The fixed mindset
24 May 2020 11:39![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nwhikerOne of the cornerstones of Prius or Pickup? by Marc Hetherington and Jonathan Weiler is there contention that there are, very grossly, two types of people: fluid and fixed.
And it all goes on from there: fluids tend to be liberal, comfortable with change, and accepting of others. Fixeds tend to be authoritarian/Republican (is there a difference these days), conservative, and more rigid in their social beliefs.
I thought the book was excellent. I did have some little quibbles (like the caricature of the "Prius"/liberal family was a bit over the top), and it was a bit simplistic (found out later that the book was adapted from a political tome by Hetherington) at times, but overall it allowed for a first order approximation of wtf are these people thinking?!
It has never been more obvious than now, in the middle of a pandemic. I was "talking" with a crazy-ass "free thinker" (ie someone whose brain is so free, it flew off into the clouds like a balloon) on twitter and something finally crystalized.
These people lack the ability to reform an opinion when the data proves them wrong, a basic tenet of scientific thinking. Instead, they just insist the data is wrong. For example, the first iteration of the Imperial College model, which predicted 2M dead, became god's word, and the revision a liberal conspiracy. And since we don't have 2M dead and aren't (I hope) on our way there, it's "just the flu". Not listening to authority means they are intelligent and capable of free thought. Any revision of a theory means everything! was wrong and needs to be scrapped rather than, well, revised. There are very few things that have been completely changed science-wise over the course of this pandemic, except perhaps hydroxychoroquine. Of course, they totally 100% believe that it works, despite evidence to the contrary. You don't change your opinion just because of evidence! :P
They see a choice here between freedom (not wearing a mask, not holding to 6ft social distance, going to church or to the hairdresser) and tyranny (being told to fucking protect others with a mask and staying away from them etc). The problem is... that isn't the choice. This is not about freedom and tyranny despite their desire to make it so. It's between irresponsible behaviour and public health.
Public health scientists, epidemiologists, doctors, etc have become the enemy, representing tyranny.
There is always the question of how the Republicans get people they are going to hurt to vote for them, though Lyndon Johnson pretty much has the answer: "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you." We see this in action here. However Trump has managed to persuade people not to empty their pockets for him, but to endanger their health and their lives, and the health and lives of those around them, family and community, for the reward of owning the libs, represented in this case by the whole of public health.
And it all goes on from there: fluids tend to be liberal, comfortable with change, and accepting of others. Fixeds tend to be authoritarian/Republican (is there a difference these days), conservative, and more rigid in their social beliefs.
I thought the book was excellent. I did have some little quibbles (like the caricature of the "Prius"/liberal family was a bit over the top), and it was a bit simplistic (found out later that the book was adapted from a political tome by Hetherington) at times, but overall it allowed for a first order approximation of wtf are these people thinking?!
It has never been more obvious than now, in the middle of a pandemic. I was "talking" with a crazy-ass "free thinker" (ie someone whose brain is so free, it flew off into the clouds like a balloon) on twitter and something finally crystalized.
These people lack the ability to reform an opinion when the data proves them wrong, a basic tenet of scientific thinking. Instead, they just insist the data is wrong. For example, the first iteration of the Imperial College model, which predicted 2M dead, became god's word, and the revision a liberal conspiracy. And since we don't have 2M dead and aren't (I hope) on our way there, it's "just the flu". Not listening to authority means they are intelligent and capable of free thought. Any revision of a theory means everything! was wrong and needs to be scrapped rather than, well, revised. There are very few things that have been completely changed science-wise over the course of this pandemic, except perhaps hydroxychoroquine. Of course, they totally 100% believe that it works, despite evidence to the contrary. You don't change your opinion just because of evidence! :P
They see a choice here between freedom (not wearing a mask, not holding to 6ft social distance, going to church or to the hairdresser) and tyranny (being told to fucking protect others with a mask and staying away from them etc). The problem is... that isn't the choice. This is not about freedom and tyranny despite their desire to make it so. It's between irresponsible behaviour and public health.
Public health scientists, epidemiologists, doctors, etc have become the enemy, representing tyranny.
There is always the question of how the Republicans get people they are going to hurt to vote for them, though Lyndon Johnson pretty much has the answer: "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you." We see this in action here. However Trump has managed to persuade people not to empty their pockets for him, but to endanger their health and their lives, and the health and lives of those around them, family and community, for the reward of owning the libs, represented in this case by the whole of public health.
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