Politics and Brain Structures

Hello fellow TSW-ers, i've been away without internet for a while so i'd like to wish everyone a belated merry christmas, hope you all had an enjoyable christmas season (and enjoyed the cracking win against Huddersfield!).

Something caught my eye in The Independent today about political views and how they correlate with the structure of the grey matter in the ol' brainbox. A study conducted on 90 people at UCL showed that people with right-wing political views tend to have a more "pronounced" amygdala, a so called "primitive" part of the brain which is mainly associated with controlling emotion. People with left-wing views tended to have more grey matter around the anterior cingulate cortex, which is associated with rationality and empathy.

The article can be read here:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/rightwing-brains-different-2171127.html

Do you agree with the findings of this research? This is by no means the final conclusion, as more research will now be conducted on the subject to try and find a more conclusive answer, so we'll have to wait and see whether these results are replicated across a larger sample group or whether it was just an anomaly.

Half of me thinks this is tree-hugging, leftie bullsh*t; but part of me can understand this theory completely.

What's this I can see in the distant? It's dune on his pedestal! Await a torrent of bilge SuperMikey; I for one will be staying out if it.

I'm used to it by now tbh, and besides, I have scientific fact on my side!

I think left wingers are very thick and very jealous. "They'd rather the rich were poorer and the poor were poorer so long as the gap is smaller". These are the immortal words of Margaret Thatcher and they are bang on the money. Personally I believe that the best way of raising living standards for the poor is through enterprise, and to create enterprise you need to allow the rich to preserve their wealth so they can invest in small businesses.

That's scientific fact, backatcha SuperMikey!

I was pleased to read this comment underneath the article:

"Another recent report showed that left-wingers and liberals (with a small 'l') achieved slightly higher IQ scores than right-wingers. The report also said that right-wingers tended to be more focussed on issues relating directly to them, their family, locality and national issues; whereas left-leaning individuals were more likely to place emphasis on the needs of others, wider international concerns and the environment. "

I was pleased to read this comment underneath the article:

 

"Another recent report showed that left-wingers and liberals (with a small 'l') achieved slightly higher IQ scores than right-wingers. The report also said that right-wingers tended to be more focussed on issues relating directly to them, their family, locality and national issues; whereas left-leaning individuals were more likely to place emphasis on the needs of others, wider international concerns and the environment. "

Funny how dune didn't reply to the points raised by the article, just waded in with what he thought apropos of nothing in the original post. Solipsist berk.

Funny how dune didn't reply to the points raised by the article, just waded in with what he thought apropos of nothing in the original post. Solipsist berk.

Loving that word! I had to look it up, mind.

Funny how dune didn't reply to the points raised by the article, just waded in with what he thought apropos of nothing in the original post. Solipsist berk.

Fantastic word use.

10/10.

Funny how dune didn't reply to the points raised by the article, just waded in with what he thought apropos of nothing in the original post. Solipsist berk.

The article focuses on the brain and quite clearly left wingers are not as intelligent as right wingers. Left wingers weren't the force behind the Industrial revolution and left wingers didn't build an Empire that the sun never set on. Our prosperity today is built on these foundations and it's right wingers we have to thank for it.

I think left wingers are very thick and very jealous. "They'd rather the rich were poorer and the poor were poorer so long as the gap is smaller". These are the immortal words of Margaret Thatcher and they are bang on the money. Personally I believe that the best way of raising living standards for the poor is through enterprise, and to create enterprise you need to allow the rich to preserve their wealth so they can invest in small businesses.

What does that have to do with this subject? You've filled your quota of Thatcher threads, how about moving onto a different topic for a change?

Also, solipsist, cracking word Deppo!

Hello fellow TSW-ers, i've been away without internet for a while so i'd like to wish everyone a belated merry christmas, hope you all had an enjoyable christmas season (and enjoyed the cracking win against Huddersfield!).

 

Something caught my eye in The Independent today about political views and how they correlate with the structure of the grey matter in the ol' brainbox. A study conducted on 90 people at UCL showed that people with right-wing political views tend to have a more "pronounced" amygdala, a so called "primitive" part of the brain which is mainly associated with controlling emotion. People with left-wing views tended to have more grey matter around the anterior cingulate cortex, which is associated with rationality and empathy.

 

The article can be read here:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/rightwing-brains-different-2171127.html

 

Do you agree with the findings of this research? This is by no means the final conclusion, as more research will now be conducted on the subject to try and find a more conclusive answer, so we'll have to wait and see whether these results are replicated across a larger sample group or whether it was just an anomaly.

