I got a peek at how the Other Side thinks
I was serving jury duty here in Brevard County, Florida, and yesterday a group of about sixty-five of us were questioned by the attorneys for both sides. I should mention it was a murder case and that cocaine was involved. It was quite amazing. Here are some of the questions, and how the group answered:
- Are you a leader, a follower, or "get out of the way?" 98% said they were leaders...I said I was a "get out of the way," but with a big mouth.
- Are the police fair? Again, almost everyone said Yes! I said "not always."
- If each side had an expert testify, but to opposing views, would you be able to decide who was right? Everyone except me said Yes! no problem!
- On a scale where 10 is yes! and 1 is "I'd rather get a root canal," how much do you want to serve on this jury? 90% said
"10," a few said "9," and I said "2; I'd rather skip the root canal." And I also added I did not want to be part of a decision that could lead to a death sentence.
It was frightening to me how much of an authority-figure kind of mindset these people have. This is the Space Coast area and aerospace (or what's left of it) attracts many ex-military types, which (I guess) explains it.
The only other time I've seen this since I moved to this area was at a town-hall meeting, that famous summer, when the Tea Boogers were finding their voices. It was me and one other woman in the audience, saying No! that's not right...and folks actually jeering us.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Science has discovered that peoples brain development
is correlated with their political views.
Science/engineering is typically a left-brain endeavor...
Very linear, logical, either/or thinking.
And again, typically, people who are inclined to that style of thinking
self-identify as republican, conservative, authoritarian.
just a thought 
Looks like they'd need some kind of functioning memory cells for that too... 
Response to J_J_ (Reply #22)
who seem to vote against policies that actually work and benefit them. i posted that some americans are just so racist, and they would prefer to have nothing than allow a black man to succeed. two conservacretins accused me of "playing the race card," and went on and on about how Obama's polices were failures, that he is a liar, etc. one fool even claimed that bush and reagan were disrespected, just like Obama 
i asked the person who was raving about "failed policies" to name one, and i just got more ranting about nothing. i doubt he even knows ANY actual policy that failed. he's a perfectly illustrated my point.
I appreciate you trying to untangle the media garbling for us 
Perhaps I got the hemisphere and cortex thingies garbled.?
Apparently its the differences between
anterior cingulate cortex and the amygdala?
Everyday is a school day!
Thanks for the clarification 
You sound like a pretty balance person...
an artist 
and a scientist !
We are on the same page 
I saddens me when I meet people who are
intelligent but don't have much of an inner life.
Those folks who are "non-creative" and look down
on the supposed "Liberal Arts" are missing so much of life.
Not to mention the Enlightenment and American Revolution
were a direct consequence of learned people working
to create a better world based on "liberal arts".
The irony 
thanks
I think it might also have something to do with whether a person avoids or embraces things that are uncomfortable. I see a lot of talented people - good at their jobs, etc - but they're just not "curious". They take the easy way out mentally.
It's sorta like exercise - it may be a drag sometimes, but keeping body/mind in shape sometimes requires doing things that *you're not good at".
Unfortunately, another thing that happens is that nobody at work is rewarded for saying "I don't know - give me a chance to learn/figure it out." Answers must be NOW NOW NOW. So people become afraid of play (learning) and of any hint of failure.
Even I find myself feeling that I don't have TIME to play/learn but must get "the answer".
Another sad thing about the current political/economic/corporate etc system just when we need more partnership and creativity we are tricked to work against each other and take the easy way out.
Dunno about scientists being predominantly liberal?
Any linkies?
As to the mental disease...
Wasn't right-wing talk radio spouting that
liberalism was a mental disorder?
Limbaugh or Savage?
Yet another instance of PROJECTION?
Oh the irony if true 
The defense attorney asked me if I wanted to change my answer on how much I wanted to serve .
People here tend to be pretty conservative, so it's good to see a healthy suspicion of law enforcement and a demand for real, hard evidence and not just the word of the cop.
Thanks
Because the whole world is crazy!
I never got that training as a child, never got punished for "questioning authority."
And as adults, many people are able to rise above any regressive childhood training.
Punishment is a rotten way of teaching dogs or humans, and people who automatically "respect authority" are easily manipulated by crooked leaders and propaganda.
In my own experience, people in the more creative and scientific aspects of aerospace don't tend to be conservative, but there is a tendency toward libertarianism, which I'll often attribute to a lack of awareness about politics and community-building, or quite honestly, autistic spectrum social cluelessness.
I quit my engineering major for biology in the 'seventies. I was sitting in an engineering class one day and I realized that only two women had enrolled in the class and one of them had dropped out. Most of the guys there talked incessantly about muscle cars and "babes" when they weren't talking about homework. A few of the more creative sorts were destined to dive deeply into cutting edge mathematics, physics, or computer science and I often had a difficult time following their conversations. My talent for math just wasn't that great.
And nope, I was not flaming humanist I am now then, I simply ran the numbers, noticing that more than 50% of biology majors were women. Furthermore there were field trips and field work where one could camp with women! People frolicking in the water naked or close to naked! And paleontology and evolutionary biology are as powerful an obsession with me as computers.
My wife's a biology major too. We met as big city public school science teachers. Nevertheless we are both interested in space science. One of our first dates was an open house at JPL. We both knew people who worked there. They were building the Galileo.
I've never been selected to sit on a jury, probably because I always answer questions honestly and believe, as a very left wing social justice Catholic heretic, that the death penalty is evil.
intelligent and reasonably nice in day to day matters that think like that. I don't understand
