Eleanor Roosevelt once said:

" Great minds discuss ideas
Average minds discuss events
Small minds discuss people."

Perhaps she might well have been referring to the
topic of sex and gender being discussed on another
thread. To why or why not we should discuss the
topic of what "a woman" is - and why some seem to
find it difficult to discuss. If you don't like
Roosevelt's quote - at least it's pithy.

As for the definitions?

The following two links may help:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_and_gender_distinction

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/voices/stop-using-phony-science-to-justify-transphobia/

If you scratch a progressive you find an authoritarian?

And here I was thinking that the opposite was true that
if you scratch a conservative - you find an authoritarian.

Compared to progressives, the thinking skills, emotional
regulation and moral competence of conservatives are not
the best. Conservatives have a higher desire for security,
predictability, authority, order, closure, and
certainty. That they are overly cautious and scientifically
less literate.

Conservatives have relative difficulty processing evidence
even at a perceptual level. They tend to think about the
world in black and white terms and are more drawn to
authoritarian ideologies - because they simplify the world.

What the research says is that conservative minds are drawn to
simplistic ideologies. And the prejudice lies in these black
and white ideologies. The fear center of the conservative
brain (amygdala) is enlarged. This explains why conservatives
have a heightened sensitivity to fear, threat, and disgust and
why their hackles go up so quickly.

I'm not suggesting that we should be against conservatives.
But we should be against voting them into positions of power
in this country - where they are totally out of their depth.

In place of thought, plans, and ideas, they just market stuff -
we might think that they're thinking, but it's all just
practiced spin.

Hi Foxy,

There is nothing wrong with our old conservative "brains" on this forum.They take their "brain" out of their mouth every night and pop it into a glass of water with a 'Polident' tablet beside their bed, its fresh and clean the next morning, all ready for their daily feed of 'Coco Pops'.

Foxy wrote: "And here I was thinking that the opposite was true that
if you scratch a conservative - you find an authoritarian."

Well I'd suggest you misunderstood two things: (1) the point I was making about Paul's silly comment and (2) the 20th century.

BTW, this is the article Foxy plagiarised in her comments.
http://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/right-and-left-the-choice-between-dumb-and-dumber,15130

We shouldn't be too hard on Foxy's penchant for using other people's words to make herself look erudite. She really can't help it, it seems.

But given that less than 30% of psychology studies can be replicated, treating their results as 'fact' really does show an appalling lack of understanding - see above.

mhaze,

Thank you for pointing out my error in not acknowledging
the link from which I cited. I was in a hurry at the time.
I usually do try to give links from which I cite - even though
I still get criticized even for doing that - as not having a brain
of my own.

So again Thanks for your concern about me.
Just remember - do try to be perfect yourself and work
at not seeing things just in terms of just black and white

Hi Paul,

maze kindly provided the link that I overlooked
in my previous post - so now I can safely continue to
cite from it. We're told that"

"Progressive minds have a larger volume of grey matter
that helps detect errors and resolve conflicts (anterior
cingulate cortex). In contrast the fear centre of the
brain (amygala) is enlarged in conservatives. This would
explain why conservatives have a heightened sensitivity
to fear, threat, and disgust and why their hackles go up
so readily."

"These findings help explain why Piers Morgan, (Alan Jones)
Andrew Bolt (and co), carry on about nothing much."

As does a tiny minority on this forum of course.

"Is this song and dance just for the money and influence?"

Or in our forum contributors - an attempt at looking good?

"Either way what matters to them..." is whipping up antipathy
against their targets - and trying to make themselves look
good. Which of course is a lost cause in many cases.