Unpartitioned Variance 50% off<p>Okay, a slightly less "throw them all under the bus" take (whether they're D or R):</p><p>We have this habit of assuming "In vino veritas" or "when you lose your temper we see who you REALLY are" etc. </p><p>No. We see an aspect of you. If we hear you say racist, misogynist, demeaning, insulting things, yes, those were all in your brain... but here's the rub:</p><p>They're in all of our brains. In the early 90s Patricia Devine kicked off a line of research showing that people who grow up in bigoted societies have the stereotypes in their heads, whether they want them there or not (Avenue Q made the same point in song). People differ in how much they allow these implicit biases to determine their behavior--anti-racist folks tend to work pretty hard to prevent those insidious memes from coming out of their mouths.</p><p>But there's another line of research about a century old showing that, when people are under heavy cognitive load--this includes being angry, confused, frustrated, or mentally overwhelmed--they are more likely to use a bias/heuristic-based method of thinking and behaving. And when people have reduced impulse control--like when they are tired or tipsy--they do the same thing.</p><p>So the things a congressperson says when drunk and angry don't give us insight into "who they really are." It just shows that they are human and American. They grew up absorbing the same shitty biases as everyone else.</p><p>Such behavior should, however (IMO) make us think very hard about why a congressperson was drunk and having a screaming match on the House floor. That seems pretty fucking relevant.</p><p>I think the second point is more important for judging whether Fetterman (and others) should be our representatives.</p><p><a href="https://c.im/tags/congress" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>congress</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/impulse" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>impulse</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/psychology" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>psychology</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/racism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>racism</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/misogyny" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>misogyny</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/sexism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sexism</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/bias" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>bias</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/stereotypes" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>stereotypes</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/prejudice" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>prejudice</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/identity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>identity</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/fetterman" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fetterman</span></a></p>