Are Republicans descended from the same species as us?

[Cyrano]

Seriously. They are so incredibly different from us. The way they think, their short comings regarding human decency, their casual acceptance of cruelty, their hatred of the "Other," their total inability to accept a sane blueprint for living peacefully together, like our Constitution.

At some point in the ancient evolutionary chain of life, was their a split that separated humans into two different genetic species? Were there those who cared about others and those who didn't give a shit about anyone else?

There's no DNA test that would show any difference between a Democrat and a Republican. But maybe, just maybe, there's some kind of test that has not yet been discovered. Something that may reveal a difference that may exist in the brain. (Or in the conscience if such a thing exists.)

Republicans call us "elites," and we call them "idiots." These crude terms suggest that some kind of difference exists between us other than the meanings of those two words. It's a difference in the way we think. It's a difference in our brains. I wonder if we'll ever discover what it is.

In the meantime, we're stuck sharing this planet together. And we must either learn to live together, or we are all doomed to misery, and eventually, total annihilation.

I must add that I am not speaking of every Republican in the world. However I am comfortable with the characteristics I've attributed to them overall.

[dawg day]

2. What's weird is..

Some of them have our same parents.

[Cyrano]

3. Go figure.

There's so, so much at this point in our evolution about which we are clueless.

[dawg day]

12. Yeah, we think "nature and nurture"--

And some of us have siblings -- same nature AND nurture-- who are Trumpers. A friend of mine's sister was pretty progressive until she got married to a rightwinger. Now she's more nutso than hubster is-- he's kind of scared by her absolute commitment to guns. I don't blame him... she's got an arsenal in their basement, and she actually jokes that if he pisses her off...

My friend is a real peacenik who won't kill mosquitoes... not sure how she and this sister came out of the same upbringing.

[Midnight Writer]

4. I believe it is explained by personality imprints. Behavior programmed in infancy.

Before the child has developed memories, they have learned behaviors that are basic to their personalities, behaviors that are the foundation that all their later experiences are colored by.

Freud linked this famously to the trauma of toilet training. If an infant is nurtured through encouragement and rewards, they tend to be more tolerant and empathetic. If a child learns through punishment and disparagement, they tend to be judgmental and build emotional armor around themselves.

That's my pet theory. Look at a list of behaviors in old psychology texts and compare that with the personality traits you observe in conservatives, and they line up quite neatly.

[SheltieLover]

14. Major brain structure differences, per NIH

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3092984/

[unblock]

5. the lesson of the holocaust is to be aware that the ingredients for atrocities exist in all of us

normally everything works well and we have checks and balances and trustworthy sources and ethics and so on to keep us doing the right thing.

but all of that can be short-circuited and the challenge is to keep those circumstances from rewiring too much.

we all lean on authority for our view of what's going on but we keep authorities in balance and seek competing views
we all understand the need for protection of those in our circle from those outside but we still treat outsiders as guests
we all understand the need desperation tactics in time of war but we try to limit war
we all understand the need to get rid of pests but recognize all humans are people.

years of authoritative propaganda can remove these caveats and make people do horrible things even while they're utterly convinced they're doing the proper, moral thing.

remember those old "this is your brain; this is your brain on drugs" commercials?
well, imagine a similar psa: "this is you; this is you on two decades of foxnews".

[SlogginThroughIt]

6. I really do not care for this type of talk.

Honestly it is really a poor choice to go down this road.

[Cyrano]

9. My guess is you're worried about me dehumanizing Republicans

I suggest you worry about Republicans dehumanizing us. Need proof? Check out the last 50 years.

[SlogginThroughIt]

16. I do worry about it both ways.

I find most of their policy to be horrible. I think the way they dehumanize us is disgusting. But I think that if we go down this road of continuing to dehumanize them that we are pushing ourselves to disaster. They are after all still our countrymen. I just don't want to live in a world where we have to do that. But I do understand the way that they treat us. I can't stand some of the names that they call us. And the way that they treat people in general.

[marylandblue]

7. There has been a lot of research on this.

Conservatives tend to have stronger feelings of fear and disgust than liberals. They are therefore more prone to be drawn in by fear-based messaging such as Trump uses. He also uses the word "disgusting" and uses disgusting imagery (eg., blood coming out of her whatever) against his opponents.

If you make someone fearful of and disgusted by other people, they are more willing to accept violence in the guise of protecting themselves or their communities. In the extreme, this creates world historical tragedies. I hope we can talk them off the ledge someday.

[OhZone]

10. Yeah, this

[DFW]

8. That depends. How far back do you want to go? n/t

[OhZone]

11. Same species -

different wiring.

[SheltieLover]

13. Major brain structure differences, per NIH

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3092984/

[Freddie]

15. Virtue signaling

Among a lot of them, because abortion is the ONLY issue. Never mind that Democratic policies tend to reduce the number of abortions. The Republican Party is officially “Pro-Life” and they have to wear their pro-life devotion on their sleeves. I see this among some people I know. They’re not racists, not gun nuts, care about the poor, health care and the environment. But they feel a sacred obligation to support the Repugs ***no matter what*** because of this one issue that is far more important (to them) than any other.

[rickford66]

17. Republican/Conservative equals absence of empathy

Just my opinion

[UTUSN]

18. Hah!1