A dear friend of mine actually had the chance to ride this thing on a private, supervised tour as a paid consultant for EPCOT.  She said it was one of the most unpleasant experiences of her life.  One of the engineers told her straight-out that when the ride was under development, it made 100% of the people who rode it sick.

Now, another death.  Hardly a surprise.

In addition to the two deaths in the last 10 months, 10 people reported serious illnesses or injuries since the ride opened in summer 2003, according to reports Disney filed with the Florida Bureau of Fair Ride Inspections. That’s the worst record of all the Disney attractions and doesn’t include more than 130 other “Mission: Space” riders who sought medical attention, according to ambulance records.

And yet the minute the thing opened, people lined right back up to get on.  Never mind the public record of human lives seriously messed up by this thing.  Never mind the thirteen signs warning of various hazards.  Never mind that it had just been closed because — let’s not miss this fine point — somebody just died while riding it. 

People lined right back up.

Why?

Because they liked how it made them feel.  They had a greater attachment to the emotions of excitement and anticipation and getting their money’s worth than to anything most people would consider common sense.

Now Bush is starting to try to lie us into another unnecessary war, this time with Iran.  And millions of people will convince themselves that he is telling the truth.

Why?

Because they like how it makes them feel.  They have a greater attachment to the emotions of pride and their false self-perception of strength in the face of persecution than to any fact-based analysis, not to mention common sense.

How can their minds ever be changed?  The phony WMDs didn’t do it.  Katrina didn’t do it.  The admitted crime of warrantless domestic spying didn’t do it.

This is not because these people are less logical or dumber than everyone else.  Hardly.  Everybody has emotional attachments which cloud their judgment.  Jeebus, I still root for the Cleveland goddam Indians, people.  The Cleveland.  Goddam.  Indians.

But let’s be clear on what has to happen for the national discussion to move.  Almost two-thirds of the electorate seems to understand, finally, that Bush is a lying incompetent with no concern for the constitution and a propensity for getting a lot of people killed.  Changing the minds of that last third will not be the result of an intellectual discussion.  It will be about finding a way to disconnect ego-identification and emotional attachments.

How that happens, I have no freakin’ clue.  But just saying.