Christmas is over, which means you're probably still recovering from the political arguments that happened while songs about peace and love ironically mocked you from a radio. If this uncomfortable position sounds familiar, and you found yourself wondering how it is that someone that you really love and think is a good person at heart could have a blind spot when it comes to supporting the xenophobic, misogynist, racist monster who will be our next President of these United States, then do I have an academic study for you. Vox brings us the story of psychologists at USC recently conducted a study that seems to show why it is that people have such a hard time changing their minds on political issues.

Recently, [Jonas] Kaplan has found more evidence that we tend to take political attacks personally. In a study recently published in Scientific Reports, he and collaborators took 40 self-avowed liberals who reported having “deep convictions,” put them inside in a functional MRI scanner, and started challenging their beliefs. Then they watched which parts of the participants’ brains lit up. Their conclusion: When the participants were challenged on their strongly held beliefs, there was more activation in the parts of the brain that are thought to correspond with self-identity and negative emotions.

This is so fascinating. And it even explains one reason why everything from Fox News to "fake news" has been so successful at taking hold over what people perceive as facts.

"Basically, the results suggest the participants are engaging the same regions of the brain where we contemplate our identities and feel threats. And it’s presumably within these circuits that the roadblocks to accepting facts lie."

So in a way, the reason our political discourse keeps devolving is on some level evolutionary. We're just dumb animals who want to protect our pack, instead of trying to get at the truth. Now is there a way forward from this? Maybe. The researcher basically says that reminding people that believing something and being something are two different things can help allow people to change their minds, but that seems a little too easy. That said, I'm willing to open my mind a bit and see if maybe this is why I can't support Donald Trump. Maybe I just need to start fresh, with an open mind.

[Googles Donald Trump.]

Nope. He's an unrepentant walking shit pile.

H/T Vox.