The Republican War on Science<\/a>.<\/p>\nIt\u2019s not as if in recent times the importance of party affiliation has been ignored. More and more commentators are saying that political party reflects the greatest fissures in our society \u2013 more so than gender, race, educational levels, economic levels, or anything else. It\u2019s my team vs. your team. All that matters is winning. In the case of Republicans, that may be at all costs; Democrats may have a few reservations about a cut-throat victory.<\/p>\n
There are calls for bi-partisanship, but they are generally at the level of kumbaya. Dems and Repubs can share a softball diamond (actually the baseball field at Nationals Park) and play ball without dirty plays at 2nd<\/sup> base or home plate. They can work together to grovel for pork in their home districts or states. But can they actually share a meal? Perhaps more significantly, can they even share a joke?<\/p>\nThis last question may provide a window into the differences between Democrats and Republicans. It strikes me that humor for progressives is often self-deprecating. For Republicans, it seems to be harsh and mean. I don\u2019t have the empirical evidence for this, but that\u2019s my point. There is so much that needs to be studied.<\/p>\n
I have tried to communicate with the Washington Post\u2019s Chris Mooney, but to no avail. He is a dogged environmental reporter and certainly in the era of Donald Trump and Scott Pruitt and others, his plate is full. But he brought a very scholarly and conversational approach to what makes Republicans different and unique. If he does not want to carry on that torch, then someone else needs to.<\/p>\n
Here are a few questions that I think need to be addressed:<\/p>\n
\n- Why is it that so many Republican women were more likely to believe Brett Kavanaugh than Christine Blasey-Ford?<\/li>\n
- Why did the likes of seemingly mild-mannered people like Jeff Flake and Susan Collins say that if they were in Kavanaugh\u2019s position, they too would be angry? Or, in other words, why did they base these statements on a \u201cgiven\u201d that \u201cbeing in his position\u201d means being falsely accused? Does it even register to them that Dr. Blasey-Ford may be telling the truth and Kavanaugh is more than a bully; he is an abuser.<\/li>\n
- Why was Lindsey Graham\u2019s anger considered so becoming?<\/li>\n
- Why is Donald Trump\u2019s outrage considered charming?<\/li>\n
- Why do so many Republicans so fervently support family values when they promote policies that break up families?<\/li>\n
- Why is it that Republicans oppose regulations on campaign finance when it adds to their personal misery of having to spend endless hours raising money?<\/li>\n
- Why is it that Republicans favor lowering taxes for the wealthy in order to provide less revenue to fund programs for the non-wealthy?<\/li>\n
- What is it about science that Republicans don\u2019t like?<\/li>\n
- Why are Republicans so anti-regulation and at the same time so anti-choice?<\/li>\n
- Why do most political scandals involve Republicans (e.g. Watergate, Trumpgate, etc.)?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
If I was more of an academic person, I would try to provide answers to these questions supported with\u00a0 substantiation. Right now, there are thousands, probably tens of thousands of academics who are working on studies that will be of little interest to anyone and that will not do much to improve the quality of life for anyone.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m happy to keep providing questions. So are many more. But we need answers, even approximations, now so that those who are not Republicans can gain greater insight into why Republicans are the way they are.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t even know if Republicans have this kind of curiosity about Democrats; put that on the list of questions.<\/p>\n
Please let us know if you want to help us find some answers to these often vexing questions about Republicans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
How did it happen? Susan Collins, a seemingly sensitive person who is pro-choice on abortion rights, disses Christine Blasey-Ford\u2019s a contention that she was sexually abused by Brett Kavanaugh. Is Collins (a) insensitive to the history of women not being believed when men say something contrary, (b) simply a poor judge of character (who could not see Kavanaugh as a bully), or (c) just a Republican who has a very different way of looking at life from the way others do?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39093,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[661,572,1683,1575,2211,1929,202],"tags":[3284,3276,2528],"yoast_head":"\n
We Need Help \u2013 Understanding the Republican Brain - Occasional Planet<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2018\/10\/09\/we-need-help-understanding-the-republican-brain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"We Need Help \u2013 Understanding the Republican Brain - Occasional Planet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How did it happen? Susan Collins, a seemingly sensitive person who is pro-choice on abortion rights, disses Christine Blasey-Ford\u2019s a contention that she was sexually abused by Brett Kavanaugh. Is Collins (a) insensitive to the history of women not being believed when men say something contrary, (b) simply a poor judge of character (who could not see Kavanaugh as a bully), or (c) just a Republican who has a very different way of looking at life from the way others do?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2018\/10\/09\/we-need-help-understanding-the-republican-brain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Occasional Planet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Occasional-Planet-325800656245\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-10-09T17:34:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Republican-Brain-02-a.jpg?fit=1050%2C550&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1050\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"550\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Arthur Lieber\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Occas_Planet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Occas_Planet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Arthur Lieber\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2018\/10\/09\/we-need-help-understanding-the-republican-brain\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2018\/10\/09\/we-need-help-understanding-the-republican-brain\/\",\"name\":\"We Need Help \u2013 Understanding the Republican Brain - Occasional