Left-Wingers smarter than Right-Wingers.

I'm farely sure we've covered this story before.

I'm not here to point out the article and pre-judge Republicans/Tories though (I do that by default )

I'm here because the most rabid right-wing newspaper in the UK - Our very own version of Fox News - The Daily Mail has printed the
story.

I'm here because people who read the daily mail, and believe it, have flocked to the comments to prove that the study is obviously wrong because they're clearly far more intelligent than other people, and they can't be racist because they all have black friends.

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I have an IQ over 200, have six degrees/diplomas and am "right wing" as are others I know at this higher level of intelligence. This study is a ridiculous attempt by obviously left wing researchers to imply low intelligence to those who oppose their views and to undermine the democratic will of the population by justifying rule by the elites. Schools and institutions of higher education have been brainwashing (by presenting facts and arguments that only support left wing ideology) our more intelligent students for years. We are now at the point where our elites are hopelessly out of touch with and dismiss the views of the rest of us. There is more understanding and common sense in the man on the street than what you will meet in any of the bastions of academia, judiciary, public service or big business.

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I spent my high school, college and early- university years as a member of the Labour party, I grew up in a Labour family, and all of my views were left wing. In the past two years my ideology has completely changed, I voted Conservative, I'm a member of UKIP, consider myself a right leaning Libertarian and now despise Left wing, progressive ideology. So what does the study mean for me?

Can't you figure it out for yourself?

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Typical academics. Always generalising...

Not sure if trolling.

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and what was Hitlers view on this kind of thing? Eugenics? llok it up folks

Not sure if reading the same story I am... Best go llok it up.

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I seem to remember 'academics' once upon a time stating that the world was flat and the Sun orbitted the Earth,

I am astounded by your critique.


As I was writing this the comments on the story went offline. Which made me sad. I was barely 3 pages in... Charlie Brooker wrote a funny about them though.

Enjoy.

I'll check back later and see if the comments return. They were a comedy goldmine.

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I have an IQ over 200, have six degrees/diplomas and am "right wing" as are others I know at this higher level of intelligence. This study is a ridiculous attempt by obviously left wing researchers to imply low intelligence to those who oppose their views and to undermine the democratic will of the population by justifying rule by the elites. Schools and institutions of higher education have been brainwashing (by presenting facts and arguments that only support left wing ideology) our more intelligent students for years. We are now at the point where our elites are hopelessly out of touch with and dismiss the views of the rest of us. There is more understanding and common sense in the man on the street than what you will meet in any of the bastions of academia, judiciary, public service or big business.

Gotta love this one. It's extremely rare for anyone to have an IQ over 200, which makes me doubt this poster's veracity. Maybe it's a typo? It's not at all unusual for people to have an IQ over 20...although given the content of the Daily Fail, I'd say a lot of their devoted readers are stretching to reach that high.

Lady Anne wrote:

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I have an IQ over 200, have six degrees/diplomas and am "right wing" as are others I know at this higher level of intelligence. This study is a ridiculous attempt by obviously left wing researchers to imply low intelligence to those who oppose their views and to undermine the democratic will of the population by justifying rule by the elites. Schools and institutions of higher education have been brainwashing (by presenting facts and arguments that only support left wing ideology) our more intelligent students for years. We are now at the point where our elites are hopelessly out of touch with and dismiss the views of the rest of us. There is more understanding and common sense in the man on the street than what you will meet in any of the bastions of academia, judiciary, public service or big business.

Gotta love this one. It's extremely rare for anyone to have an IQ over 200, which makes me doubt this poster's veracity. Maybe it's a typo? It's not at all unusual for people to have an IQ over 20...although given the content of the Daily Fail, I'd say a lot of their devoted readers are stretching to reach that high.

Right? For having a high IQ, this person sure is one dumb fuck.

