Democrats are analogue: Republicans are digital

In this modern age, you would think digital might have an advantage, but it doesn't. Life on Earth has been developing for at least 500 million years and humans have complex nervous system that can handle very discrete stimuli. For Example the human eye can distinguish 100 different shades of gray. The visual acuity of the human eye is approximately 74 mega pixels, well beyond what any digital camera can produce.

In the early days of computers, language based on decimal 10 were tried, but the processing was incredibly slow. That is why the binary system was developed so PC would be able to process data. In binary language all data is either a one or a zero. The signal is either on or off. Programmers had to keep it simple, because computers are stupid. But they are also incredibly fast.

Republicans are digital because they see the world in black or white. White people are OK, but blacks or browns are suspect. The Christian religion is good, but Islam is bad. Defense is good but improving the civil infrastructure is bad. “Opposite marriage' is good, but gay and lesbian marriage is bad. Free enterprise is good, but the government is bad. And so forth and so on.

Democrats see the world with more shades of gray rather than 'my way' or the highway.' Democrats prefer compromise to continuous conflict. Democrats have a more enlightened view of the world and that is why many are called progressive or liberals.

The Republicans see the world as a nasty place in which enemies are lurking everywhere. Right wing Republicans are authoritarian and Howard Dean has written articles that indicate that modern GOP morphed into simple authoritarianism from the Goldwater conservatism of the past.

Republicans simply cannot tolerate ambiguity. It either right or wrong. Because of the anti-intellectualism that permeates the far right, a demagogue has risen named Rush Limbaugh. Rush is rarely concerned about facts or scholarship because he only lasted two quarters in college and flunked every course he took even ballroom dancing.

Unfortunately, there are lot of ditto heads that believe every misstatement that Rush makes and 'don't want to be fooled by the facts.' When you are a 'digital Republican' the world is a much simpler place.

Want to PO a Republican? Respond to their misstatements with facts from Wikipedia.

If you can see the shades of gray, congratulations. You have the heart and soul of a Democrat.

Get 30 days of free traffic analysis simply by going to Web-Stat: http://www.web-stat.com/?id=2955

Contact Rightardia: eelder1@gmail.com

Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/IGiu

Netcraft rank: 66069

Conservative Thought is based on Intolerance for Ambiguity

According to Wikipedia, “ambiguity tolerance is the ability to perceive ambiguity in information and behavior in a neutral and open way.”

Ambiguity tolerance is an important in personality development and education. In psychology and in management, levels of tolerance of ambiguity are correlated with creativity, risk aversion, psychological resilience, lifestyle, orientation towards diversity, and leadership style.

Wilkinson's Modes of Leadership is based on ambiguity tolerance. Mode one leaders have the least tolerance for ambiguity with mode four leaders enjoying and preferring to work in ambiguous situations. In part this is due to what Wilkinson calls 'emotional resilience'.

The converse, ambiguity intolerance which was introduced in The Authoritarian Personality in 1950, was defined in 1975 as a “tendency to perceive or interpret information marked by vague, incomplete, fragmented, multiple, probable, unstructured, uncertain, inconsistent, contrary, contradictory, or unclear meanings as actual or potential sources of psychological discomfort or threat.”

A good example of ambiguity intolerance is the GOP's view on the US judicial system. "Strict constructionism" is also used in American political discourse as an umbrella term for conservative legal philosophies such as originalism and textualism. These philosophies emphasize judicial restraint and fidelity to the original meaning (or originally intended meaning) of constitutions and laws (Wikipedia).

It is frequently used even used to describe a conservative judge or legal analyst. For example, on the campaign trail in 2000, President George W. Bush promised to appoint "strict constructionists.”

Let's take a look at the Second amendment.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

If we wanted to reduce ambiguity about this amendment, we should only allow Americans who are in government militias (the National Guard) to have muzzle lading rifles or pistols that used black powder and fired lead balls.

That was the technology available at the time and such a view would conform the the Republican "Strict constructionism" views. It would certainly eliminate ambiguity about the Second Amendment.

I would imagine at this point the NRA is howling as are the other right wing gun nuts. Well, strict constructionism is a double edged sword. So is ambiguity intolerance.

Sources:

The Authoritarian Personality (Studies in Prejudice)
by Theodor W. Adorno, Else Frenkel-Brunswik, Daniel J. Levinson

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambiguity_tolerance

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strict_constructionism

Contact Rightardia: eelder1@gmail.com