Time-stamp: <2024-11-06 23:44>
Stanford Marshmallow Experiment
With all the grains of salt these kinds of studies have to be taken, it seems that there is a correlation between being able to delay gratification and both socioeconomic status and trust.
Therein, I think, lies the problem. Now that it's Trump again (and, oh, how I wanted to believe the guy who predicted the last 7 US elections correctly!) the left again asks how so many people can be so dumb.
Are they, though?
The left sells us hardships now and a possibly better future later. Stop your overconsumption, buy expensive and organic, get a smaller car, no, take the bus actually, and we probably won't die in 30 years.
Variants of the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment tell us that if you're poor -- and a big chunk of the middle class with their mortgages and car payments is a few paychecks away from being just that and knows it -- you've learned that the two marshmallows in the future might just never materialize. Another variant of the study found that breaking the trust of the kids significantly influenced their decision-making.
My take on this is that Trump voters choose promise of the sparrow in their hand rather than the promise of a pigeon on the roof. A promise of lower taxes and »protection« now trumps paying to mitigate a climate catastrophe in the future, while a new HVAC system is needed and the bank says »no«.
And I don't know about you, but I'm in my fifties and can't even tell you how many times »change« has been promised by politicians and very little effected from that. We have a choice of a far left that is circling in identity politics, forced inclusion, and crystallized victimhood, creating new rifts in society and distancing itself with a language only they speak; of a moderate left that is, at its core, neoliberal and does nothing to curtail the accumulation of ridiculous wealth, of a moderate right that is basically the same but with a barbecue, and a far right that is also the same but telling tales of the Return of The Goodoldtimes, presenting powerless and thus easily punishable scapegoats, and promising safety -- who doesn't like safety? It's always us that are safe and them that are at fault. What an easy recipe for success of a con man.
Fox News is not the reason. It's the justification. And the voters for One Marshmallow Now are acting rational within their framework. They believe they are optimizing their utility in best homo oeconomicus fashion. And that's not dumb. It's selfish, and adheres to the teachings of neoliberalism.
And that's how I rationalize this election.
P. S. And I tell you what: I'm done trying to reduce my »footprint«. The last decade, all around the world, shows us that what is going to happen to the climate, is going to happen. There will be no unity about this, too large a chunk of humanity rejects the proposition, and thus the only thing to do is to deal with the fallout. At least I'll try and have fun while I can.
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✍ Wolfgang Mederle CC BY-SA 4.0
✉ <madearl+gemini@mailbox.org>
language: en
date: <2024-11-06 Wed>
tags: politics sociology opinion