[lbo-talk] No Evidence ...

[Jon Johanning]

Because irrationality "inherited" from our evolutionary precursors 
doesn't always trump rationality. (Otherwise science, etc., would never 
have developed.) We *can* sometimes think rationally; the question is 
how to get more people to do it more often in situations in which it 
would be desirable.

In this case, the people who don't believe the AQ-Saddam connection 
presumably don't have the emotional motivations which cause the 
believers to switch off their reasoning faculties on this subject.

We are all mixtures of rational and irrational beings. Even the most 
logical of us can think of areas in our lives where we make very stupid 
mistakes because we are so emotionally committed to an idea that we 
can't think straight about it. I certainly can in my life.

On Thursday, September 18, 2003, at 06:21  PM, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:


> Presumably, US Blacks and non-US citizens are also products of the 
> same biological evolution as the fuzzy-minded (= the overwhelmingly 
> Republican, disproportionately white, and largely male portion of US 
> citizens).  Why don't they believe in the AQ-Saddam connection?

Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org
__________________________________
A sympathetic Scot summed it all up very neatly in the remark, 'You 
should make a point of trying every experience once, excepting incest 
and folk-dancing.' -- Sir Arnold Bax