Very good piece, Sage.

There will always be a small minority whose brains are wired to discover the truth, society be damned.  How we treat them, how we accommodate them, welcome them, and respect them, are important keys to the future greatness of any society.

When I look at people, I see different mixtures of qualities.  Some truly have little interest in truth and are ruled by negative emotional impulses.  Others are interested in truth, but benefit (or suffer) from various tendences to allow emotional reactions to interfere with that interest.  For most people, learning to find the truth with minimal diversion by emotional impulses requires self-discipline and cultivation of the skill.

We vary in that quality of empathy, too.  Many have it; some are soulless empty skeletons; some are truly evil with "empathy" that leads to behaviors opposite those expected of good people.

We have varying interests in truth and emotions.  Empathy shapes the ways that we put those interests to work.

I'll agree with that AD. I like to think I am that sort~ finding some universal truths has been a goal for sometime now.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Here is a great website where you can take a series of tests to look for patterns in your value systems.  Most of the questions revolve around the same concepts in the piece: authority, fairness, harm, loyalty..etc. 

This is like other things I've read that say that "conservative" and "liberal" are hard-wired into our brains--like personalities. 

On a side note--I took the disgust test and scored really high.  I've always figured it was because I was a real spaz when it came to gross stuff.  I'm also a spaz when it comes to potential threats. 

Does this mean I'm really a conservative?  ; )

Really intersting piece. Thanks, sagefever. BTW, Nicholas Kristof has a fan page on Facebook you can sign up for if you enjoy his stuff.

Sage:  I think I'm a conservative!  I didn't take any of the tests.  The one recommended by another blogger required one to sign in, and, sorry, I'm not going to sign in to answer a bunch of what are probably personal questions.  (Does that make me ultra-conservative????  LOL.)

Possibly Alicen. :-)

Thanks for the My Space tip adam!

The take away, for me at least ,was that while we are wired differently, we reach our judgments by that medial prefrontal cortex,a intuitive organ.  

That sure makes me less judgmental about all those wrong headed folks out there! ;-)

Catherine, it might not make you conservative, but didn't you say your husband is conservative? Maybe it made you attracted to a conservative :)

And Alicen, being aware of privacy concerns is just a matter of survival online. Even signing up here, I only gave what I consider to be my "public" information on the registration form.

Sage, excellent post. To answer the initial questions, No, and Yes.

Even with permission in a comedy skit, there is absolutely no way I could slap my father across the face. There is something just so inherently wrong with that! Now, if we're talking about one of my sisters, then that's a completely different story. And I'm not even sure I'd need the permission or comedy excuse. Just kidding ... kind of     ; )

Public restrooms are gross all the way around and frankly I try to avoid them whenever possible. It never ceases to amaze me what pigs women are, especially the ones who "hover" and urinate all over the seat. Or worse, those who do more "serious" business (cant' they wait until they get home?!) and don't bother to flush. Don't even get me started on the sanitary products. Yuck.

The thought of touching a faucet after people like that completely grosses me out. If they can't get the other right, how can I be sure they know how to use toilet paper properly? 

Yup, I'm a conservative, alright! LOL!

"Would you be willing to slap your father in the face, with his permission, as part of a comedy skit?" -  NO

"Does it disgust you to touch the faucet in a public restroom?" - NO

"People who would be disgusted to find that they had accidentally sipped from an acquaintance’s drink are more likely to identify as conservatives." - This doesn't disgust me...

"For liberals, morality derives mostly from fairness and prevention of harm." - Not true. Effort+Success = Reward. Fairness = Same Effort+Same Success = Same Reward. Liberals believe Equal Reward for all, regardless of individual output. That's not fair.

We all reach our conclusions through that "intuitive portal" in our brains,not through reasoning" - And that intuitive portal has been wired over the course of our lives by our own experiences. "Walks like a Duck, Quacks like a Duck, Hmm, Must be a Duck". Most people only have to touch the stove burner once in their life to know that it's hot. Years later, if a person comes along to challenge this "Known" and ask that you touch it again, You'd have to be plane stupid to do it. That "intuitive portal" is programmed with past experience where "reasoning" was used. It keeps us from having to re-invent the wheel every time someone comes along and asks that same question.

Everyone will have their own answers Vanity~ thanks for taking a look at least!