Sensitive Reptilian Brain

In Cheney Speaks to the Reptilian Brain, Thom Hartmann makes an interesting point about Dick Cheney's ridiculing of John Kerry. Cheney deliberately takes Kerry's remarks about the need for sensitivity in the War on Terror out of context, and subjects them to ridicule with a subtext of fear. Hartmann says this is extremely hard to counter because Cheney's assertions appeal on three levels: to the reptilian brain (survival), to the limbic system (the heart and gut instincts), and to the neocortex (abstract thought).

One thing that Hartmann doesn't explore is the homophobic subtext of calling Kerry "sensitive" or "French", or remarks on John Edward's hair, or Schwarzenegger calling California Democrats "girlie-men". All ways of insinuating that Kerry/Edwards in particular and Democrats in general are faggots.

3 Comments

  • I'm not American, and I'm coming to this blog entry from the weblogs.asp.net main feed, so this post is doubly irrelevant to me.

    However I have observed that techie bloggers who feel the need to blurt out political messages are almost universally on the 'democrat' 'side' of the 'fence'.

    I wonder why that is...

  • The cheap-shot answer is "because we're right". In truth, I don't know. For myself, I find myself in disagreement with the modern Republican party on almost every count. The Democratic party is far from perfect, but I can support them.



    It's pretty clear that a huge proportion of Libertarians are techies. I suspect it's the Vulcan factor: Libertarianism appeals to their logical side. I find Libertarianism somewhat appealing, but feel that it glosses over too much to work well in the real world. I'm happy to call myself a small-l civil libertarian.

  • Hey, I actually bothered to read the article this time.

    It talks a lot of entertaining nonsense about reptilian brains, and ends with the suggestion that George Bush should be ridiculed in democrat campaign broadcasts.



    Yep, somebody should really start trying to ridicule George Bush! I cant believe it's never been done before.



    hmmmmmm... ;)

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