A root belief is a belief that will be protected at all costs. Even, and especially, in the face of conflicting evidence to the contrary. For instance, if one held the root belief that “democracy is good,” then anything that challenges their notion of democracy is bad. So if a democratically elected leader bends or breaks the rules, but does so to protect democracy, then the behavior is justified. Even if the actions taken are decisively non-democratic. What is Creator’s perspective?

This is a good illustration of the principle we have been talking about, that because beliefs are so powerful in shaping thoughts, feelings, and actions, an appeal to hard-core categorical beliefs will be quite powerful in persuading other people to accept a course of action even if it is a false analogy and a manipulation that does not hold water on close examination. This is the art of propaganda in a nutshell, that it plays not just on the emotions but on the deeply held inner beliefs that help people cope with life to feel safe, to feel accepted, to feel righteous in belonging to the majority opinion, or at least the "true cause," because they know better than their opponents the right path. So an appeal to prejudice, in the common vernacular, is really an argument that will trigger deeply held beliefs of some kind for that is what prejudice consists of, a set of beliefs that are unarguable, they are simply accepted as true and not open to question and, as such, a person will be quite intransigent, refractory to logic and reason. But, of course, in a political discussion things rarely reach such elevated levels as even meaningful debate. Most such encounters are exchanges of slogans that are thinly disguised appeals to prejudice, meaning, in a more accurate sense, lumping together one's political perspective as representing as well, alignment with core beliefs many people hold. In effect, saying, "I'm a good guy and my opponent is a bad guy," by mounting a guilt by association reference to qualities, characteristics, and presumed intentions imparted to one's opponent that may only be bias and supposition but will stir up emotional feelings, and may well be effective in holding sway, at least in the political arena. These kinds of political maneuvers via propaganda unfortunately are used everywhere. They are used widely in the commercial arena to support the aims of businesses that may disparage competing companies and products. It is even true for institutions providing public policies for health maintenance or the medical establishment defending its methods and place in society, and on and on. If you think about the power of advertising and the equivalent power of news and news commentary in the form of sound bites, the latter will stick because typically they are triggering root beliefs within people to associate something with a basic belief, the need for safety, for example, when the assumption is only an association but gets added on to that hierarchy of beliefs as an extension of something that is deep within and unassailable. There is much superficial thinking that runs the world and this is good food for thought.