Episode 73: How Politics Distorts Our Perceptions

What do you know about the political party you disagree with the most? Who do you think makes the group up? Is it a bunch of “libtard snowflakes” who are all union-backed? Or is it a bunch of offensive alt-right wackos with too much money to know what to do with it? Either way, those perceptions are both completely off-base—caricatural, even—and dangerous. A study, titled, “The Parties in our Heads: Misperceptions About Party Composition and Their Consequences” discusses exactly how Democrats and Republicans perceive both themselves and each other, and shows exactly how inaccurate those perceptions are. From exaggerated numbers of union-affiliated democrats to impossible statistics of Republicans who make more than $250,000 per year, join us as we discuss the dangers of political misrepresentation and more in this week’s episode of Words and Numbers with James Harrigan and Antony Davies.

Show Notes:

Harley Davidson moving overseas

Largest U.S. nail manufacturer on brink of extinction

FDA approves marijuana-based drug

Foolishness of the week

US is the 10th most dangerous country for women

John Cleese and the BBC

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Topic of the week

Each party is wrong about the other

The Parties in Our Heads: Misperceptions about Party Composition and Their Consequences

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