Oh gawd, the whole 'schools are liberal and are braaaainwashing people' bullshit. Bleh, people make pre-judgments in lieu of bothering to learn about stuff, it is a handy little survival mechanism that helps us gets the basics down quickly when we are young. We learn that snakes = DANGER as children, then as we get older we can learn exactly when snakes are dangerous, which snakes are dangerous, etc etc. Our judgments of people work the same way. So, no shit more intelligent people are less racist, they have the spare brain cells needed to evaluate people individually and not as groups, and NO SHIT colleges are going to encourage that sort of thing, half the point of higher education is show you how to think for yourself.

In the interest of complete fairness, however, you can hold conservative views without being a racist. And very smart people can inexplicably hold onto prejudges for various reasons. In the circle I run in I encounter a lot of people identifying as fiscally conservative and socially liberal. I disagree with those politics, but I find the people themselves are not particularly dumb. You also need to make room for people who know better than to judge people as groups and know full well how negatively their politics affect others and are still conservative because it serves them, IE: assholes. I think maybe mister 200 IQ guy trends toward asshole.

Eh, I think the title of this thread and the article have the framing backwards. Rather than "Left-wingers are smarter/right-wingers are more stupid", the study (and I question its conclusions as they seem to be a bit shaky) indicates that "less intelligent people may gravitate more to certain right-wing views".

I curl my lip at the whole thing, honestly, because I've run across plenty of so-called progressives who have massive, massive blind spots when it comes to sexism, racism, homophobia and transphobia.

My brother was tested as having an IQ of 140 when he was eight years old, because he was having so much trouble in school. He eventually went into computer programming, but he still entertains various and sundry prejudices, despite the fact that my parents did their best to raise their kids to be non-prejudiced. It's been my observation, having lived with him my entire life, that's he's actually more rigid and less open to certain things that a person with an average IQ. And it's only getting more pronounced as he gets older.

He's the only person in my family to have an IQ that high (the rest of us are average or a bit above average), except my niece, who has an IQ close to his. She, on the other hand, is very liberal, and open to pretty much anything. So I don't think a high IQ necessarily makes you more likely to be right or left leaning. I suspect that's more a matter of upbringing and personal experience.

WD40 wrote:

I'm farely sure we've covered this story before.

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I'm farely sure

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farely

"Us liberals are so much smarter" says the liberal who failed first grade spelling.

Cyberwulf wrote:

I've run across plenty of so-called progressives who have massive, massive blind spots when it comes to sexism, racism, homophobia and transphobia.

That's because those idiots are the type of progressives who are just modern hippies whining about corporate greed and how corporations are destroying communites while shitting all over parks and breaking windows and ransacking city hall while wearing their North Face jackets, Nike shoes, and texting on their goddamn iPhones.

You know, idiots.

First off, some required reading. (Yes, it's Cracked. I didn't say it was deep.) It'll get into some of the reasons why smart people hold dumb views.

Now, as for the article... hmm. I wonder why a right-wing hack rag would basically call their readership a bunch of dumb bigots, open to an on-site flamewar and internet gawking. It's almost like they want to drive up their hit count, for some reason.

On the IQ issue - IQ isn't a measure of intelligence anyway. It just tells you how good you are at doing IQ tests.

Further to that, the test that Mensa (UK) uses has an upper limit of 161.

Cyberwulf wrote:

Eh, I think the title of this thread and the article have the framing backwards. Rather than "Left-wingers are smarter/right-wingers are more stupid", the study (and I question its conclusions as they seem to be a bit shaky) indicates that "less intelligent people may gravitate more to certain right-wing views".

Quite right.

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I curl my lip at the whole thing, honestly, because I've run across plenty of so-called progressives who have massive, massive blind spots when it comes to sexism, racism, homophobia and transphobia.

And I've met a fair few right wingers who are really, really bloody smart. The study was more about trying to understand the reasons of intolerance, and just happened to indicate political leanings. But everywhere that prints it goes for the "Lefties smart, righties dumb" route.

