Social Animal

(updated below)

I look forward to hearing what David Brooks has to say on TV and reading what he writes in the New York Times. Since Palin's selection as the Republican vice-presidential nominee, I've been waiting for him to validate my belief that she's unqualified and McCain's judgement defective. I'm waiting for him to either denounce McCain's pick, explain how she is qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency, or explain why it doesn't matter.

But, it hasn't happened yet. Maybe he doesn't think it's his place. Maybe he thinks that if she is unacceptable, it will eventually become obvious. Or maybe I'm missing something. Could she actually be qualified? It seems pretty obvious to me that she's not. But it's also pretty obvious that a lot of Republicans think she is. How can that be?!

David Brooks, in his latest column for the New York Times, The Social Animal, doesn't address my concerns about the McCain/Palin ticket. But he hints at something that I think is important and that might be helpful in understanding the cognitive dissonance people like me are experiencing with politics.

Brooks states that we are "deeply interconnected with one another". His point is that the Republican Party needs to do more to nurture the social institutions providing the scaffolding our individuality is built on.  But he's also saying something else about what it is to be human. This is at least the second time recently that Brooks has referred to the connection of the self to social relationships (see The Neural Buddhists published this past May).

Maybe the reason there is so much cognitive dissonance in politics is that Democrats and Republicans live in separate social realities, speaking separate languages!

I like to tell people that one of my favorite activities is thinking about thinking! But, when it really comes down to it, that's not a very easy thing to do. So, in the end, I spend less time thinking about thinking and more time just thinking about thinking about thinking! And talking about thinking about thinking! (I can be a silly guy!)

I am very interested in how we construct our concepts of self and the world we live in. And how we use these constructs to navigate our way through life. I'll share more of my thinking on philosophical topics in future posts but, for now, let me just mention a theory of knowledge known as Social Construction. This theory explains that a lot of what we perceive as facts about the world only exist by social agreement. For example, a twenty dollar bill only has value because we agree that it has value. Otherwise, it's just a piece of decorated paper.

Social Construction may be helpful in trying to begin to understand how Democrats and Republicans can hold such opposing opinions on so many issues of the day - and with such confidence! We live in different socially constructed worlds! As David Brooks might say, this sounds pretty "airy-fairy".  But there's something to this.

It's easier to assume that the other guys are either stupid or dishonest and stop thinking about all the contradictions. That's certainly easier.  Too easy!  That's the cartoon version of reality!

I'm still thinking about it.

UPDATE: I was encouraged to see David Brooks' column of September 15, 2008, Why Experience Matters, where he points out that: "Democracy is not average people selecting average leaders. It is average people with the wisdom to select the best prepared" and states that Sarah Palin "has not been engaged in national issues, does not have a repertoire of historic patterns and, like President Bush, she seems to compensate for her lack of experience with brashness and excessive decisiveness"!  Thanks, David.