Studies suggest the country is more divided than ever – but we won’t come together unless we begin to talk rationally and calmly, says novelist and political scientist Elif Shafak
I was recently trying to explain to my Dad that he was about to vote for actual, uniform-wearing Neo Nazis. In spite of his parents and uncles having fought against Nazis in WWII, he couldn’t change his opinion due to the ‘common sense’ message he believed he was voting for. His brain is no longer plastic enough to work with new information, but his cognitive dissonance can stretch to infinity. At some point, he decided thinking was too hard and chose to stop trying.
I was recently trying to explain to my Dad that he was about to vote for actual, uniform-wearing Neo Nazis. In spite of his parents and uncles having fought against Nazis in WWII, he couldn’t change his opinion due to the ‘common sense’ message he believed he was voting for. His brain is no longer plastic enough to work with new information, but his cognitive dissonance can stretch to infinity. At some point, he decided thinking was too hard and chose to stop trying.