are liberals smarter than conservatives?
First, read this: http://alternet.org/story/62436/
Now, read this: http://www.slate.com/id/2173965
I'm no scientist, and I don't even play one on TV. I can't speak to the scientific authenticity of the Nature Neuroscience study that is referenced in the above two links. I can, however, speak from personal experience about what I have observed from both liberals and conservatives. Let me pose a few questions:
1. If liberals are so smart, then why do they continue to push for an increased minimum wage, when the research proves that a higher minimum wage reduces employment, increases poverty, and is particularly hurtful to black workers? http://www.house.gov/jec/cost-gov/regs/minimum/50years.htm
2. If liberals are so smart, then why do they say that abortion isn't murder, even though science has clearly proven that the unborn baby is a human life?
3. If liberals are so smart, then why do they continue to push for higher taxes when it is a proven fact that higher taxes increase poverty and decrease government revenue?
4. If liberals are so smart, then why do they continue to seek ways of destroying America's current health care system, even though people from every country in the world move heaven and earth to come to America for health care they can't receive in their own country?
5. If liberals are so smart, then why do they, from generation to generation, keep changing their minds about whether we have global warmimg or global cooling?
6. If liberals are so smart, then why do they continue to cling to Darwin, even though Darwin's theories have been repeatedly proven wrong?
7. Jimmy Carter is the "smartest" liberal I know of, yet he single-handedly wrecked our economy and tore down the U.S. Military in the space of just four short years. How is it that such a "smart" guy screwed up so horribly?
8. Ronald Reagan was a "dummie" (according to "smart" liberals) yet he fixed the economy, rebuilt the U.S. Military, defeated Communism and began a period of prosperity unmatched in the history of the U.S. And liberals say he's a "dummie?"
I think they had better rethink that "scientific" study!
Now, read this: http://www.slate.com/id/2173965
I'm no scientist, and I don't even play one on TV. I can't speak to the scientific authenticity of the Nature Neuroscience study that is referenced in the above two links. I can, however, speak from personal experience about what I have observed from both liberals and conservatives. Let me pose a few questions:
1. If liberals are so smart, then why do they continue to push for an increased minimum wage, when the research proves that a higher minimum wage reduces employment, increases poverty, and is particularly hurtful to black workers? http://www.house.gov/jec/cost-gov/regs/minimum/50years.htm
2. If liberals are so smart, then why do they say that abortion isn't murder, even though science has clearly proven that the unborn baby is a human life?
3. If liberals are so smart, then why do they continue to push for higher taxes when it is a proven fact that higher taxes increase poverty and decrease government revenue?
4. If liberals are so smart, then why do they continue to seek ways of destroying America's current health care system, even though people from every country in the world move heaven and earth to come to America for health care they can't receive in their own country?
5. If liberals are so smart, then why do they, from generation to generation, keep changing their minds about whether we have global warmimg or global cooling?
6. If liberals are so smart, then why do they continue to cling to Darwin, even though Darwin's theories have been repeatedly proven wrong?
7. Jimmy Carter is the "smartest" liberal I know of, yet he single-handedly wrecked our economy and tore down the U.S. Military in the space of just four short years. How is it that such a "smart" guy screwed up so horribly?
8. Ronald Reagan was a "dummie" (according to "smart" liberals) yet he fixed the economy, rebuilt the U.S. Military, defeated Communism and began a period of prosperity unmatched in the history of the U.S. And liberals say he's a "dummie?"
I think they had better rethink that "scientific" study!
posted by hondo at 9:00 AM
2 Comments:
The flaw in your analysis is a disconnect between actual intellectual potential (which the study pertained to) and intelligence defined as conforming to ideals that you hold to be true above all else. If you were to actually read the study, it discusses how liberals tend to be able to break from their habitual cognitive barriers when introduced with unfamiliar and non-salient stimuli. The authors suggest that this merely suggest that liberals are more able to analyze unfamiliar material objectively and hence more intricately. If you wished to just come out and say why you believe liberals to be stupider than you, than that is what you should have done rather than correlating two incompatible ideas.
I did read the study. It says that "Liberals are more responsive to informational complexity, ambiguity and novelty." It also says that "Liberals are more likely than are conservatives to respond to cues signaling the need to change habitual responses." The lead author of the study said that "Liberals tended to be more sensitive and responsive to information that might conflict with their habitual way of thinking." All of this was interpreted by liberals to mean that the study "proves" liberals are smarter than conservatives. And of course, that's just what the authors of the study wanted to "prove."
Now you say that it simply proves that "liberals tend to be able to break from their habitual cognitive barriers when introduced with unfamiliar and non-salient stimuli." Well, I gave 7 examples of how that simply isn't true. When you were confronted with this "unfamiliar and non-salient stimuli," you immediately responded with a personal attack. You ignored the facts that I presented and instead chose to talk about how I didn't really understand the study. In other words, you demonstrated your inability to break from your habitual cognitive barriers.
Thank you for the teachable moment, anonymous. You gave us an 8th example of what I was talking about!
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