October 23, 2004
Ignorance is Bliss
University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes' survey (PDF) also found that a majoroty of supporters of President Bush mistakenly believe that the President supports the Kyoto global-warming treaty, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the International Criminal Court, and the treaty banning land mines, when he in fact opposes them. A majority of Bush supporters also think that most of the people on the world hope the President is re-elected. This is not the case.I always wondered how anyone supported Bush. But seriously - this is scary stuff. I can't think of a more powerful testament to the power of misinformation. Check out this chart from the report:Steven Kull, program director, said that Bush supporters' "resistance to information" on several fronts reflected a powerful bond with the president formed after the Sept. 11 attacks, and the perception - shared by Kerry supporters - that Bush still asserts that Iraq had WMD..."To support the president and to accept that he took the United States to war based on mistaken assumptions is difficult to bear, especially in light of the continuing costs in terms of lives and money," Kull said.
"Apparently, to avoid this cognitive dissonance, Bush supporters suppress awareness of unsettling information."
via BoingBoing
Posted by sarah at October 23, 2004 9:35 AM | TrackBack