Planet\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ims.zdr.mybluehost.me\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2018\/10\/09\/we-need-help-understanding-the-republican-brain\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2018\/10\/09\/we-need-help-understanding-the-republican-brain\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Republican-Brain-02-a.jpg?fit=1050%2C550&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-09T17:34:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-10-09T17:34:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ims.zdr.mybluehost.me\/#\/schema\/person\/30209aa479bd5ded74238d2ba4fc550f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2018\/10\/09\/we-need-help-understanding-the-republican-brain\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2018\/10\/09\/we-need-help-understanding-the-republican-brain\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2018\/10\/09\/we-need-help-understanding-the-republican-brain\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Republican-Brain-02-a.jpg?fit=1050%2C550&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Republican-Brain-02-a.jpg?fit=1050%2C550&ssl=1\",\"width\":1050,\"height\":550,\"caption\":\"Republican Brain\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2018\/10\/09\/we-need-help-understanding-the-republican-brain\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/ims.zdr.mybluehost.me\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"We Need Help \u2013 Understanding the Republican Brain\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ims.zdr.mybluehost.me\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ims.zdr.mybluehost.me\/\",\"name\":\"Occasional Planet\",\"description\":\"Progressive Voices Speaking Out\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/ims.zdr.mybluehost.me\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ims.zdr.mybluehost.me\/#\/schema\/person\/30209aa479bd5ded74238d2ba4fc550f\",\"name\":\"Arthur Lieber\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ims.zdr.mybluehost.me\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ddbe1ebe31b3b8d3169935b60845e398?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ddbe1ebe31b3b8d3169935b60845e398?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Arthur Lieber\"},\"description\":\"Since 1969, Arthur Lieber has been teaching and working in non-profit educational organizations. His focus has been on promoting critical, creative, and enjoyable learning for students in informal settings. In the 2010 mid-term elections, he was the Democratic nominee for US Congress from Missouri\u2019s 2nd Congressional District.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/author\/arthur-lieber\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"We Need Help \u2013 Understanding the Republican Brain - Occasional Planet","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2018\/10\/09\/we-need-help-understanding-the-republican-brain\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"We Need Help \u2013 Understanding the Republican Brain - Occasional Planet","og_description":"How did it happen? Susan Collins, a seemingly sensitive person who is pro-choice on abortion rights, disses Christine Blasey-Ford\u2019s a contention that she was sexually abused by Brett Kavanaugh. Is Collins (a) insensitive to the history of women not being believed when men say something contrary, (b) simply a poor judge of character (who could not see Kavanaugh as a bully), or (c) just a Republican who has a very different way of looking at life from the way others do?","og_url":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2018\/10\/09\/we-need-help-understanding-the-republican-brain\/","og_site_name":"Occasional Planet","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Occasional-Planet-325800656245\/","article_published_time":"2018-10-09T17:34:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1050,"height":550,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Republican-Brain-02-a.jpg?fit=1050%2C550&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Arthur Lieber","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Occas_Planet","twitter_site":"@Occas_Planet","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Arthur Lieber","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2018\/10\/09\/we-need-help-understanding-the-republican-brain\/","url":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2018\/10\/09\/we-need-help-understanding-the-republican-brain\/","name":"We Need Help \u2013 Understanding the Republican Brain - Occasional Planet","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ims.zdr.mybluehost.me\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2018\/10\/09\/we-need-help-understanding-the-republican-brain\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2018\/10\/09\/we-need-help-understanding-the-republican-brain\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Republican-Brain-02-a.jpg?fit=1050%2C550&ssl=1","datePublished":"2018-10-09T17:34:23+00:00","dateModified":"2018-10-09T17:34:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/ims.zdr.mybluehost.me\/#\/schema\/person\/30209aa479bd5ded74238d2ba4fc550f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2018\/10\/09\/we-need-help-understanding-the-republican-brain\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2018\/10\/09\/we-need-help-understanding-the-republican-brain\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2018\/10\/09\/we-need-help-understanding-the-republican-brain\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Republican-Brain-02-a.jpg?fit=1050%2C550&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Republican-Brain-02-a.jpg?fit=1050%2C550&ssl=1","width":1050,"height":550,"caption":"Republican Brain"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2018\/10\/09\/we-need-help-understanding-the-republican-brain\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ims.zdr.mybluehost.me\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"We Need Help \u2013 Understanding the Republican Brain"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ims.zdr.mybluehost.me\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ims.zdr.mybluehost.me\/","name":"Occasional Planet","description":"Progressive Voices Speaking Out","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ims.zdr.mybluehost.me\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ims.zdr.mybluehost.me\/#\/schema\/person\/30209aa479bd5ded74238d2ba4fc550f","name":"Arthur Lieber","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ims.zdr.mybluehost.me\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ddbe1ebe31b3b8d3169935b60845e398?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ddbe1ebe31b3b8d3169935b60845e398?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Arthur Lieber"},"description":"Since 1969, Arthur Lieber has been teaching and working in non-profit educational organizations. His focus has been on promoting critical, creative, and enjoyable learning for students in informal settings. In the 2010 mid-term elections, he was the Democratic nominee for US Congress from Missouri\u2019s 2nd Congressional District.","url":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/author\/arthur-lieber\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Republican-Brain-02-a.jpg?fit=1050%2C550&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39088"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39088"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39090,"href":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39088\/revisions\/39090"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}