5 Reasons This Election Is Nuts—and the Science Behind It The candidates are outrageous...

[Her Sister]

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/feeling-it/201603/5-reasons-election-is-nuts-and-the-science-behind-it
5 Reasons This Election Is Nuts—and the Science Behind It
The candidates are outrageous, the rankings unexplainable. Research shows why.
Posted Mar 24, 2016

2. Why negative press makes supporters like their candidate more

What about Trump backers? Shouldn't negative press change their minds? Nope. The more they hear negative press, the more they like him, too, due to the backfire effect. When someone gives us evidence that we are wrong about a strong opinion we hold, it can actually make us feel stronger about it. They also fall prey to confirmation bias—looking for all the evidence that confirms their opinion, ignoring any contradictory evidence. That’s what makes conversations about politics so difficult. Research shows that, when it comes to politics, people often feel the same way they do towards a sports team. It's more about affiliation and group membership than ideology.

1-5 reasons in the article. Interesting!

[Her Sister]

1. Psychology Today has some interesting articles

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/social-studies/201603/lefties-election-survival-guide-in-5-easy-steps

A Leftie's Election Survival Guide in 5 Easy Steps
Or how not to drink scotch at 7am
Posted Mar 30, 2016

Here’s my plan.

1. NO FAIRYTALES!

I am going to insist that Bernie is not a magical unicorn and Hillary is not a blood-sucking monster. Unfortunately, many on the Left believe this to be true. In fact, if you read my Facebook feed, you would see that Bernie- alone and without a mass takeover of Congress and state legislatures and governorships- is going to bring us economic prosperity, solve environmental devastation, and create a magical kingdom, literally. Photos of Bernie with animated, Disney style birds allow us to return to the childhood fantasies of Cinderella and Snow White where maidens, experiencing harsh economic reality, are saved by magical woodland creatures and fairies and transported into lives of unimaginable wealth. But it’s important to remember that Disney is seriously f$&ked up. Disney taught us crazy lessons about a prince in shining armor coming in and saving us while a wicked witch- ALWAYS represented as an older woman- tried to destroy the happily ever after. Stop believing in fairytales!


2. NO EATING OUR OWN!

Speaking of wicked witches, enemies of the Left are apparently not the orange guy or the one who looks like Grandpa, but each other. Yup. Susan Sarandon is accused of saying Trump would be better than Hillary! She’s the worst. Oh and Gloria Steinem’s entire life dedicated to feminism? Doesn’t matter because she said one comment- trying to joke and failing- and now she’s the worst too! Oh yeah, and if you don’t support my candidate it’s not because reasonable people can share the same values and visions and still decide on different candidates, but rather because you’re the enemy. If you’re not with me, you’re against me, you don’t want democracy, you hate freedom, and you spit on puppies and rainbows!

Since this election started, I have found out that if you support Hillary you are a neoliberal lean-in feminist and definitely white. If you support Bernie, you are responsible for President Trump and also white. The Left is also responsible for George W. Bush because too many people refused to vote for Gore and if they refuse to vote for whoever the Dem candidate is they are responsible for the s#%t show that is the Republican Party. NONE of this is true. And to make sure we are all aware of the historical record, the fact is that Gore won against Bush and it was Antonin Scalia who decided to hand the election to Bush. But hell, why not blame the Left for Scalia too?

[ladym55]

8. Excellent article

So much of it hit home. I'm going under my rock now for a bit. Twitter has been really ugly this weekend.

[Her Sister]

2. Advice from Psychologists in how to survive these elections!!

List on Politics articles:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/topics/politics

[Her Sister]

3. American Politics or Why I Can't Even ~ Wow! Even Psychologists are having hard time!

American Politics or Why I Can't Even
How contemporary discourse left me speechless
Posted Mar 21, 2016

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/social-studies/201603/american-politics-or-why-i-cant-even

What exactly has left me with such stultifying writer’s block? I suppose it began with political discourse. I went to a Trump rally back in December to see what was going on. It was not pretty. It was clear that there was nothing funny or entertaining about his campaign or the crowds of very angry and overwhelmingly white Americans he was attracting. But when I spoke with his supporters, I was struck by how much they had felt silenced by “political correctness” and how much they admired Trump for “saying it like it is.” It would have been easy to dismiss their anger as ridiculous, the last gasps of white privilege and patriarchy as it melts into some better future, but I think that would be a mistake. What Trump supporters understand- and so many of us have missed- is just how impossible it has become to say anything in American culture. Whatever passed for a public sphere where ideas were exchanged in the past- no matter how flawed and even f#$@ed up that public sphere may have been- has been lit on fire and burned to the ground. Partly by the likes of Trump and his supporters, but also by Americans on the Left.

As I emerged from the rally into the other side of political spectrum, the Bernie Sanders campaign (which I support) I was stunned by the absolute hatred of Hillary Clinton. Not that I’m a fan, but I’m pretty sure she did not murder Honduran environmental activist Berta Cáceres – as some on the left have suggested. Nor do I think we can hold her responsible for the lynching of Black men in America nor suggest she wears the hood of the KKK as was argued in “Hillary Clinton and the White Women Who Lynch Us.” Nor do I think she’s “worse than Trump” by the many Bernie supporters who now say they will vote for Trump if Hillary is nominated by the DNC. Nor do I think that I’m a secret Hillary troll- as all those on the Bernie side of the internet are accused of being as soon as they try to tone down the misogyny and conspiracy theories being thrown at her.

[Surya Gayatri]

4. Keep talking smack, St. Bern. Women are listening.

[Her Sister]

5. Ah! Am just trying to find things that help me

and just putting it out there! Not lecturing! Wondered what Psychologists are saying and how they are surviving. Thought they might have something useful for these crazy times. Sounds like the times feel crazy to them too!

Did not mean anything foul or sorry if it seems mansplaining!

[Surya Gayatri]

6. The more Bern bashes Hillary, the more women will rally round...that's what I meant!

2. Why negative press makes supporters like their candidate more

[Her Sister]

7. hahaha!!!

Got it! Yes that's what's happening to all HRC supporters! Maybe supporters of all candidates! It's futile putting someone someone likes and admires down.