Are Liberals Smarter?

[Phil Ayesho]

Two thumbs down.

Stereotypes are for losers...

You do realize that the term "loser" is a stereotype, right?

When scientific studies can accurately predict your adult political affiliations at age 3... with an accuracy of 85%... that means its an ACCURATE stereotype.

And, frankly, you can not even converse without stereotypes.
Generalization is foundational to all communication and all intelligent analysis.

In general I find that liberals and conservatives come in two type... by inclination, and by introspection.

Some folks are liberal because they were RAISED liberal, or are temperamentally suited toward liberalism ( not easily frightened )
By the same token, some conservatives come by it by temperament, as well.

ALL of these, both liberal and conservative tend to be average or below in intelligence.

Then there are those who actively THINK about what they think and feel... those who actually have read widely and come to intellectual conclusions based upon experience and understanding.

I find Far fewer conservatives of this stamp than liberals... but they are out there.

And at the higher side of the smarts scale... I find that the concepts of liberal and conservative blur into meaninglessness.
The very notion that any dogmatic principle can be the optimal position for any combination of issues is sophomoric.

People in this realm of intelligence usually TEST as liberal because they tend to be more open minded... not, for example, able to accept the idea of Gay Marriage being any kind of credible threat to social structure....

However... question them closely and you will find they absolutely embrace VERY conservative principles in many areas... Conserving natural resources, for example, is TRUE conservatism...


So I think such testing is misleading. When you achieve a high enough intelligence... you don't care about beliefs or "family values"... the only thing that matters is What WORKS.

And, frankly... I can't think of a more conservative position than to only endorse policies that show real evidence of efficacy.

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

And, frankly... I can't think of a more conservative position than to only endorse policies that show real evidence of efficacy.

Ah, at last I have the Phil moment.
Aaaaaaaaaah!!!:tongue:
Very good point, though.

 

[D_Tintagel_Demondong]

Aw, rec... don't tell me you didn't know this sort of post would get the exact kind of reaction Peaceful-Kancer is displaying.

And here I thought you were a liberal...

You know me too well.

Perfect example. I think I've answered all of those questions exactly like you said that a Liberal would... but I'm still conservative leaning.

Now what?

I never claimed that you were liberal, conservative, or anything in between. Now what? I dunno. You tell me. :dunno:

Nope, still don't see it. All I see is me calling you a name. If you want to believe in, participate in, and defend stereotypes... then you are wrong.

OK. You don't seem to know what an oxymoron is or how it affected your statement.

Like I said before, I want you to judge my on my own merit. Why is that so hard?

Please explain...


Then why is he not backing away from his stereotype?

I am not going to "back away" from my stereotype. I am not claiming that all conservatives are stupid or that all liberals are brilliant. I'm just saying that there have been studies that suggest that liberally-minded people tend to be smarter... and I have experienced this empirically.

Unfortunately this isn't as black or white as you seem to think (oh the irony).

I went out of my way to point out that this wasn't a clear line of demarcation between liberals and conservatives.

If you consider new ideas but normally trend towards the norm in your decisions you are still conservative. That doesn't mean you are closed-minded or stupid. It means your opinions have a trend towards the status quo, even after consideraton. You jump to the conclusion that conservative means refusal to consider new ideas. Not so. That is simple closed-mindedness. And granted, it is not a "liberal" trait, so closed minded people will tend to be conservative.

I think that I understand what you are saying, but I don't understand the relevance. A conservative person might consider many novel ideas when trying to solve a problem, but if they are a true conservative, then they'll invariably have the same predictable solution. Is this not the definition of conventional conservatism? The methodology may vary, but the outcome, or behavior, is the same. It's Newton's first law of motion.

You're committing the common fallacy of mistaking "left wing" for liberal. And making the asinine assumption that the right lacks the critical thinking skills of left wingers.

Well, most true liberals are left-wing, no? I am aware of the difference between a political liberal and an ideological liberal. In all honestly, I fail to see much difference in their behavior. They both seem able to accept new ideas and approaches. They both seem to be more flexible and adaptable.

Has anyone seen the movie, The Last Supper?
[...]
The Last Supper (1995 film - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

This looks awesome. I will download it tonight. Thanks.

 

[D_Chocho_Lippz]

So I think such testing is misleading. When you achieve a high enough intelligence... you don't care about beliefs or "family values"... the only thing that matters is What WORKS.