90 people, is that all?

Hardly conclusive scientific evidence is it?

I suppose you also believe the claim that "8 out of 10 cats prefer it".

90 people, is that all?

 

Hardly conclusive scientific evidence is it?

 

I suppose you also believe the claim that "8 out of 10 cats prefer it".

Read the article, it says that Colin Firth commissioned the study as a light-hearted piece for the Today show, but the results have surprised the researchers at UCL and they're going to conduct a more thorough study on the topic with a larger and more diverse sample.

The article focuses on the brain and quite clearly left wingers are not as intelligent as right wingers. Left wingers weren't the force behind the Industrial revolution and left wingers didn't build an Empire that the sun never set on. Our prosperity today is built on these foundations and it's right wingers we have to thank for it.

I have just trepanned my skull and layered polyfilla onto my amygdala so that I can think what dune thinks and feel how he feels. I can feel the effects starting to kick in now...

I have just trepanned my skull and layered polyfilla onto my amygdala so that I can think what dune thinks and feel how he feels. I can feel the effects starting to kick in now...

Are you now dead? (Neck up-wise)

Are you now dead? (Neck up-wise)

He won't reply, just seen him in the street with a pillow-case over his head and a pitchfork in his hand. He was chasing after a group of Asian youths I believe.

90 people, is that all?

 

Hardly conclusive scientific evidence is it?

 

I suppose you also believe the claim that "8 out of 10 cats prefer it".

Absolutely agree mate! Prefer what? Is that a Thatcher quote? It's just... can you run them past me or dune first if you are going to do a Thatcher quote as it might be one that we are going to use in an internet argument later and it could lose some of it's impact if you are using it in this internet argument. Thanks, buddy!

The victorians called it phrenology, but they were looking for criminals.

It's a fact Mikey. "Right-wing brains 'different'" is the title of the article, and forget all the politically correct rubbish, the fact is that right-wingers have built the Western World into the prosperous civilisation that we are. Left-Wingers may well be more caring in their own eyes (they have very lofty views of themselves) but without the right-wing wealth creation that we've benefitted from that caring would be very hard to put into meaningful practice.

It's a fact Mikey. "Right-wing brains 'different'" is the title of the article, and forget all the politically correct rubbish, the fact is that right-wingers have built the Western World into the prosperous civilisation that we are. Left-Wingers may well be more caring in their own eyes (they have very lofty views of themselves) but without the right-wing wealth creation that we've benefitted from that caring would be very hard to put into meaningful practice.

Is that you Deppo?

It's a fact Mikey. "Right-wing brains 'different'" is the title of the article, and forget all the politically correct rubbish, the fact is that right-wingers have built the Western World into the prosperous civilisation that we are. Left-Wingers may well be more caring in their own eyes (they have very lofty views of themselves) but without the right-wing wealth creation that we've benefitted from that caring would be very hard to put into meaningful practice.

Bloody right, mate! You tell him. And we'd have gotten away with it if it hadn't have been for those meddling kids.

He won't reply, just seen him in the street with a pillow-case over his head and a pitchfork in his hand. He was chasing after a group of Asian youths I believe.

So much for discussing the topic sensibly SuperdooperMikey.

I have to question whether anyone who takes this "research" seriously even has a brain.

So much for discussing the topic sensibly SuperdooperMikey.

That's their leftie brains, mate. They get them all clogged up with thoughts and stuff. If only they could respond sensibly with a link to a newspaper opinion piece or a quote from a statesman or woman from a bygone era.

It's a fact Mikey. "Right-wing brains 'different'" is the title of the article, and forget all the politically correct rubbish, the fact is that right-wingers have built the Western World into the prosperous civilisation that we are. Left-Wingers may well be more caring in their own eyes (they have very lofty views of themselves) but without the right-wing wealth creation that we've benefitted from that caring would be very hard to put into meaningful practice.

And your answer in relation to the topic of the thread is...? You can blather on about the Empire, Thatcher, Socialist scumbags and all that jazz if you want, but i'd be interested to hear your response to the issue raised in the OP. Intelligence doesn't factor into the equation, nor the history of right and left-wing politics. Neither does the prosperity of the western world.

I have to question whether anyone who takes this "research" seriously even has a brain.

Since I do, yes - it is all true. Sorry JB, but for what it's worth, I've always thought highly of your ability to rise (slightly) above your disability.

