BRAINZZZZZZ

As I was scrolling around this morning, putting off getting dressed and hitting the gym—it’s fucking 15º outside—I found an absolutely fascinating article. It’s written by cognitive neuroscientist and researcher Bobby Azarian. The piece is from a 2019 edition of Psychology Today.

Scientists have found a link between religious fundamentalism and brain damage.

Gee, somehow this comes as absolutely NO surprise.

A study published in the journal Neuropsychologia has revealed a connection between a functional impairment in the brain region known as the prefrontal cortex and an inclination toward religious fundamentalism.
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Religious beliefs can typically be thought of as socially-transmitted mental representations that consist of supernatural events and entities assumed to be real.
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Fundamentalist groups generally oppose anything that questions or challenges their beliefs or way of life. For this reason, they are often aggressive towards anyone who does not share their specific set of supernatural beliefs, and towards science, as these things are seen as existential threats to their entire worldview.
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These findings are important because they suggest that impaired functioning in the prefrontal cortex—whether from brain trauma, a psychological disorder, a drug or alcohol addiction, or simply a particular genetic profile—can make an individual susceptible to religious fundamentalism. (source) 

Two things:

1) The entire piece is ultra interesting and engaging. Hit the linky and read the rest.

2) It makes me wonder about me, me, me. I have a giant pancake of a tumor flopped out over my prefrontal cortex. Given that the chemo meds I’m on have merely slowed, NOT stopped, it’s growth, I’m left wondering if I’ll wake up one morning and find that I’ve become a blithering nimrod. Specifically, one who believes in a literal and intensely cherry-picked interpretation of some damn religious book. 

Will I, all of a sudden:

• begin wearing Little House on the Prairie dresses?

• become blindly obedient to any rando Penis American who spouts threatening horseshit about god?

• commence with publicly condemning everyone who is LGBTQ or rocks a darker hue than porcelain?

• will all of my Threads and Shoutyface posts become no more than proselytizing hoo-ha?

Will I vote for Cheeto and every other vile, weasel-brained, fascist huckster who claims to know the mind of their imaginary sky daddy (who, as it just so happens, is every bit as racist and misogynistic as themselves)?

Somehow, I don’t think that’s gonna happen. I have, however, warned Ten. IF he finds me behaving like some imbecilic Stepford Karen, he should get me to the neurology department of Mass General STAT. Me and the scalpel wizard, Doc Barker, will have to meet up, hang out and get busy.