I’ve come to believe that discussions about politics are completely useless. Except in a few rare occasions, nobody will change their minds, and in the best case people will agree to disagree.
Don’t get me wrong, I think people are capable of rational thought, I just don’t think it’s their default setting. And political (or religious) convictions don’t fall under the rational umbrella at all.
It’s very simple, my intuition is that the opinions we hold are motivated by love and respect. In most cases our parents, or parental figures, are the ones we inherit them from. The feelings we experience when someone discredits those belief are often suspiciously close to hurt, as if someone was belittling the people we love. Not the best ground for cool logic.
Sometimes, someone’s worldview will change fundamentally during their lifetime, but it’s usually because they get emotionally close to someone who holds a strong and different view. You’ll see people adapt their opinions to their spouse’s or partner’s, for instance.
Then there are those who’ve never received much love or never had anyone to look up to in their childhood: those are prime territory for cult leaders or political extremists – an attractively blank slate. They’ll be much, much more likely to accept anyone feeding them a consistent, if simplistic world view, together with the notion that they’re somehow special. Love and respect again.
It’s an instinct that probably harks back to groups of primates following their leaders and their kin.
Ask yourself when the last time was you seriously questioned your core beliefs ? I bet that if anyone can make you do that, it’s someone you look up to, respect and like. If some random yahoo starts slinging argumentation your way, you’ll probably dismiss it out of hand.
On the other hand, we’ll all jump like caffeinated rabbits on any argument that bolsters what we already think, even though we’d never thought of it before. Sounds a lot like rationalization, doesn’t it ?
So anyway, I don’t think political discussions will truly change anyone’s mind. Probably not in the pub, and especially not on the internets. Waste of time.
I don’t think it’s a waste of time (it’s actually one my favorite discussion topics).
However, you’re right when you say how difficult is to change someone’s ideas regarding politics (and specially religion). What happens, I believe, is that people won’t accept someone’s is right (or just worth considering) *on the spot*. It’s one of these things you need time to process – and you won’t change your mind until *you* eventually convince yourself.
we’ll have to agree to disagree
Maybe I’m wrong, but my point is that the battle is not waged on actual facts, but rather on emotion and influence one person has over another.
If people have a hard time changing their political view, why do voters change political parties (often, lately) ? I do think people can change their political views based on what they see/hear from the media, what they experience every day and what they discuss with peers. I do think people can be influenced by more than just the people they love/respect.
In fact I have seen it happen the past few years.
So I tend to agree more with zeta on this.
Certainly I won’t propose a chat about politics next time we’ll have a drink
Dag: how many people do you know vote based on an actual agenda vs a politician’s aura ?
Besides, one might argue that our political parties are shifty as hell and will bend themselves over backwards to say something the voter will like. So maybe people don’t change opinions, political parties do and so people jump ship.
“I think people are capable of rational thought, I just don’t think it’s their default setting.”
Kick ass statement!
I meant kick-ass
“Politics is such a torment that I advise everyone I love not to mix with it.”
–Thomas Jefferson
Off With Their Heads 2.0
The Trend has Begun!
By Gerald Celente
12-14-10
KINGSTON NY, 14 December 2010 – We warned it would happen and it happened as we warned. “Off with their heads! Off with their heads!” chanted the angry mob as they attacked the Royal Rolls Royce carrying Prince Charles and his wife Camilla.
“Off With Their Heads 2.0″ read the headline of our Autumn Trends Journal (10 October 2010 – Click here) predicting the outpouring of outrage that would accompany the harsh austerity measures inflicted upon the general public, while governments doled out generous bailouts and rescue packages for bankers and financiers.
“Since the onset of the Greatest Recession, I’ve been informing readers to expect uncontrolled unrest that would roil markets and destabilize governments,” said Gerald Celente, publisher of the Trends Journal. “When people lose everything and they have nothing left to lose, they lose it.”
According to Celente, the spontaneous attack on the Royal couple was the first salvo in what promises to be a long war between the people and the ruling classes. “Anyone questioning the intensity of the people’s seething anger is either out of touch or in denial,” said Celente, noting that this was the worst show of violence directed towards the Royals since the days of Irish/English hostilities.
In this case, the Royals offered a convenient symbolic target for the young protestors, a new generation that has come face-to-face with a future of downward mobility. It wasn’t only that they would have to pay three times the tuition for a degree that no longer guaranteed them a decent job, it was rage against the machine a rigged system that paved the way for the privileged and punished the prols.
Celente has also predicted that all the Kings and Queens of Commerce along with Presidents, Prime Ministers, top level bureaucrats and elected officials will soon be hearing the same chant of “Off with their heads!”
While the public was being punished with austerity measures, the “too big to fail” bankers, hedge fund hustlers and Wall Street high rollers, blamed for creating conditions necessitating austerity by making the biggest, most crooked and worst of financial gambles were rewarded with a king’s ransom:
Wall Street Sees Record Revenue in ’09-10 Recovery From Bailout
Dec. 13 (Bloomberg) Wall Street’s biggest banks, rebounding after a government bailout, are set to complete their best two years in investment banking and trading, buoyed by 2010 results likely to be the second-highest ever.
This profit surge comes after the five largest investment banks Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley took a combined $135 billion in TARP money and borrowed billions more from the Federal Reserve’s emergency-lending facilities, while also benefiting from low interest rates and the Fed’s purchases of fixed-income securities.
Trend Forecast: The media has not connected the dots: a new class warfare has begun. The attack upon the Royals exemplified the pent-up hatred building among a population that can no longer be cajoled into believing sacrifices to further enrich the über-rich are in the best interest of their nation.
At the onset of the Great Recession, many bought the argument that if the biggest banks and businesses were not bailed out, the entire financial system would collapse. Now faced with the irrefutable evidence of record corporate profits, billions in bonuses and bailout windfalls, the people will no longer grin and bear it.
As economic conditions continue to deteriorate in Europe and the U.S., the uprisings will grow larger, more frequent, more organized and more ferocious. In response, government crackdowns will be harsher and more violent. As the New Year unfolds, the stage is set for incendiary acts that will be committed by one side or the other, escalating the conflict into prolonged battles.
Governments will declare that hooligans, anarchists, militants and foreign agents are responsible for the unrest, and the press will swear to it. What will be painted as assaults on capitalism and the free enterprise system could more accurately be described as acts of self defense; a battle between the growing number of “have nots” vs. the “haves” that keep taking even more than they had before.
With a 30-year track record to prove it, no one has a more accurate inside scoop on the crucial trends shaping our future than Trends Journal Publisher, Gerald Celente. To schedule an interview with Mr. Celente to discuss this trend or others yet to hit the headlines, contact:
Zeke West
Media Relations
zwest@trendsresearch
845.331.3500 Ext. 1
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