Divided America; Can We Ever Come Together?

According to Jonathan Haidt, a psychologist who studies morality and politics at the University of Virginia, our minds might not work that way. In his new book, “The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion,” Haidt (pronounced “height”) argues that we’re mistaken about what’s really going on when we disagree about politics. We like to think that our opinions are shaped by reason and information. But the truth, Haidt says, is that many of our positions are intuitive and irrational at their core–driven by passions that we didn’t choose, don’t understand, and can’t articulate. On some issues, coming to agreement isn’t really possible, and never has been;

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