My Thoughts:
All of this serves as background for a HUGE mystery. What happened to explain his reaction? What forces are at work in his society and his mind? I sought views from the two veterans who had received the original email.
Of course I had formed my own hypothesis - cognitive dissonance. College buddy belongs to the 21% of the population that still supports George Bush and all things Republican. Viewing the Keith Olbermann video brought ideas into his mind that conflicted with his political views, beliefs, and orientation. Dissonance can be painful and is frequently avoided. According to my hypothesis, he pushed the conflicting ideas in the video and my bulleted list out of his mind in an attempt eliminate the source of the painful dissonance.
Think back to your childhood. If someone tried to tell you something you didn't want to hear, you would put your fingers in your ears and start babbling "La, La, La, La...I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" This incident almost seems like an unexpected visit to 'La La' land. In this case I didn't expect to experience such behavior from a college educated adult I'd known for over 30 years.
One of the Veterans posed a different hypothesis that seems to account for more of the vitriol and energy than does my hypothesis. In this hypothesis, the 21% population has experienced an intertwining of politics with religion. The more fundamental the religion, the greater the likelihood and degree of this religion/politics merger. To cast doubt upon one's political tenets is also to cast doubt upon one's religious beliefs as well. This hypothesis also predicts that if his faith was questioned that I, therefore, wouldn't 'respect him' as a person.
While researching this article, I asked a Psychology scholar about my use of cognitive dissonance. He confirmed that this was a general, but still accurate, use of the concept. He also noted that these two hypotheses may both be correct. Maybe the intertwining is internalized as a mutual admiration and support system. When new ideas are introduced that conflict with political half of the intertwined pair, the dissonance is from the religious half.
Then again, neither hypothesis may be true. Maybe Keith's Special Comment presentation just grates on his nerves like most Fox News programs grate on my nerves. It's just an irritant. There's no need to visit 'La La Land', just change the channel or cut off the TV.
On a much larger scale, we face a problem in this country...civil discourse. Most of us have seen this phenomenon on 24-hour cable shows and talk radio. Jon Stewart identified it best when he appeared on Crossfire, telling the hosts their partisan yelling was 'harming America.' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFQFB5YpDZE) How can you discuss a topic, when you are simply espousing your views in a volume that drowns out the opposing view? Robert Greenwald (Outfoxed -- http://www.outfoxed.org) identified a different tactic employed by Bill O'Reilly to actually cut power to his guest's microphone in an effort to prevent alternative or opposing views to his own. We encounter La-La-La type behavior in our media. I guess we shouldn't be too surprised to encounter this behavior from people who watch/listen to the media - it's where they pick-up the behavior.
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