Are your conservative opinions sign of some sort of mental illness? Researches at Yale seem to think so and claim they have actually converted conservatives into liberals. Thinking it would be easier to live in the liberal clouds, but worried that it will be too hard to become that delusional? Don’t worry, it’s all very simple. One “intense imagination exercise” session will be enough to change your opinions on a variety of issues including gay rights, abortion, feminism, and immigration.
Here’s a description of the procedure:
Easy enough, right? Unfortunately Hot Air News raises some good questions about the validity of this experiment.
And you wonder why people are increasingly turned off by institutes of higher education. This sort of pseudoscience doesn’t require a post-graduate degree to pick apart. Yale’s starting premise is that people who feel “unsafe” (or afraid) are more likely to adopt conservative viewpoints. They base this on a belief that people who dwell on, “the dangers of terrorism and immigration” are most likely to be afraid of immigrants and thereby adopt conservative positions on immigration and border security. As usual, this is labeled as being anti-immigrant in the usual fashion of what passes for leftist analysis.
The conflation of immigration with illegal immigration is a hallmark of Democratic political speeches, not cognitive neuroscience. The study’s authors stretch the analogy from there, referencing a previous study conducted in 2011. In that episode, they reminded people about the spread of the H1N1 flu epidemic, asking participants if they’d had a flu shot. They then asked them all about immigration issues, claiming that those who had been vaccinated had more favorable views on immigration.
Putting unrelated information into the minds of survey participants prior to asking questions has a different name in political circles. It’s known as a push poll. Rather than getting an accurate impression of a person’s opinions, you’re poisoning the well in advance to sway their feelings. It’s also little more than a temporary effect. With that in mind, I would suggest that Yale stop attempting to “cure” conservatism as if it were some sort of disease. This report appears to be little more than a phony attempt to festoon some bits of science onto a liberal, open borders manifesto.
Or, if they insist on traipsing down this particular path, I would suggest assembling a similar group of test subjects and showing them all a picture of Kate Steinle, followed by some grisly scenes of the handiwork of MS-13. Then ask them all about their feelings on immigration issues being sure to include the word “illegal.” Get back to us after you see how that works out. Who knows? You might even cure some liberals for a little while.
Yes, a cure for liberals…That’s what we really need. Some kind of shock treatment to wake them up perhaps?
What do you think of this experiment? Complete waste of time or what?
