this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2025
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There have been studies on this, brain damage is linked to more conservative political beliefs.
It is not ableist to point out a fact.
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rstb.2020.0137
I had a TBI as a teenager and went from moderately liberal to full blown anarcho communist.
You meet one person with a brain injury, you’ve met one person with a brain injury. We’re all very different because the brain is barely understood by science and our injuries even harder to quantify.
Also if you look at sufferers of CTE most become aggressive and violent until they end up taking their own lives. See boxers, football players, combat veterans. I think there’s a link between aggression and right wing ideology.
I imagine TBI is going to be more variable in its effects than something from constant low level brain damage (chemically or impact) or from a stroke as well though right?
If my assumption is right, then that would likely explain why you are an outlier, rather than that brain damage's effect doesn't at least trend conservative.
No, whether blunt force trauma (me) or lack of oxygen (fetterman) the exact parts of the brain affected vary from person to person and that would impact political leaning in theory.
So, liberal to authoritarian? Figures.
Anarchists are not authoritarians.
Wow. Anarchist and authoritarian in the same sentence. That’s a new level of political illiteracy.
Technically speaking, on paper both anarchism and communism advocate for the reduction of central powers that dictate authoritarianism.
In real world practice however...yeah :/
In what real world context are anarchists authoritarians?
Fake ass ancaps don’t count.
I was referring to the modern day social media "anarchists", yeah. I am a survivor of r/politicalcompassmemes.
I think most real world anarchists aren't arguing on corporate social media for obvious reasons. Therefore it gets co-opted by the libertarian/ancap community, the misrepresentation of the philosophy perpetuates, and then we have comments like the one I was replying to calling it authoritarian. Hence my :/
Yeah, that whole wing of politics doesn’t count as anarchism because it doesn’t challenge capitalism which is extremely hierarchical.
Edit - to anyone reading this who is confused, anarcho communism is essentially the embrace of communist economic organization and the rejection of authoritarianism to get there. Different anarchists have different views about the how but at our core we are against hierarchy in all forms.
Do you know which exact type of brain damage he suffers from? Because it states while damage in one affected area can have an effect on your political opinion, damage in different areas show no difference whatsoever. It wouldn't surprise me to see if other types of brain damage could make you more liberal too. We do know liberal and conservative brains show some differences, so different damage in different areas could make you swing either way. I mean neuroscience is still in it's infancy, so a lot of this is just observing and trying to see patterns. Saying "brain damage makes you conservative" is too broad of a claim. It's certainly not backed by this study.
EDIT: One more thing I don't really understand is what this argument is trying to achive anyway. Do you want to take voting rights from people who had a stroke because they can't decide for themselves? This topic is really thin ice and it's usually fascist groups that propose such things.
I will happily read a study that demonstrates this, however I have only been able to locate results that show brain injuries tend to make people more conservative.
If you want anyone to take you seriously on this topic you need to provide more than conjecture.
As for my argument, I have done nothing more than provide the facts as I understand them based on scientific studies.
You don‘t have to take me seriously, though I think you probably should when I warn you about the dark path you‘re walking here. It‘s enough to take the study you provided seriously which is not as conclusive as you make it to be. Certainly not enough to boil political views down to a summarized medical record.
Fetterman famously had a major change in political ideology following a brain injury.
Numerous studies have shown that brain injuries are associated with more conservative beliefs, though I don’t have the time to dig all of them up right now.
What would that be exactly?
Different person here. People with brain damage, along with other mental and physical disabilities, were the first group killed by the OG Nazis. Once they realized they could get away with that, they moved on to other marginalized groups.
Many people suffer brain damage WITHOUT becoming Conservatives. Or becoming assholes. Fetterman has changed party views, but he was always an asshole.
It sounds like you’re missing the difference between low and high functioning _____. People with high-functioning autism, for example, deal with a lot of struggles that everyone handwaves away because they’re mostly able to, like, get to work on time. The Nazis would have walked right past them so long as their views aligned; they wanted the people who were visibly and undeniably brain damaged because because it’s all about appearances with facists. Plus it was the first half of the 1900s, they weren’t exactly experts at that shit.
I expect Neofascism to weaponize autism in a particular way: "Ah...you had a vaccination as a child. To the gulag with you, autistic."
By being an invisible and highly variable condition, the brand of autism can be pressed upon anyone the Regime wishes to remove from society. Inconvenient politician? Autism. That pretty girl who spurned you? Threaten them with autism, until they surrender their cherry. Then brand them anyway.
Bluntly, I am very much expecting horrible things to come.
It sounds like you're missing the point that the "dark path" of extermination starts with casting people with brain damage as the enemy. Dehumanization is a Nazi tactic even when used by people who consider themselves antifascist.
Vote against Fetterman by all means, work to promote progressive goals. Research what kids of brain decay cause withering of empathy and how to restore it. But don't dismiss those who've suffered brain damage as a whole. And maybe learn to recognize assholes even when they seem to be on your side,like Fetterman before the damage stripped away his progressive veneer.
I don’t see us doing that, though, so I’m not sure how to agree with you while also explaining that you’re agreeing with our point and maybe just aren’t seeing that.
Just circling back to this because that is explicitly not what I said. Read what I commented again.
Voting rights no, but maybe that should be replaced by appointment after major head injuries. I'd also like to see an age limit on candidates tied to SS retirement age.
See: Phrenology
"It's just facts!"
That's you. That's what you sound like.
I mean was it even science as we know it today? I don't think they used the scientific method at all for the phrenology stuff.
"Science can't be wrong twice"
That's you.
So what is your evidence that this study is wrong?
Only their own wishes.
Checkmate, lol 🥂
"Science hasn't refined its methodologies and controls against biases since the 1790s."
That's you.