General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: We must find a way to rid our society of Fox news. What to do? [View all]mr_lebowski
(33,643 posts)of Human Beings.
Obviously there's a HUGE grey area and overlap and diversity of opinion, but I fully believe there's a major genetic/evolutionary heritage component involved.
There are two fundamental survival strategies for an individual among 'higher' i.e. 'social' animals. And that's what we are. Animals.
Imagine you're a chimp, and you're effectively a 'sentry' for your little tribe/family ... not necessarily because it's some Planet of the Apes organized thing, but you're at the edge of your group, you got your mate and kids i.e. you family nearby, eating fruits up in the tree ... and you become aware of another, what sounds like a LARGE group of other Chimps, from the adjacent forest, coming your way.
You can either ... perk up your ears, look at your mate, and kids, and see that they're all alarmed ... and think to yourself 'lets shut the f*** up, not call attention to ourselves, and BAIL, and save our own asses' ... OR you can be a member of the COMMUNITY and think to yourself 'We are ALL in danger! Our whole group, our extended family! We must hoot and chant and raise the alarm far and wide, and we must either fight, or flee ... TOGETHER'. At much larger risk to you, and yours.
This latter way of thinking ... this is a far newer evolutionary development. A Snake, or Lizard, doesn't do this. Birds ... many of them might, but not all species, and not always, just like a Chimp may or may not. Thinking of the 'larger population' than 'you and yours' ... it's not a first impulse for all individuals ... the tendency to 'save oneself', and your young especially if you're a mama ... is a powerful, ingrained impulse that basically fueled evolution. 'Care' for 'community' is much newer and sophisticated, and MUCH less ingrained our genes.
Compete, or cooperate is what it comes down to. Fox News, and general right-wing thinking ... is more akin to that of the simple 'lizard brain', and a more-or-less self-preservation/primal driven instinct to protect/save 'that which I see as directly MINE/of ME'. And it's VERY easily manipulated, because it's one impulse we ALL have and it's well understood by propagandists and those who seek to manipulate for personal gain.
Whereas Liberal thinking ... is thinking of a far more evolved sort. Not only thinking of our own self, or our family, or even of just our little band of chimps in the local trees, but ALL of humanity. Community. Cooperation. Obviously, a Chimp would be dumb to think at that level, there is no world community of Chimps. For a Chimp, the Liberal is the one who calls out to everyone rather than slinking off on his/her own and not risking dying for the rest.
Bottom-line ... some are more evolved in this particular regard ... than others. It's really that simple. You aren't going to get the Fox phenomenon to go away because Humans are animals, and we have absolutely not 'shed' our primitive survival genes. These tell us to think 'that which is not me/mine' is a threat. It's every creature for themselves.
Thinking 'more deeply than that' is but a scratch on our overall genome, comparatively. That's why we on the Left ... have to fight for every small victory. It's also why we're capable of pondering 'abstracts' like 'the future of humanity', whereas you'll NEVER HEAR those words uttered by a Right-Winger because that notion? It basically doesn't exist to them as a concept. There is 'them', and perhaps their living progeny at that moment. That is what 'matters most', Period. Hence 'family values'.
Their minds are just not inherently wired to extend very far out beyond 'my small circle' thinking. Though that can be extended to really obvious things like 'My Race' and 'My Country', these 'me-isms' have to be very obvious/advantageous to be embraced.
And this current civilization developed before the natural world 'evolved' those genes away ... not that it ever actually would have, or even necessarily should have. But it's where we are. Fox exists because we're animals, it's that simple. What it represents ... it's not going away.