Fear of death factors into how we vote

[Celebration]

http://www.physorg.com/news9269.html

Florette Cohen, a graduate student in social psychology and Daniel Ogilvie, a psychology professor, used research based on the 2004 presidential election. They found voters in a "psychologically benign state of mind" preferred Kerry to Bush, but Bush was more popular than Kerry after voters received a subtle reminder of death.

Citing an Osama bin Laden tape that became public a few days before the election, the researchers say many Americans' unconscious concerns about death resulted in some people being scared into voting for Bush.

The researchers collaborated with professors Sheldon Solomon of Skidmore College, Jeff Greenberg at the University of Arizona and Tom Pyszczynski at the University of Colorado.

The study appears in the journal Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy.

[HereSince1628]

1. That's sort of follows directly from Jost et al.

The found fear of death to be the strongest motivator of conservative behavior and Voting conservative is a behavior.

[stillcool]

2. I wonder how 'fear of life' would factor in...

as that's where my fear lies.

[rfranklin]

3. Also explains the religious fervor amongst Bush supporters....

If you afraid of dying , the existence of an afterlife is essential to your mental comfort.

[jrw14125]

4. So does that mean Bush voters are a bunch of pu$$ies?! :)

[PDittie]

5. And to further extent, the "War on Christmas"

An issue like coerced religious tokenism divides the public and frightens the fundamentalist community. And the more its members feel they are under attack, the more money they will give to their churches to use for quasi-political purposes, the more straight Republican tickets they will vote, and the less open they will be to any facts coming from other sources.

And the more they will implicitly believe the warnings of the false prophets of doom.

[bemildred]

6. Fear makes you stupid. Duh? nt

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. I've been saying that for a long time

Fear DOES make people stupid and easy to manipulate.

I'd like that as a bumpersticker: "Fear makes you stupid."

[bemildred]

10. I like that, I would buy one.

The other one I like is "Evil is a sub-category of stupid".
Almost always when you look at something evil, it turns
out to be dumb too.

[orwell]

7. Osama...

...from the George Bush Pop-up Book of Fear collection.

He just seems to show up right when Georgie needs him.

[Avalux]

8. So that's why Senator Cornyn (dickhead) said what he did -

concerning Bush's illegal spying:

"civil liberties mean nothing when you're dead"

:think:

[icymist]

11. "Voters reciving death threats most likely to vote for crime cartel."

Is it too late to do something about this? I'm up for ideas, anyone?