• It'sbetterwithbutter
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    34 days ago

    Spot on regarding the person vs group. Being a fan of history I’m amazed at how far we’ve come technologically, but how our base instincts haven’t changed. Even in the face of all the evidence about our behaviour historically, we repeat our mistakes time and again.

    • Hemingways_Shotgun
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      34 days ago

      It’s the good-ol’ lizard brain and it isn’t going away.

      It’s the part of the brain that controls emotions, moods, fear, fight-or-flight, etc… The Limbic Cortex

      The sole purpose of critical thinking skills and knowledge of things like history, civics, etc… (whether that comes from education, experience or just good old fashioned intellectual curiosity) is to give the rest of our brain the context necessary to override that lizard brain. (In my opinion).

      Too many people just don’t care enough about the world around them to bother with that and are content to just let their lizard brain run things. It’s these people that are susceptible to group-think, and it’s these people (ironically) who think that they are ones who are thinking for themselves when in reality it’s quite the opposite.

      • It'sbetterwithbutter
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        34 days ago

        The sole purpose of critical thinking skills and knowledge of things like history, civics, etc… (whether that comes from education, experience or just good old fashioned intellectual curiosity) is to give the rest of our brain the context necessary to override that lizard brain. (In my opinion).

        I’m seconding that opinion, makes a lot of sense. It’s so funny, I’m not an American, but I do have friends and family there, yet I find myself outraged by maga and this speed run into fascism. I can’t imagine what it must be like living there these days.

        The dumbing down policy certainly worked.

        • Hemingways_Shotgun
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          24 days ago

          As a Canadian I look on in absolute horror like a deer spotting the hunter in the woods.

          • It'sbetterwithbutter
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            14 days ago

            My cousin in Texas (a US citizen) is freaking out, meanwhile my brother is in Ottawa and loving life. Go Canada!