Michael Moore Highlights Liberal Amygdala Function – Violation of Expectations And Denial

Known wolf Aurini commented in an email on Michael Moore’s realization that Trump will win in November:

This part stood out to me:

“You need to exit that bubble right now. You need to stop living in denial and face the truth which you know deep down is very, very real. Trying to soothe yourself with the facts – “77% of the electorate are women, people of color, young adults under 35 and Trump cant win a majority of any of them!” – or logic – “people aren’t going to vote for a buffoon or against their own best interests!” – is your brain’s way of trying to protect you from trauma. Like when you hear a loud noise on the street and you think, “oh, a tire just blew out,” or, “wow, who’s playing with firecrackers?” because you don’t want to think you just heard someone being shot with a gun.”

I’m the opposite; any time I hear fireworks, I think “Gun”.

Aurini is one of us. Michael Moore is not.

Notice how Michael Moore knows the tools, such as denial, that he uses to make reality around him appear less negative. It is almost comical to picture him walking around like Mr Magoo, blind to the world, stepping on dead bodies and telling himself they are pillows – even as he knows, deep down, that they are dead bodies he is stepping on. And still he demands the power to tell everyone else how to live.

Now for the practical analysis. Understanding the amygdala’s response to stimuli is immensely helpful in understanding how pressing a button in the mind can produce a response, and that is of immense use in amygdala hijacking.

Why do rabbits run and panic? Why is their amygdala on a hair trigger? Why is their amygdala, when triggered, unbearable? I think it is because they are programmed to deny reality and assume the best, making each intrusion of reality a violation of expectation.

If you are walking in a mall, hear some bangs, and think “gunshots!,” and then take cover and look for a shooter, your response is different when you see the shooter. Because you expected a shooter, it is not surprising or a violation of expectation. As a result, you will not panic as easily, because the structure the amygdala triggers to elicit the emotion, the ACC, will not be amped up by the error detection of registering a violation of expectation. As a result you will be much more capable of assessing, planning, and surviving the event. You think “shooter!,” your brain preps to see one, and as a result, it isn’t surprised to see him when he appears.

If you are a rabbit however, and you hear some bangs and think “Yay! Fireworks!,” now things are different. You are expecting kids having fun and assorted gaiety. When you suddenly see a man with an assault rifle turn a corner, and see him shooting other people, now your ACC lights up as it is triggered with error detection. You weren’t prepared for this. This is like walking into a core class for a college major expecting a lecture, and suddenly realizing there was a major exam you hadn’t studied for. Error detection makes it worse than it would be if you knew the test was happening but had knowingly not studied, due to uncontrollable circumstances. In that case, you take the test, and hope for the best, but it isn’t shocking.

In the mall-shooting scenario, you hit that unexpected error-detection circuit, and then your amygdala picks up the threat, and sends another call to the already-amped ACC to produce yet more fearful-aversive-stimulus. The resulting combination of fearful-aversive-stimulus and error-detection produces an outsized panic greater than what the fear alone would produce.

This is useful from an evolutionary standpoint. A threat you meet which you understand enough to predict is manageable and controllable. A threat which defies expectation is a much greater threat, since you are not ready for it. It pops out of nowhere, when you are unprepared, and that is a recipe for killing you. It is wise of evolution to add a circuit to increase the likelihood of flight in the face of such a threat that defies expectation.

This knowledge is useful when loading the amygdala for a hijack. Presenting stimuli which not only trigger the amygdala, but which also surprise and defy expectations, will have more of an effect than a predictable stimulus. Saying things which immediately precipitate a response such as “Nobody is allowed to say that!” or “That is untrue!” or “That is unfair!” or “He shouldn’t be allowed to say that!,” all trigger that error-detection circuitry. If the target expects you to be contrite over violating the rules and you are not, that is another blow.

If you aren’t supposed to say that, and then you say that, and then you are not contrite as expected, your target’s ACC pipes up to say that what they just heard couldn’t be, and what followed wasn’t right either. When your target’s amygdala reaffirms not just the errors were true, but also confirms the amygdala-hijacking nature of the stimulus, your target enters freak-out panic mode, which is just where you want them. You can see why Trump has the effect he does on liberals. Every aspect of his game is a violation of SJW expectations.

Picturing how evolution programmed the amygdala and its associated structures, as well as how your own mind would respond to amygdala triggers under different circumstances, can offer immense advantages when trying to figure out how to trigger and exploit the damaged psychology of the mentally-ill liberal. Simply making a slight alteration to the stimulus could be the difference between merely degrading cognitive function and producing the full on stroke.

Hopefully Donald Trump will use all of this on Hillary in the debates.