by Rene H. Levy PhD
USA Peoplehood Press
Trade Paperback
From the author's website:
What does science tell us about the palpable level of hatred that exists between left and right in America? In MENDING AMERICA’S POLITICAL DIVIDE, prominent neuroscientist Rene Levy tells us why political hatred is our most dangerous emotion, the nuclear weapon of the mind. The unique potency of political hatred emboldens us to view large groups of people impersonally enough to wage physical war against them, and makes us even more susceptible to propaganda from our own side that nearly consumes our daily lives.
Levy tells us why a growing number of Americans have now devolved into using the most corrosive and primitive part of their brains. Our “primitive brains” feed hatred, contempt, paranoia and feelings of moral superiority. When the primitive brain perceives a threat, real or imagined, it gets activated immediately and shuts off our capacity for empathy. Empathy limits our cruelty.
How can this problem—which isn’t going to magically disappear no matter who wins the election in November—begin to be solved? Levy dispenses with the finger-pointing and instead forces us to take a closer look at how we play into the drama, asking the tough questions that we have to answer about ourselves first, before we can engage in thoughtful dialogue with others.
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