Speaking of intelligent righties...

Mikey Go WOOGA wrote:

WD40 wrote:

I'm farely sure we've covered this story before.

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I'm farely sure

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farely

"Us liberals are so much smarter" says the liberal who failed first grade spelling.

Shit. I've been found out...

Penguin wrote:

Now, as for the article... hmm. I wonder why a right-wing hack rag would basically call their readership a bunch of dumb bigots, open to an on-site flamewar and internet gawking. It's almost like they want to drive up their hit count, for some reason.

Yeah. I know... But I think the ensuing comments war is funny!

Speaking of which: They're back!

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That depends on your definition of intelligence. I am a highly reasoning right wing person and that reasoning tells me I am correct in my beliefs and do not have to accept the incorrect reasoning of others, particularly psychologists. To make the statements in this article would be to generalize, a fault apparently within right wing thinkers.

Wow... Let's look at that again...

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I am a highly reasoning right wing person and that reasoning tells me I am correct in my beliefs and do not have to accept the incorrect reasoning of others,

Just WOW!

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"The study, published in Psychological Science". Well that's a non-sequitur for a start. Psychology is NOT a science, which is why psychology departments are put in university arts and humanities faculties, and not in their science faculties.

Well that's told them.

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This is one of the funniest things I've read recently. I'd love to see the sampling frame, methodology and questionnaire, because I can't see how this could have got past the ethics committee - if they had one. Did the respondents first identify themselves as liberal or conservative (politically, or colloquially?) - a great anchoring technique for dodgy research, or did the researchers identify them as such after the "results" came through - a great technique for deriving the result you wanted in the first place? And such naive questions, which a lot of people would think is symptomatic of a liberal disposition in the first place, with the "correct" answers so glaringly obvious. My father was a Tory because he thought the country was spending more than it earned, and he was good at spotting the Law of Unintended Consequences re social policy. He got on very well with his professional Indian neighbours, who thought like he did. Culture, not colour or race, you see.

Too smart to even read the story, which detailed how the study was done. And "My dad had a black friend". Priceless.

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i presume that the academics are by there statement left wingers?

Didn't you know? All lefties are academics, or is it all academics are left-wingers... I forget. Screw it, I've gotta go service my brain-washing machine anyway.

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What utter tosh. The most bigotted ideology of all is socialism - what was its body count in the last century? Hitler (who was after all, a National SOCIALIST), Stalin and Pol Pot must have accounted for at least 50 million between them...

This argument turns up all over the comments, and is often used by the extreme groups in the UK now. The EDL , British Freedom Party, BNP etc all constantly push forward the idea that Hitler was left-wing because the National Socialist Party had the word Socialist in its name, and Socialists are lefties. Arguing with these people is difficult to say the least.

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The fact that the "research" was done by a communist backed organisation dedicated to pushing marxism and special interest groups was never mentioned.

THE COMMIES ARE COMING! THE COMMIES ARE COMING!

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Lefties are more slyer, more thick skinned, more brazen. As for intelligent PLEASE give me a break Their all labotomy jobs.

Which reminds me - After I've finished with my brain-washer I've got to go have my annual labotomy.

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What utter guff! I note this so-called 'study' was carried out by so-called 'academics', [...]

XD

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and we all know that academics love to laud it over the rest of humanity with their exaggerated sense of self worth and overwhelming belief in their moral, and intellectual superiority. In fact, they tend to be completely out of touch with reality. Intellects too rely upon their interpretation of events, and those interpretations can be severely skewed, al la Carl Marx and Chairman Mao. Right wingers tend to be more grounded, deal in facts and understand human nature.

Hooo boy... That's it for now... I've got stuff to do!

^
I don't get it. Why is Rich Brit having a conniption over the metric system and euro when the Fruit Vendor had priced the fruit in pounds?. What's the misunderstanding?

