Who Needs Reason?

In my personal experience, it very quickly becomes painfully obvious when someone’s partisan politics have erased their ability to think clearly about much of anything. The best current example is that it seems that once someone has self-identified as either loving/hating George Bush, they will pretty much accept/detest anything and everything he has to say. And now there is scientific evidence that supports this anecdotal observation, demonstrating that partisan voters show a complete lack of higher-brain functioning when reviewing data critical of their preferred candidate’s position. Specifically, “brain scans revealed no activity in areas of conscious analytical thought, but instead in emotional circuits including conflict and disgust.” Perhaps this isn't such a terrible thing; it just shows that we tend to outsource our decision-making on difficult issues to someone we have decided (on what grounds? – ed.) that we trust. Nikki Sullivan points out that it would be interesting to see how swing voters and independents responded to the study – which may confirm my belief not to trust the political opinions of anyone with strong party affiliations because they’re probably not really thinking about the issues anymore, while an independent might at least be guided by higher principles and rationality.