And your answer in relation to the topic of the thread is...? You can blather on about the Empire, Thatcher, Socialist scumbags and all that jazz if you want, but i'd be interested to hear your response to the issue raised in the OP. Intelligence doesn't factor into the equation, nor the history of right and left-wing politics. Neither does the prosperity of the western world.

your proof is concrete supermikey.....next thing you will be saying white man is more intelligent than our dark skinned brothers.....

I have to question whether anyone who takes this "research" seriously even has a brain.

Exactly. I mean, just because someone tests something a number of times in laboratory conditions and it shows some sort of correlation or pattern... what does that mean? Nothing. What we need is proper research, like what's in the Bible or the stuff that Richard Littlejohn thinks up with his brain.

your proof is concrete supermikey.....next thing you will be saying white man is more intelligent than our dark skinned brothers.....

It's the other way around.

He won't reply, just seen him in the street with a pillow-case over his head and a pitchfork in his hand. He was chasing after a group of Asian youths I believe.

Apparently they stole all our anglo-saxon Golden Eagles

Ha! In your face SuperMikey! We've got thedelldays on our side now! Prepare to lose this internet argument in a sea of confusion, little boy!

LOL at all the lefties on here, clinging to anything which feeds their superiority complexes. Just carry on in your public-sector-cotton-wool-wrapped lives, believing that you are intellectually superior in order to make up for the failings in your own lives and just leave it to us numbskulls to bring home the bacon...... as always.

Ha! In your face SuperMikey! We've got thedelldays on our side now! Prepare to lose this internet argument in a sea of confusion, little boy!

another cracker...go you

This video perfectly illustrates the brainpower of the average leftie.

I have to question whether anyone who takes this "research" seriously even has a brain.

 

LOL at all the lefties on here, clinging to anything which feeds their superiority complexes. Just carry on in your public-sector-cotton-wool-wrapped lives, believing that you are intellectually superior in order to make up for the failings in your own lives and just leave it to us numbskulls to bring home the bacon...... as always.

big man make britain rich, ug, big man go out get bacon, ug, with bare hands collecting gold and diamonds from soil, make britain rich, ug, nurses steal mans wealth, ug, they ruin britain, ug, them no use

LOL at all the lefties on here, clinging to anything which feeds their superiority complexes. Just carry on in your public-sector-cotton-wool-wrapped lives, believing that you are intellectually superior in order to make up for the failings in your own lives and just leave it to us numbskulls to bring home the bacon...... as always.

You tell them JB! In your face, lefties! Woohoo! We're winning! We're winning! F*ck yeh!

This video perfectly illustrates the brainpower of the average leftie.

 

There you go, SuperMikey. THAT is Science. Conclusive proof. And you thought we didn't have any opinion on the original article. This person illustrates the brainpower of the average leftie. Fact. Scientific fact.

This video perfectly illustrates the brainpower of the average leftie.

 

Dune! We've found you? The sexist presenter?

I didn't think the presenter was that sexy. I liked his moustache though. Made him look powerful.

And your answer in relation to the topic of the thread is...? You can blather on about the Empire, Thatcher, Socialist scumbags and all that jazz if you want, but i'd be interested to hear your response to the issue raised in the OP. Intelligence doesn't factor into the equation, nor the history of right and left-wing politics. Neither does the prosperity of the western world.

Stop going all PC on me. The study is about the brains left wingers and right wingers. Now you can talk about the different traits, but ultimately it boils down to intelligence. It was right wingers that built not only Briatin, but the whole Western civilisation, into the prosperous civilisation we see today. You can waffle and bleat all you like, but you cannot get away from this fact.

LOL at all the lefties on here, clinging to anything which feeds their superiority complexes.

Yeh, SuperMikey. Stop going all PC on us.

LOL at all the lefties on here, clinging to anything which feeds their superiority complexes.

:lol:

I miss the days when Dune would crack, go on a bender and then start posting links to raves and Levellers videos

Just carry on in your public-sector-cotton-wool-wrapped lives, believing that you are intellectually superior in order to make up for the failings in your own lives and just leave it to us numbskulls to bring home the bacon...... as always.

:lol:

Oh, wait, that one wasn't as funny as the first one. NOTE TO EVERYONE: There should only be one on that last post.

Deppo, it would be nice to occassionally discuss a thread.

Agreed, but sometimes these lefties just won't let us, mate.