I’ve been thinking quite a bit lately about the way other people think. Specifically, the idea of false consensus and what it means for a society, with a two-party political system, headed toward the end of an election season. We’ve made it quite clear to each other that we can’t all be “real Americans.” We’re either Communists or bigots. Lee Ross’s experiments in the 70’s suggested that not only do we grossly overestimate the extent to which “others” agree with us, but we tend to pathologize those who disagree with us. Add in a chalkboard and a gentle dusting of prideful xenophobia, and you’ve got Glenn Beck’s entire career.

…or at least that’s how it seems to me, as someone who disagrees with Beck and thinks there must be some explanation for his legion of followers. It’s hard to point out a real-world example of this particular cognitive bias without becoming guilty of it oneself.

And yet there are clear instances where a person’s stated beliefs are obviously (or if not obviously, at least very likely) the result of some psychological abnormality. Take Ted Haggard: a closeted homosexual (a term I use because I think “gay” suggests self-acceptance and membership in a particular subculture) who has dedicated much of his adult life to opposing gay rights. Those are not hard dots to connect. But where does that leave someone like the abominable Maggie Gallagher, who has also dedicated her life to fighting gay rights, and is straight?

Well, for the record, I think she’s a fucking sack of nuts as well. But…see paragraph 2.