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-Liberalism is a 'novelty' in human evolution and intelligent people tend to be drawn to novelty (not socially defined novelty, evolutionary novelty).
-less intelligent people tend to conform to tradition, because they have been instructed not to trust their own intelligence.
-their higher intelligence explains why liberals tend to control practically ALL of the institutions with a few exceptions-- notably the world of business.
-extreme conservatism is shown to be positively correlated with the lowest IQs.
-Religiosity has a very high correlation with a low IQ.
Stereotypes of any group of people is wrong. Not all conservatives are racist or listen to Rush Limbaugh. I will state I am a registered democrat and I really get annoyed with democrats who believe they are oh so intelligent. In fact many are pseudo intellectuals.
Last edited by FlowerPower00; 10-12-2014 at 06:08 AM..
We have no absolute, unbiased method of measuring intelligence. What defines intelligence changes as society changes. The more liberal a society is the more liberal the definition of intelligence becomes. Conversely the more conservative a society becomes the more conservative the criteria for measuring intelligence becomes.
I am not too certain how much this definition of an Intelligence test is my own work: I like yo think it is my own original thought, but I most likely heard something similar at one time or another,
intelligence test: "An inaccurate means of measuring an undefined quality, to be used by the inept to impress the uncaring."
A study was done some years back that revealed that those who listen to Fox News versus those who listen to NPR were less informed about political issues. I can believe this. I'm a liberal and whenever I'd get into a discussion with one of my conservative friends, she could never defend her stance. She would admit that she wasn't as knowledgeable about certain political issues as I was, yet she was so adamant in her views. And the things that would come out of her mouth were unbelievable.
Just thinking of the horrible signs in the picture posted by the OP, I also notice that no matter where I see them, conservative protest signs are often misspelled or grammatically incorrect lol.
I don't like labeling people but I do think that there is a lower intelligence level among conservatives. One has to be either unintelligent or be willfully ignorant and suspend belief to accept conservative views. Conservative ideologies just don't add up on a common sense level, and they don't benefit anyone if you aren't apart of the conservative wealthy elite. It's sad to see poor and middle class conservatives voting against their own interests.
I'm neither conservative nor liberal, but I am pretty sure there are all kinds of biases and faulty methodology built into this survey. And its findings are supported by people desperately needing to feel superior. In truth, it's kind of sad, because you need fealty to a political ideology to feel that way. More importantly, it's kind of sad that you need to feel that way in the first place.
Most liberals are actually pretty easy to destroy in an argument, just the same as most conservatives. That's because, in truth, neither liberals nor conservatives are thinkers per se. Instead, they're parrots, just repeating the talking points of whatever camp they espouse. In short, while there are plenty of conservative dumbasses, liberal dumbasses are pretty thick on the ground, too.
So let's take on your points, one-by-one:
Liberalism is a novelty. Well, so is reality television. And, in truth, utopian schemes have existed forever. After all, the disastrous experiment of Communism is almost a century old. Look how that worked out. Meanwhile, more laissez-faire principles of economics have had astounding success in places such as Eastern Europe, much more so than the tired statist principles of traditional liberalism.
Less intelligent people tend to conform to tradition. Based on what?
Higher intelligence explains why liberals tend to control practical of the institutions, the notable exception being business. Seriously? Has it occurred to you that business is the most dynamic and creative force in this country today? Meanwhile, governments and universities are huge, unwieldy and sclerotic. Tell you what. Spend an hour standing in line at the Post Office or a VA Clinic and then tell me that those institutions are being run by intelligent people. I'll wait here for your response.
Or, just as an aside, let's examine the entitlement programs ushered in by Lyndon Johnson a half-century ago. Despite tens of trillions of dollars spent on anti-poverty programs, the poverty rate in this country has not budged significantly during that time. In fact, there's considerable statistical data that shows that Johnson's War on Poverty actually arrested what was a steep decline in the poverty rate in the preceding decades. Now, as a self-described liberal, are you more intelligent for defending a program that has appropriated large amounts of the GDP and, statistically speaking, accomplished nothing?
And, of course, we have the complete fecklessness of the current administration to consider. Let's see. Islamic fanatics overrunning the Middle East? Russian up to its old tricks in the Ukraine? Porous borders? An utter failure to take the Ebola contagion seriously? The botched launch of Obama care, even with three years and billions of dollars to get a simple website running? Do you really need me to go on? Mind you, these were all issues that a serious, intelligent leadership could have avoided with some decent statecraft and organizational skills. So trying to apply the word "intelligent" to the current administration strikes me as just fatuous to the extreme.
Extreme conservatism is associated with lower IQs. Actually, extreme anything is associated with low IQs, for buying into any belief system is to give up the privilege of thinking. Sorry to break it to you.
