I've posted extensively on discussion boards over the years. I've noticed a phenomenon on boards dominated by older right wing males: their posting styles are noticeably more emotional and more subjective than posters on left wing boards.
On boards which trend left, the female members (especially those in their 30s through mid 50s) sometimes get emotional and impassioned. But when it comes to getting personally insulting towards people who post opposing information (they really hate information), I was perplexed by the emotionalism and subjectivity of older males. Their language, expressions and points of reference tend to identify some as 'angry white males'. Much of my life I'd heard men described as being more objective than subjective. I've learned that's not true among right wing males.
I've been posting for a couple of weeks on a board which is medium sized and hosted by Yuku is closed to public view ( but anybody can register on Yuku and post on it, if you want to look PM me for link). I am frankly stunned how much some people cherish their hatred and ignorance. Until lately I thought 'Obama derangement syndrome' was exaggerated. And with it is a subset of animosity which is directed at 'liberal' females. It doesn't take much for the self-described 'conservative' males to display anger at women posters. These types of guys aren't rich at all but they spend a lot of time defending trickle down economics and the interests of the really wealthy, which class they've no chance of ever reaching.
Anyhow, I started searching and wondered if there was any science to support my personal observations. It turned out there is!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/8228192/Political-views-hard-wired-into-your-brain.htmlExcerpt:
Scientists have found that people with conservative views have brains with larger amygdalas, almond shaped areas in the centre of the brain often associated with anxiety and emotions.
On the otherhand, they have a smaller anterior cingulate, an area at the front of the brain associated with courage and looking on the bright side of life.
The "exciting" correlation was found by scientists at University College London who scanned the brains of two members of parliament and a number of students.
They found that the size of the two areas of the brain directly related to the political views of the volunteers.
However as they were all adults it was hard to say whether their brains had been born that way or had developed through experience.
Prof Geraint Rees, who led the research, said: "We were very surprised to find that there was an area of the brain that we could predict political attitude.
"It is very surprising because it does suggest there is something about political attitude that is encoded in our brain structure through our experience or that there is something in our brain structure that determines or results in political attitude."
Prof Rees and his team, who carried out the research for the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, looked at the brain make up of the Labour MP Stephen Pound and Alan Duncan, the Conservative Minister of State for International Development using a scanner.
They also questioned a further 90 students, who had already been scanned for other studies, about their political views.
The results, which will be published next year, back up a study that showed that some people were born with a "Liberal Gene" that makes people more likely to seek out less conventional political views.
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