I kind of agree with this, although I don't think that the hierarchy of intelligence reaches it's fullest when you start to ignore beliefs and family values.

I think that when you realize that intelligence is derived from many things - and that each individual can be severely stupid in one area and severely brilliant in another.... while another individual can "complete" the first individual by being their inverse.

To me, the acceptance that we all have faults and strengths is what makes someone truly intelligent.

 

[D_Chocho_Lippz]

I never claimed that you were liberal, conservative, or anything in between. Now what? I dunno. You tell me. :dunno:

I figured that a smart liberal as yourself would understand this. :frown1:

Point is, you demonstrated how a liberal and a conservative would answer a set of questions. And honestly, I would have answered them all like a liberal.

So if your example is in line-with how you would define a liberal and a conservative... then I am a liberal...

But I'm not a liberal....

Point is, you are being too rigid...

And like I said before, you need to judge people on their own individual merit... not stereotypes.

 

[Phil Ayesho]

A
Should abortion be illegal?
Conservative reply: "Yes."
Liberal reply: "I have thought about this from several perspectives, including religious, ethical, scientific, historic and even emotional platforms. I have come to the conclusion that abortion should be illegal after making my own, independent judgment."

Actually, no Liberal would come to that conclusion... and no intelligent person, either.
The correct conclusion would be to consider that no matter how unacceptable anyone might find abortion... that abortion was going on when it was illegal and it will continue to go on if it is once again made illegal.

This begs the question of whether government should be making things into crimes when doing so has little or no effect on the outcome.
Outlawing liquor was a monumental failure and clear demonstration of how law does not affect behavior, it only empowers the State to incarcerate people for their behavior.

It could be demonstrated from the past that when it is illegal, the affluent still have no trouble arranging safe and effective illegal abortions, but the poor are relegated to unsafe and dangerous back alley solutions.
This brings up the issue of equal treatment before the law. A law the disproportionately penalizes people on the basis of income is unconstitutional.

In fact... If society's goal is to end abortion, logic dictates that that will occur when no woman finds herself unwantedly pregnant.

Ergo, government should endorse policies that show demonstrable effectiveness in reducing unwanted pregnancy.
Abstinence education programs have shown themselves to be utter failures in this regard... if the REAL goal is to stop unwanted pregnancy, then comprehensive sex education and easy access to contraceptives is the most logical and historically effective policy.


And those who CLAIM to be anti-abortion who, nevertheless, oppose those measures which show actual effectiveness in reducing the number of abortions, are simply liars.
They are not concerned with the lives of the unborn, they are concerned that teens engaging in sex suffer consequences for doing 'naughty' things.

The Pro-life thus reveal themselves to be nothing more than puritanical anti-sex busybodies... and they would seek to co-opt the birth of a child as a form of punishment, inflicted almost entirely on women, for the crime of sexuality.

Their sole interest is inflicting their righteous and legal condemnation on those who do not behave as they would decree.


Therefore, tho I do not like nor approve of abortion... outlawing it would serve no effective purpose for society but to impose a minority religious agenda on the majority, force the poor to suffer more than the rich... and turn children into "consequences" for teens who will resent and mistreat them as a result.

Abortion should therefore be legal... and the state should only endorse measures that show EFFECTIVE reductions in unwanted pregnancy without regard to parochial beliefs concerning teen sexuality.

THAT's an intellectual analysis from a Liberal perspective.

If the rights of the INDIVIDUAL matter... then the State has no business determining the rights of an unborn and nonviable child as having precedence over the rights of the woman whose own body acts as incubator for said unborn and non-viable child.
The State should have no more Law than is necessary for a peaceful and productive society.
Since the State can show no compelling interest in denying a human being power over their own body... The State should make no law outlawing abortion.

THAT is a conservative analysis.
Same result.


Every other opinion is religion, not reason.

 

[D_Tintagel_Demondong]

I kind of agree with this, although I don't think that the hierarchy of intelligence reaches it's fullest when you start to ignore beliefs and family values.

I think that when you realize that intelligence is derived from many things - and that each individual can be severely stupid in one area and severely brilliant in another.... while another individual can "complete" the first individual by being their inverse.

To me, the acceptance that we all have faults and strengths is what makes someone truly intelligent.

I agree with everything you wrote.

I figured that a smart liberal as yourself would understand this. :frown1:

Point is, you demonstrated how a liberal and a conservative would answer a set of questions. And honestly, I would have answered them all like a liberal.

