The Right Brain

This book looks interesting. I tend to agree that the divide in this country is "unfixable" because people aren't even speaking the same language. From the interview with the author:

We can't count on facts to change minds - emotions and values trump facts almost every time. Nor can we rely on our [liberals'] own natural, nuanced, complex style of communication to reach the public. The research suggests that our very instincts are leading us to only know how to talk to ourselves; conservative styles of communication - decisive, direct - have a great appeal to the right and, likely, the middle. And we can use this research not only to better reach conservatives, but to reach people who are moderate or undecided, but who also have some conservative attributes.

At a minimum, this helps me to understand why I can't seem to get through to certain people. I often forget that facts and reason simply aren't important to them.