Religiosity has a very high correlation with a low IQ. Tell that to Episcopalians, Jews, Presbyterians and other religious sects that typically have a higher IQ and higher educational attainment than atheists.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that you're suffering from confirmation bias. You found a survey that agreed with your preconceived notions of yourself and the world around you. Not very smart if you ask me. For even liberals need to be open-minded about matters when their own ideology fails to deliver the goods. Mind you, I have enough darts to sling at conservatives as well. But your self-satisfied nonsense just was too good to pass up.
So what you can take away from this? When someone tells me they're liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat, I immediately begin looking for their lobotomy scars. Why? Because both ideologies are the refuge for very rigid people, the equivalent of writing the same answer on a math test over and over again, regardless of what the question might be. You're a dupe for one political camp, one that has had very notable and expensive failures. In that sense, you might as well be throwing your lot in with the Crips or the Bloods
Meanwhile, smart people really avoid labeling themselves and tend to look at both arguments in less than Manichean terms.
This echoes so much of my thoughts....
It's just shocking how many die hard Obummer fans are so quick to
defend his utter & complete failure to perform at the job he was hired to do.
It's pretty disturbing when people are taking sides in politics as if its sports &
fail to see how bad we're all getting screwed in this country......
And as I said before it doesn't even matter what party is in there anymore
To me the difference is the ability to see the bigger picture. I want policies that benefit the human race, not just for my tribe and people who look like me.
I agree. Liberals, IMO, tend to think in terms of 'me', whereas conservatives tend to think in terms of 'we'.
I agree. Liberals, IMO, tend to think in terms of 'me', whereas conservatives tend to think in terms of 'we'.
Wow. I realize this is your honest opinion, slingshot. But this just goes to show how deep is the socioeconomic-political divide in the US, because I consider myself slightly left of center and truly perceive the exact opposite.
So, please help me understand. Can you give a couple of examples to illustrate your point here?
To me the difference is the ability to see the bigger picture. I want policies that benefit the human race, not just for my tribe and people who look like me.
This is very true. I do think it takes more intelligence to understand a bigger picture. Less intelligent people are going to go along with a leader without more questioning. I don't blame these conservatives to a degree because they aren't capable of seeing the world. It is too vast. They can understand their job and what they eat and maybe their neighborhood, but you get them looking at another country, forget it. They just glaze over. It isn't their fault in a way.
I agree. Liberals, IMO, tend to think in terms of 'me', whereas conservatives tend to think in terms of 'we'.
Um, I think you missed the point, but don't get upset over it. Liberals are able to see the big picture. Conservatives may think of "we" so long as it is in their little neighborhood or others that look like themselves or act like themselves. They can't think of someone from France or Germany as a like person. They don't understand for example, why it is very important to have a group of counties fighting ISIL because they think we should go it alone. It is too complex to understand having countries fight their own battles with our help because that is long term thinking, not today and it puts other countries as more peer countries, not the USA is the only power on the planet that could win a war.
In a way, you are correct though because conservatives can think of "we" quite well, so long as the "we" is very much the same at the person doing the thinking. The "we" is pretty small, not global.
I do feel conservatives will dwindle. There is just too much world information thrown at our kids and they aren't going to be able to think in such a small manner like their conservative parents do. The so-called conservative will have to change their ways to be a force in politics these days.
A study was done some years back that revealed that those who listen to Fox News versus those who listen to NPR were less informed about political issues. I can believe this. I'm a liberal and whenever I'd get into a discussion with one of my conservative friends, she could never defend her stance. She would admit that she wasn't as knowledgeable about certain political issues as I was, yet she was so adamant in her views. And the things that would come out of her mouth were unbelievable.
Just thinking of the horrible signs in the picture posted by the OP, I also notice that no matter where I see them, conservative protest signs are often misspelled or grammatically incorrect lol.
I don't like labeling people but I do think that there is a lower intelligence level among conservatives. One has to be either unintelligent or be willfully ignorant and suspend belief to accept conservative views. Conservative ideologies just don't add up on a common sense level, and they don't benefit anyone if you aren't apart of the conservative wealthy elite. It's sad to see poor and middle class conservatives voting against their own interests.
Although I do think that it is a general rule that liberals are more intelligent than conservatives; there are more conservatives than liberals and I come across as many (in raw numbers) intelligent conservatives as I do intelligent liberals.
Although I do think it is fair to say that ultra-conservatives tend to some of the most genuine dumb people I have ever met. They seem to have a caveman's understanding of the world.
However, being intelligent does not necessarily mean being correct or moral. Countless intelligent people have always believed that if the right set of people (meaning themselves) were given absolute power over all of society that they would be able to craft an ideal society. That line of thinking is what gave us totalitarianism, eugenics programs, and groups of people who wouldn't be able to run a lemonade stand think they could organize an entire economy.
Also, intelligent people are more likely to join cults and believe in things like conspiracy theories, ghosts, and UFOs. Why? Because they are more attracted to novelty and they are also more skilled at rationalizing their beliefs.
I agree. Liberals, IMO, tend to think in terms of 'me', whereas conservatives tend to think in terms of 'we'.
You definitely have that backward.
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