So if your example is in line-with how you would define a liberal and a conservative... then I am a liberal...

But I'm not a liberal....

Point is, you are being too rigid...

And like I said before, you need to judge people on their own individual merit... not stereotypes.

I think that some of us are confusing political Liberals with ideological liberals. If you are open-minded, flexible, accept new ideas and facts, adaptable, employ different perspectives when solving problems, are able to change your mind and able to deal with ambiguity then you are, in my opinion, a fellow libtard. Welcome to the club. :kiss:

This might be because I'm a Canuck, but I tend to capitalize "Liberal" when I'm referring to political Liberals, unlike ideological liberals.

 

[Qua]

This might be because I'm a Canuck, but I tend to capitalize "Liberal" when I'm referring to political Liberals, unlike ideological liberals.

At least you differentiate between the two. I might have to take back the accusation from before.

Here in the US people seem to think if you're a lockstep Democrat you're automatically a liberal.

 

[D_Chocho_Lippz]

I agree with everything you wrote.

So if you agree that intelligence is derived from the individual, from many different arenas, then why are you posting a study/thread that says that Liberals are smarter than Conservatives?

Hmmm?

I think that some of us are confusing political Liberals with ideological liberals. If you are open-minded, flexible, accept new ideas and facts, adaptable, employ different perspectives when solving problems, are able to change your mind and able to deal with ambiguity then you are, in my opinion, a fellow libtard. Welcome to the club. :kiss:

HELL NO! I am an individual... I refuse to be a part of a club, especially one that thinks it is OK to say that someone is less intelligent because of a test where you mash buttons.

 

[Scrufuss]

Are liberal people likely to be more intelligent then their fellow humans? I know putting people into either a Liberal or Conservative group is somewhat of a false divide, and most people share qualities from both groups. Nonetheless, ....

abbreviated because its damn long..

.....the history of science showing that social and political liberals indeed do tend to support major revolutions in science,' said Sulloway, who has written about the history of science and has studied behavioral differences between conservatives and liberals."

Yes it's is true that how a brain is used will decide how good the brain can be.
Its a case of mind over matter. it is like a muscle, you keep it flexible, then it will be flexible.

REC, where did you find that long winded document of scientific trivia?

 

[Scrufuss]

You do realize that the term "loser" is a stereotype, right?

When scientific studies can accurately predict your adult political affiliations at age 3... with an accuracy of 85%... that means its an ACCURATE stereotype.

And, frankly, you can not even converse without stereotypes.
Generalization is foundational to all communication and all intelligent analysis.

In general I find that liberals and conservatives come in two type... by inclination, and by introspection.

Some folks are liberal because they were RAISED liberal, or are temperamentally suited toward liberalism ( not easily frightened )
By the same token, some conservatives come by it by temperament, as well.

ALL of these, both liberal and conservative tend to be average or below in intelligence.

Then there are those who actively THINK about what they think and feel... those who actually have read widely and come to intellectual conclusions based upon experience and understanding.

I find Far fewer conservatives of this stamp than liberals... but they are out there.

And at the higher side of the smarts scale... I find that the concepts of liberal and conservative blur into meaninglessness.
The very notion that any dogmatic principle can be the optimal position for any combination of issues is sophomoric.

People in this realm of intelligence usually TEST as liberal because they tend to be more open minded... not, for example, able to accept the idea of Gay Marriage being any kind of credible threat to social structure....

However... question them closely and you will find they absolutely embrace VERY conservative principles in many areas... Conserving natural resources, for example, is TRUE conservatism...


So I think such testing is misleading. When you achieve a high enough intelligence... you don't care about beliefs or "family values"... the only thing that matters is What WORKS.

And, frankly... I can't think of a more conservative position than to only endorse policies that show real evidence of efficacy.

Reading that just woke up the darker recesses of my wilted brain matter. Readfing your posts I learn new words more often then from anywhere else.
Is it possible for a brain to get a hard on? If it is Phil is da man my brain has a woody for!

 

[HazelGod]

And like I said before, you need to judge people on their own individual merit... not stereotypes.

How very liberal of you to assume that your viewpoint is the correct one and attempt to force others to alter their own perceptions to match...

Way to miss the point of the OP entirely, asshole.

 

[Drifterwood]

Not usually in terms of dress sense.

 

[deleted3782]

Ok, the libs are smarter, but the cons are sexier.

