[Paleopsych] making gross errors

[Steve Hovland]

In addition to the competing stereotypes of
the left and right, there is also a body of
neutral knowledge that describes how the
human psyche actually works, and that
I think is where we will find the levers we
need to shift the mass mind.

We've all seen the red and blue maps, and
some of us have seen the shades-of-purple
maps that more accurately portray the
reality of our political landscape.

The shift to the right is not nearly as large
or permanent as some talking heads would
have us believe.

No matter what is eventually found in terms
of voting fraud and computer hacking, the
margin of victory in November was only 3%,
and I firmly believe that a combination of
events and effort can shift that balance
enough to produce a different outcome.

Steve Hovland
www.stevehovland.net


-----Original Message-----
From:	Michael Christopher [SMTP:anonymous_animus at yahoo.com]
Sent:	Friday, December 31, 2004 11:42 AM
To:	paleopsych at paleopsych.org
Subject:	[Paleopsych] making gross errors


>>If no one knows anything, how can we possibly expect
NOT to be making gross errors, regularly?<<

--Good question. And most of us don't have direct
contact with the problems we discuss, so we HAVE to
rely to a large degree on second and third hand
information. Which introduces the element of bias,
especially at times when large groups are becoming
more and more polarized, convinced the other is evil
as opposed to merely operating out of a different set
of axioms about human nature. And axioms about human
nature are notoriously difficult to change, since they
tend to grow out of one's personal sense of identity
more than out of observation of a large number of
specific instances of human behavior. At times, the
study of human beings is actively discouraged (or
dismissed as "psychobabble" or "academic elitism") in
favor of folk theories about what human beings are and
what behavior means. We could all do with a dose of
humility. I suspect neither side in a polarity has the
full view, and the more each reacts against the other,
the less I trust either side to give me an accurate
picture of the world. It is simply assumed that doing
the opposite of what the other side does will lead to
success, and that is by no means clear, especially
when each side stereotypes the other and misreads its
motives.

Michael



		
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