Why do people in politics insist on categorizing you before they respond to you?

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   Miss Infoposted 12 years ago

   Why do people in politics insist on categorizing you before they respond to you?
   
   For the umpteenth time, individuals do NOT have to associate with any political party in order to make a rational argument concerning any other political party. In other words, not because John Doe opposes gay marriage, he is automatically a republican AND not because Mary Doe agrees with abortion, she is automatically a democrat. Sex or race or home state has nothing to do with politics. Why does the categorizing persist among US citizens???

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2. 61

   J D Murrahposted 12 years ago

   It has to do with 'heuristics'. The politicians take mental short-cuts to pigeon hole those they are interacting with. This is a common practice to avoid having to get to know the person. Once they can pigeon-hole you, then they decide whether or not to take you seriously and how likely you are to vote or support them. I suspect it has to do with looking for short cuts and being intellectually lazy. I suspect they prefer to call it heuristics rather than prejudice, because prejudice has a lot of emotional baggage. By calling the taking of mental short-cut heuristic, they can sound smart and still have their biases without being called out on them.

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3. 67

   Miss Infoposted 12 years ago

   Very informative. Thank you so much for clearing this up. I concur. I noticed the pattern and thought it needed to be clarified. Thanks!

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   Wayne Brownposted 12 years ago

   Because they then know what angle to attack you from and what efforts to employ in the process.  Tell a liberal that you are a conservative and they will immediately begin a diatribe about the ills of George Bush and how he is responsible for everything that is wrong in America today.  I just recently wrote a hub on this subject entitled "American Solidarity" in which I discuss the importance which Americans now place on the labels we assign each other as opposed to making patriotism and what is best for our country in the long run the first and highest priority.  It is okay to be a liberal or a conservative but not at the expense of the future welfare of our nation. America needs to relearn that concept.  WB

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5. 60

   yoker8686posted 12 years ago

   U.S. politics has become a game to distract from the true political matters. How are they handling our money? How will they help our education system? How much regulation will be placed on the free market? What programs should be government funded? What laws need to be passed to protect us domestically and overseas? At what point is our privacy being violated? Instead of focusing on these issues and looking out for the people we let our politicians compromise these issues for the sake of their stance on abortion, gay rights, and gun rights. These issues are going to always exist and go back and forth unless one political party can have control of all three branches of government and hold it for several terms. Being conservative or liberal have polar opposite views on the issues they make major and it cuts to moral values. By having a political view dictate moral values the more extreme you are on that issue the more horrified the opposing moral value is and the easier to attack. If you prove you are the opposite view of another and then prove the other side is wrong you prove your side right. It is a fallacy in logic but it works for debates and can attract more votes.

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