"Sexy Puritans engage in the culture war on two levels—not simply by advocating conservative positions on hot-button social issues but by embodying nonthreatening mainstream standards of female beauty and behavior at the same time. The net result is a paradox, a bit of cognitive dissonance very useful to the cultural right: You get a little thrill along with your traditional values, a wink along with the wagging finger. Somehow, you don't feel quite as much like a prig as you expected to."​

Just sayin'.

 

[D_Ireonsyd_Colonrinse]

Originally Posted by willtom27

Conservatives in general - and social cons in particular - believe in absolutes: right and wrong, black and white, there is no gray area... or if there is, it's immoral.




Pitbull responded: "I find that many liberals in general only have a gray area.
They cannot accept that there might actually be an absolute right and therefore an absolute wrong."

---------------


I hope I'm not veering too far off-topic, but this idea that there are "moral absolutes" out there is a very conservative principle, part of their worldview.

Murder, stealing, adultery... usually these moral absolutes can be boiled down to (at least part of) the Ten Commandments, the ultimate moral authority being the Judeo-Christian God, which is why conservatives fight so hard to keep them posted in public places.

I've started reading greek literature. Plato developed a system of "moral absolutes" also, before the advent of christianity: Truth, Beauty, Justice, Freedom, etc. Plato was somewhat of a skeptic regarding the 12-god system in vogue at the time. This ancient greek culture gave us ideas such as democracy (a trial by jury), mathematics, astronomy, the Olympics, theater: tragedy & comedy, sculpture, etc.

When christianity took hold in the 3rd century AD as the prevailing god-system, conquering christians destroyed over 95% of all preserved written greek thought (the literature & dialogues & plays that remain are a tiny percentage of what was left to posterity). Conquering christians burned greek manuscripts, jettisoned them overboard into the sea. The idea of any other god-system than the one presented in the Jewish (& now Christian) "Book of Genesis" was blasphemy. Religious tolerance was not considered a virtue.

Why do conservatives still cling to this vague idea of "God" as a moral absolute??

Muslims have their very own conception of "God" also, with a different set of moral absolutes, and when these moral absolutes clash within civilizations we get war.

I've been reading (& admire) Christopher Hitchens. He is basically conservative (& socially liberal), though impossible to pin down to any singular political philosophy. He is extremely well-read, so his ideas tend to be a smattering of diverse political & intellectual ideas. Hitchens is a devout atheist who's written "God is Not Great (How Religion Poisons Everything)" -- and it's kind of liberating to see a conservative thinker taking a good hard look at the problems caused by the various God Beliefs.


This MATTERS in today's political arena because the modern conservative party has been, essentially, co-opted by activist Christians (and activist Mormons, if you look at their involvement in the passing of Prop 8). The Judeo-Christian "Book of Leviticus" still guides many conservatives political philosophies. It's time liberals and conservatives alike take God out of the public equation. Seperation of church and state.

 

[Scrufuss]

How very liberal of you to assume that your viewpoint is the correct one and attempt to force others to alter their own perceptions to match...

Way to miss the point of the OP entirely, asshole*.

*= Was that an attempt to force others to alter there own perceptions to match?

 

[D_season 5]

Are Liberals Smarter? i find the question moot. its like a commercial one hears on TV or the radio...New and Improved (product name) has now 33% more. MORE WHAT?

Are Liberals Smarter? smarter then what? who?...
while i get the question, i would suspect that Liberals are less likely to listen to fact vs fiction. they seem to like to re write history..an example is go to any public school in the US and the history books are so biased and slanted the only outcome for these kids will be to do exactly what the Liberals did in the 60's...REJECT THAT GENERATION and in the process an entire new Conservative group will be on college campus's for all the left wing Prof's are gonna be out of here...like DEAD.

lets all hope Barry is not hiding his birth cert because it shows he is Muslim, lets hope that Barry or anyone in his staff is connected to the Blogo crap going on currently in the state of Illinois. Those of us who are from the Chicago area, we are not surprised that any of this has come to light, while i dare not speak for everyone, but i suspect the question is..WHAT TOOK SO LONG?

my biggest fear in all this Blogo stuff...and i know many attorneys in Chicago who work at Winston-Strom and some other huge names in the city...my fear is...Will Blogo rat everyone out to save his fuckin ass to cut a deal. I wouldn't resign until I had the best deal i could get from the Feds...currently this is what is going on in Chicago...
Tony Resko is singing like a bird...just to reduce his prison time.
Blogo (the gov) is most likely singing or is going to be singing like a bird...we know in advance that he is only out for himself..its the Chicago way of Politics, and he will rat out anyone and everyone...Poor Rohm Immanuel...now i know why the dark circles under his eyes...as for Barry...i dunno...the country can't afford any more stuff like this. and for all the Liberals who were cheering from the side lines when this SAME Peter Fitzgerald...roasted Scooter Libby for lying to the FEDS...its is now your turn to watch ur fav liberals get roasted...
this has all the potential of being a HUGE political nightmare...will make Watergate look like someone broke into a candy store.

