Verified by 
As children, we all like Santa Claus. But it would be odd if an adult were invested in the fantasy, went to great pains to prove the existence of Santa, and denied all questions about the burly man in the red suit. That would not be charming. It would be silly, even disturbing.
David Brooks recently asked why it is we insist on holding on to certain national fantasies. He was writing in the context of recent handwringing over the state of our national security in light of Omar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s attempted terrorist attack. Brooks wrote:
<<
In a mature nation, President Obama could go on TV and say, “Listen, we’re doing the best we can, but some terrorists are bound to get through.” But this is apparently a country that must be spoken to in childish ways. The original line out of the White House was that the system worked. Don’t worry, little Johnny.
When that didn’t work the official line went to the other extreme. “I consider that totally unacceptable,” Obama said. I’m really mad, Johnny. But don’t worry, I’ll make it all better.
>>
Throughout The Hidden Brain, and especially in the final chapter, I talk about how unconscious biases distort our national priorities and conversation. Over the last decade, this has been especially true when it comes to how we think and talk about terrorism. One reason we care disproportionately about terrorism — and will not stand for our leaders talking to us in commonsensical ways about it — is that the human mind is designed to be disproportionately vigilant to threats that are novel and unpredictable. (This is why we see hype and hysteria over Swine Flu, even when the garden-variety regular flu is liable to be much more dangerous.) Terrorism also involves figures who actively mean to do us harm, and we are disproportionately vigilant to threats that involve malevolent intent, even when threats that do not involve such intent are more dangerous. We don’t fear cardiovascular risk in the visceral way we fear terrorists — ever hear of a video game where the bad guys are called Low Density Lipoproteins? — even though the number of people who die from heart attacks are orders of magnitude larger than the number of people killed by terrorists.
I don’t think a president would have much trouble talking to us in commonsensical ways about heart disease, about the importance of thinking about risk, about weighing false positives versus false negatives, and so on. When it comes to terrorism, ancient algorithms in the brain make it very difficult for us to think about our fears in deliberate ways. That’s why we line up when our leaders serve us two scoops of Santa with a topping of Tooth Fairy powder.
Learn more about The Hidden Brain, follow me on Twitter, and join me on Facebook.
