Here's a very interesting piece by Kristof at the New York Times about the reactions of Obama and Clinton supporters, and introducing cognitive science studies of why more information often polarizes, rather than bringing people together.
Divided They Fall
Simply, we are cognitively wired as tribal animals. That means we are inclined to see "our side" as right, and the other side as lying and scheming. And very clever rent-seekers know this and try to use it to jerk us around.
Ron Bailey of Reason has two similar posts up:
More Information Confirms What You Already Know
The Culture War on Facts
Anybody see any similarities for what passes for discussion of climate science generally, and at here at Mises? I've got loads of examples for those who can't seem to see it, or are interested in looking more. Here are several, most recent first:
Climate spin: Who are the sneaky ones who changed "global warming" to "climate change"?http://mises.org/Community/blogs/tokyotom/archive/2008/04/09/why-those-sneaky-enviros-changed-from-quot-global-warming-quot-to-quot-climate-change-quot.aspx
Thank you, Prof. Block, for feeding our confirmation biases
http://mises.org/Community/blogs/tokyotom/archive/2008/02/26/thank-you-prof-block-for-feeding-our-confirmation-biases.aspx
Thanks, Dr. Reisman; or, How I Learned to Hate Enviros and Love Tantrums
http://mises.org/Community/blogs/tokyotom/archive/2008/02/24/george-reisman-or-how-i-learned-to-hate-enviros-and-love-tantrums.aspx
Escape from Reason: are Austrians conservatives, or neocons, on the environment?
http://mises.org/Community/blogs/tokyotom/archive/2008/02/19/cool-rationalists-or-conservatives-and-neocons-on-the-environment.aspx
Edwin Dolan: applying the Lockean framework to climate change
http://mises.org/Community/blogs/tokyotom/archive/2008/02/14/edwin-dolan-applying-the-lockean-framework-to-climate-change.aspx
"Climate Change, Evidence and Ideology"
http://mises.org/Community/blogs/tokyotom/archive/2008/02/06/quot-climate-change-cumulative-evidence-and-ideology-quot.aspx
John Baden: a Mt. Pelerin misanthrope/watermelon?
http://mises.org/Community/blogs/tokyotom/archive/2007/12/17/john-baden-is-this-mt-pellerin-society-member-a-misanthrope-watermelon.aspx
Holiday joy: roasting "watermelons" on an open pyre!
http://mises.org/Community/blogs/tokyotom/archive/2007/12/17/holiday-joy-quot-watermelons-quot-roasting-on-an-open-pyre.aspx
"Heroic" contrarians, proven wrong on AGW, make another slick cry for relevance at Bali
http://mises.org/Community/blogs/tokyotom/archive/2007/12/15/quot-heroic-quot-expert-voices-proven-wrong-on-agw-make-another-slick-cry-for-relevance-at-bali.aspx
Who knows climate science? The Mises Blog!
http://mises.org/Community/blogs/tokyotom/archive/2007/12/14/who-knows-climate-science-the-mises-blog.aspx
Goering and Madison on War
http://mises.org/Community/blogs/tokyotom/archive/2007/12/11/madison-and-goering-on-war.aspx
Bali: Murdoch & 149 Other Top Vile Collectivists/Capitalists Call for Global Poverty ...
http://mises.org/Community/blogs/tokyotom/archive/2007/12/04/murdoch-amp-149-other-top-vile-collectivists-capitalists-call-for-global-poverty.aspx
Tribal pigheadedness: RedState bans Ron Paul supporters
http://mises.org/Community/blogs/tokyotom/archive/2007/10/27/tribal-pigheadedness-quot-the-simplest-way-to-explain-the-behavior-of-redstate.aspx
Libertarian denial; clever but not wise
http://mises.org/Community/blogs/tokyotom/archive/2007/10/12/libertarian-reticience-other-than-to-bash-enviros.aspx