 

[Scrufuss]

Are Liberals Smarter? i find the question moot. its like a commercial one hears on TV or the radio...New and Improved (product name) has now 33% more. MORE WHAT?

Are Liberals Smarter? smarter then what? who?...
while i get the question, i would suspect that Liberals are less likely to listen to fact vs fiction. they seem to like to re write history..an example is go to any public school in the US and the history books are so biased and slanted the only outcome for these kids will be to do exactly what the Liberals did in the 60's...REJECT THAT GENERATION and in the process an entire new Conservative group will be on college campus's for all the left wing Prof's are gonna be out of here...like DEAD.

lets all hope Barry is not hiding his birth cert because it shows he is Muslim, lets hope that Barry or anyone in his staff is connected to the Blogo crap going on currently in the state of Illinois. Those of us who are from the Chicago area, we are not surprised that any of this has come to light, while i dare not speak for everyone, but i suspect the question is..WHAT TOOK SO LONG?

my biggest fear in all this Blogo stuff...and i know many attorneys in Chicago who work at Winston-Strom and some other huge names in the city...my fear is...Will Blogo rat everyone out to save his fuckin ass to cut a deal. I wouldn't resign until I had the best deal i could get from the Feds...currently this is what is going on in Chicago...
Tony Resko is singing like a bird...just to reduce his prison time.
Blogo (the gov) is most likely singing or is going to be singing like a bird...we know in advance that he is only out for himself..its the Chicago way of Politics, and he will rat out anyone and everyone...Poor Rohm Immanuel...now i know why the dark circles under his eyes...as for Barry...i dunno...the country can't afford any more stuff like this. and for all the Liberals who were cheering from the side lines when this SAME Peter Fitzgerald...roasted Scooter Libby for lying to the FEDS...its is now your turn to watch ur fav liberals get roasted...
this has all the potential of being a HUGE political nightmare...will make Watergate look like someone broke into a candy store.

Yeah thats what I asked Rec. Where did he get this document of Trivia? Its just another way to make a judgement call under the guise of scientific curiosity.

 

[D_Tintagel_Demondong]

Yeah thats what I asked Rec. Where did he get this document of Trivia? Its just another way to make a judgement call under the guise of scientific curiosity.

I cited all of my sources. There were several.

Are Liberals Smarter? i find the question moot. its like a commercial one hears on TV or the radio...New and Improved (product name) has now 33% more. MORE WHAT?

If I could fit it all into the title, I could have written, "Are liberals smarter than everyone else?"

Are Liberals Smarter? smarter then what? who?...
while i get the question, i would suspect that Liberals are less likely to listen to fact vs fiction. they seem to like to re write history..an example is go to any public school in the US and the history books are so biased and slanted the only outcome for these kids will be to do exactly what the Liberals did in the 60's...REJECT THAT GENERATION and in the process an entire new Conservative group will be on college campus's for all the left wing Prof's are gonna be out of here...like DEAD.

[irrelevant Obama and Blogo nonsense...]

I find this to be highly doubtful. How are they slanted? Can you offer some examples? Are these kids being taught lies? Maybe they'd be better off not going to school at all.

I didn't have any hidden agenda or ulterior motive for this topic. I was inspired, however, but the conservatives on this site who seem to lack a level of sophistication (I'm being charitable) in their argument skills, and a general lack of reasoning ability.

 

[D_Ireonsyd_Colonrinse]

Scrufuss writes: "lets all hope Barry is not hiding his birth cert because it shows he is Muslim...."

---------

Oh, dude, your sentences are the result of a susceptible, highly partisan mind. It seems the only thing you fill it with is the unsubstanciated crap shoveled out by Rush and Sean Hannity and Fox (faux) News.


Just to keep you up to date:

Supreme Court tosses out Obama birth certificate case -- dailypress.com