Bat Shit Crazy...

...Purely Natural

Another explanation for Polarization

(And another plug for epigenetics)

A liberal friend said she was hard-pressed to "... understand what the Right is so worked up about. In America, particularly right wing America, the issues are not important, the strength of the conviction is key.  They are just bat shit crazy."

Thus, her measured explanation of the right’s philosophy is: “Bat shit crazy.”

Purely polarized, she is.

Crazy.  Batshit Crazy.

I say: 

Whether one or the other — a person moved by issues or one moved by their own depth of conviction — is in the formulas of their DNA and, more importantly, the formulation of their epigenomes. 

As I follow the leading discoveries of epigenetics I am ever more convinced of such previous heresies as heritable environmental influences.  If your peers in your early adulthood (or your parents in your childhood) were fire-breathing happy warriors for some position or the other, you, and your offspring, are likely to be fire breathers (for whatever). 

That’s a simplism but it has the two elements that make the field of epigenetics one of the biggest deals in science, IMO: 1. That life experiences affect genetic translation > expression. 2. That the effect is long lasting and heritable for generations.  Thus, heritable changes in a human that are far too fast for evolution to actually have modified the genome, are carried in the epigenome. The field of epigenetic research is super fascinating. In recent years discoveries have been tumbling out.

So “Batshit crazy” is an epigenetic propensity. If that’s you, and you get that button pushed by peers, parents, stress, or social media, you are likely to be BSC, and there’s a good chance you will become a true believer in your BSC religion. 

I think this explains some of non-Trumpists' complete lack of comprehension of Trumpists. And the vice is totally versa. They think liberals are Batshit Crazy too.  Now that's polarized.

Graphic credit

Batshit Crazy Farms

 
Valparaiso, Indiana