we don't understand. Beliefs especially because they are so rooted in us we can not fathom another culture 'not' believing the same thing.

We can apply the Survival of the fittest rule to politics as well. So; where these conflicts occour and why they continue is not at all surprising. What can be done about it?

Well, there my friends, you can look to Mother Nature for your answers. An idea, like a drop of water, can turn into a waterfall with the help of other drops of water. What is my point? Don't contribute to hate; instead try to see the other person's point of view... and, then, even if you don't agree with it... and, indeed, if a majority of us still don't understand it or may think it's wrong... realize that that party does have a human right to have their beliefs too. This does not always justify actions though...

Simply a hard topic to tackle in my opinion. There are both wrong and right answers to this and many blurred lines.

[Kahuaria]

Your absolutely right, it is human nature. We want to belong to something and if we feel that it (whatever we choose to belong to) is being threatened then we feel like its a personal attack on us. It took me along time to learn that being angry wasn't doing me any good. Its alright to be angry, healthy to be angry, but only if vented in a healthy way.

As far as generalizations, that can be tougher. I was writing an artical once on feminism and the effects it had on women in the 40-50's. after reading through it i realized i had made alot of generalizations and it made me feel bad. If i want people to take me seriously about anything I wish to discuss I need to make sure that I don't leave my gaurd down on any level. The only reason I'm so consious about it today is that article.

I think another reason some people don't think about using generalizations, is that we aren't really taught much about it in school. Unless we have a teacher who is him/herslef consious about it then they aren't going to point out the importance and difference it can make in a statement to say, "women in the 40's suffered from Housewife's Syndrom." rather than "Some women who felt oppressed in the 40's ...."

We are all human, we will make mistakes, we will act before we think, but its really not the mistakes we make, but rather what we do about them afterwards. I quickly went through that entire article and corrected things, and I try to rememer that there will never be a situation where there is just black and white; there will always be that gray area.

[Novall]

I quickly went through that entire article and corrected things, and I try to rememer that there will never be a situation where there is just black and white; there will always be that gray area.

I used to think that also, but I've found that no matter what you hold to be true and honest...others arnt going to accept that or feel the same way. It gets old to give a gray area when you cant get one in return.

Anytime you go against the ebb and flow of the larger or more outspoken group your going to get flack. This goes for ploitics or anything where opinions come into play.

[Ekade]

Why, when speaking about politics, do people's intellectuality degrade so much?

When someone's hot-button is pressed, it becomes an emotional issue as much as an intellectual issue.

It is definately human nature. It has to be. We react to ideas just as we do to any other stimulation.


Why do we want to change people's minds? We want to control our environment. Watching my children has taught me many things.. but one of the most interesting things I observed is that we all have an INTENSE desire to control our environment. This includes having others see our point of view.

I listen to my 5 year old trying to explain to me why she should have her way and it is hard not to laugh sometimes. We do the same thing here, we want people to see things the way we do.. because we feel we are right.

We communicate to get what we want. Influencing others to see our point of view is part of that. Getting frustrated over lack of success in that, or upon seeing someone else trying to influence others into seeing an opposing point of view, is all part of that.