Moon at dawn
That people can and do perceive something like a speech very differently probably isn't new to most people. What is new is mankind's understanding of how those differences in perception arise.
The biology of cognition & perception vs. reality: Cognitive science now understands that the human mind evolved to create perceptions of reality that may or may not have much objective truth in them. The conscious human mind processes information at a low rate or bandwidth of about 2-45 bits/second. By contrast, our unconscious minds process about 11 million bits/second and it brings to our conscious attention the little dribble of info that it thinks we need to be aware of. What's lost is just stuff our unconscious minds decides we don't need to know about. The process of bringing that trickle of information to our attention is fascinating.
Our unconscious minds creates powerful illusions, which include (i) a firmly-held, often unshakeable, belief that our conscious mind is in control of what we see, think and decide to do, and (ii) what we do become aware of accurately reflects reality without bias or distortion. One author refers to how we perceive our conscious minds as the User Illusion.
When biology and politics collide: On July 7, 2106 an armed gunman shot and killed 5 Dallas Texas police officers and injured 11 others including 9 police officers. A few days after the shooting, president Obama went to Dallas and gave a speech about the event. How different people reacted to that speech is a garden variety example of what happens when biology crashes into politics.
A Washington Post editorial characterized Obama’s Dallas speech like this: “President Obama gave a majestic speech in Dallas, one of the best of his presidency, at once a soaring tribute to slain police officers and an affirmation of peaceful protest. But he was wrong about one thing: On race, sadly, we are as divided as we seem. This condition is not due to anything Obama has said or done. He bends so far backward to avoid giving offense, even to those who richly deserve offending, that he must need regular sessions with a chiropractor. The racial divide, which has its roots in lingering claims of white supremacy, has been there all along.”
By contrast, an editorial at Breitbart characterized the speech like this: “President Barack Obama converted the commemoration of five Dallas police officers killed by a cop-hating African-American into an extended speech in support of the radical Black Lives Matter movement. . . . . the bulk of his speech broadcast the progressive claim that America is racist because racism prevents all groups from prospering as well as other groups.”
The best-liked comment to the Breitbart editorial characterized Obama's speech like this: “This man has no shame. The disrespect he showed today was breathtaking. I could not believe what I was reading. The man is pure evil!”
Finally, CNN characterized the president's speech like this: “President Barack Obama on Tuesday emotionally hailed the bravery of America's police forces at a memorial for five officers gunned down in Dallas, but warned the despair of minority communities who see the criminal justice system weighted against them must not be ignored. In a soaring address, Obama said that a week of violence and racial tension had exposed the deepest fault lines in American democracy and acknowledged that the events of a traumatic week left the nation shocked and fearful. But ultimately, after one of the most searching discourses on race of his presidency, he concluded that the country's divides were not as acute as they often seemed.”
Characterizations of Obama's speech included, (i) an explicit understatement of racism, (ii) an implied overstatement of racism, (iii) an expression of pure evil, and (iv) a balanced, nuanced assessment of a complex social situation.
In the minds of each of those speakers, their vision of reality is sincere and believed to be objectively true and accurate. For those people, their perceptions are reality. Differences of opinion in politics like this are routine. That shows what can happen when human cognitive biology gets its hands (neurons, actually) on reality and unconsciously filters it to conform to personal world views, morals and beliefs.
That's why politics is more subjective than objective. It has to be that way because that's how the human mind works.
B&B orig: 9/15/16
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