Research: Does Conservative Negativism
Repress Rational Thought?

Conservatives are fond of identifying “enemies” and using strong negative words and images to describe them. I wrote about this in the essay Conservatives Depending on Emotional Words to Persuade where excerpts of a GOP memo from Newt Gingrich suggest words to describe “our opponents” including: failure, pathetic, lie, liberal, betray, hypocrisy, radical, etc.

Psychologists have already discovered that emotions affect higher brain functions including attention, memory, vision and motor control. Now, researchers are discovering that negative language inhibits the lower level retrieval of knowledge and subconscious information processing. A Bangor University study initially expected that negative emotional words would be arousing and stimulate reasoning capacity. Instead, they found that negative words suppressed certain cognitive responses.

I suggest that combining these two observations may show that repeatedly describing liberals [or another race, or immigrants, or non-believers] in negative terms may reduce the audiences’ ability to reason critically about the information they are receiving.

Essay: The ugly truth about hate speech

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The ugly truth about hate speech

From the book: Chum for Thought: Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters by David Satterlee

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Chum For Thought:
Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters

The ugly truth about hate speech

It has been a week for contemplating Matthew 12:34, where Jesus pointed out that, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” We continue to be witness to speech and actions of intense hate, cruelty, and outright evil.

I like to think that I am optimistic and frequently take note of good things and of how many things are getting better. But, at this moment my heart is heavy and my head is bowed.

This week, I watched a recording of Representative John Sullivan from Oklahoma at a town hall meeting. He implicitly threatened Democratic Senators: “You know, but other than me going over there with a gun and holding it to their heads and maybe killing a couple of them, I don’t think they’re going to listen unless they get beat.” [He later apologized.]

Memories from just over a year ago came flooding back. Democratic U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head at point blank range by an anti-government activist. Eighteen other people were also shot and six of them died.

I was reminded of how that year was thick with the coded language of “Second Amendment remedies.” Sarah Palin’s PAC had published a political action “target map” showing Giffords’ district in the crosshairs of a gun. Even the Pima Arizona County Sheriff expressed concerns that the pervasive rhetoric of anger, hatred, prejudice, and bigotry that he felt had contributed to Giffords’ shooting.

A brief Internet search shows that there are at least six different versions of “Liberal Hunting Permit” circulating – usually with no bag limit.

Don’t even try to tell me that this is harmless rhetoric.

This is Real.
This is Immediate.
This is Persistent.
This is Personal.
This is Evil.

I lived in southern Texas when James Byrd, Jr. was lynched not so very long ago. He was tied with chains to the back of a pickup truck and dragged to death near Jasper, Texas.

Fear and hate in our hearts and hands are not yet gone from our nation. 

Let us take a stand for the fruitages of the spirit. May our hearts be open to abundant love, joy, peace…

 

Essay: Hate speech at my US Post Office

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Hate speech at my US Post Office

From the book: Chum for Thought: Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters by David Satterlee

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Read or download this essay as a PDF file at: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4eNv8KtePyKYkNydWpUbU5IdVE/edit?usp=sharing

A personal story of #conservative #intolerance 

Chum For Thought:
Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters

Hate speech at my US Post Office

I recently found a “hate note” posted on the information board at my small-town US Post Office. There were also three modified cartoons referring to President Obama, fried chicken, watermelon, and black salami. I thought that the cartoons were inappropriate and offensive to public decency; I removed them.

The note seemed more personal, so I added my answer and left it there. The original message was: “What do you call 20,000 liberals in the bottom of the ocean? A good start. Liberalism is a mental disorder.”

My answer read: “Please, don’t just threaten me and post anonymous racist hate cartoons against our elected President in a US Post Office. Make your case, explain your issues, and give practical ideas for improvement… and please have the courage to sign your name. With sincere best wishes, Your neighbor, David Satterlee”

Frankly, I worried that the threat could get personal. It may already be personal: I’d had an

Poem: The Strange Kid

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The Strange Kid

from the book: Life Will Get You in the End:
Short stories by David Satterlee

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Life Will Get You in the End:
Short Stories by David Satterlee

A story of bigotry and bullying told, disconcertingly, in a precise "Dr. Seuss" cadence. This was actually written several years before the 2012 mass-shooting at the Sikh temple in Wisconsin.

The Strange Kid

This poem was written several years before the 2012 mass-shooting at the Sikh temple in Wisconsin. It addresses the kind of bigotry and prejudice that springs from fear and hate. The ideal cure for such violence is for us to get to know our neighbors, find common ground, and become true friends.

Since we first all went back to school
There’s been a boy who’s new.
He’s different in a lot of ways.
He’s not like me and you.

He wears a white cloth ’round his head
Because he is a Sikh.
He doesn’t want to take it off
To let us have a peek.

His name is even funny too,
And very hard to say.
So Bobby likes to make new names
We call him by each day.

He will not eat a hamburger
Or any kind of meat.
His mother sends him rice stuff that
Smells spicy, strange, and sweet.

And, when we sing