Mikey Go WOOGA wrote:

^
I don't get it. Why is Rich Brit having a conniption over the metric system and euro when the Fruit Vendor had priced the fruit in pounds?. What's the misunderstanding?

The fruit vendor said "Get off the streets, mate, there's a man-eating tiger loose". But the Major is so invested in seeing political correctness gone mad/socialist Eurocrat conspiracies everywhere that he instead assumes the fruit vendor is telling him the price of the fruit per kilo.

Here, try this one:

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"Three for a Pound", Mikey, refers to the currency. Three oranges for £1.

The rant about not wanting to hear about kilos is, I think, a bit of a non-sequitur, or at least I can't find anything in the sentence about a tiger that sounds metric or imperial, but in any case it refers to a different sort of pound.

grmblfjx wrote:

"Three for a Pound", Mikey, refers to the currency. Three oranges for £1.

The rant about not wanting to hear about kilos is, I think, a bit of a non-sequitur, or at least I can't find anything in the sentence about a tiger that sounds metric or imperial, but in any case it refers to a different sort of pound.

I'm not sure if there's a cultural stereotype equivalent in the US or Germany, but the caricature refers to a kind of snobbish English character (Who can be of working, middle or upper class) who refuses to change from what they perceive as 'good old ways from the good old days'.

As far as these people are concerned, prior to 1970-ish, when they were a lad, living in a shoebox in Yorkshire, there was no crime, all children behaved themselves and respected their elders, we had 100% numeracy and literacy, there were no divorces and no illegitimate children. And the reason these things exist now is because of the EU, Europe in General, Health and Safety legislation and political correctness all or which may be the same entity.

Children can't be caned, there's no more public birching, gays can rub their gayness in your face and grocers can't sell bananas by the pound, you can't write racial abuse in excrement on someone's car any more and all that has caused all the problems in the UK ever since.

The fellow in the cartoon represents that kind of person, who will link the amorphous European Union,Health-and-Safety, Politically correct Brussels mandate creature to everything that they refuse to adapt to and Jesus Christ, they won't fucking shut up about it, regardless of what the actual problems are, or what topic is being discussed.

Hence the tiger.

There's 3 of them who are regulars in my pub. One of them is my dad and it DRIVES ME FUCKING INSANE!

Smart people are as capable of being total bastards as stupid people. I'd rather find out which side has more empathy.

Reepicheep-chan wrote:

In the interest of complete fairness, however, you can hold conservative views without being a racist. And very smart people can inexplicably hold onto prejudges for various reasons. In the circle I run in I encounter a lot of people identifying as fiscally conservative and socially liberal. I disagree with those politics, but I find the people themselves are not particularly dumb. You also need to make room for people who know better than to judge people as groups and know full well how negatively their politics affect others and are still conservative because it serves them, IE: assholes. I think maybe mister 200 IQ guy trends toward asshole.

So basically there are two kinds of people in this world: those who think there are two kinds of people in this world and those who know better?

grmblfjx wrote:

"Three for a Pound", Mikey, refers to the currency. Three oranges for £1.

The rant about not wanting to hear about kilos is, I think, a bit of a non-sequitur, or at least I can't find anything in the sentence about a tiger that sounds metric or imperial, but in any case it refers to a different sort of pound.

]

If you look closely, the spuds say "lb" on them.

Mikey Go WOOGA wrote:

Exodia's Right Leg wrote:

Smart people are as capable of being total bastards as stupid people. I'd rather find out which side has more empathy.

>Relying on empathy rather than intelligence
>mfw

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> Mikey's opinions
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Mikey Go WOOGA wrote:

>Not greentexting properly

4chan formatting. The mark of the smart individual.

Keep crying.

I'm going to play devils advocate here and say I've encountered some very intelligent rightists, and some exceptionally dim leftists. As a generalization (which I don't care for) though, I would agree that those on the left tend to be more intelligent. Again, don't care for generalizations though.

2012 still greentxtign i hope yuo guys stilld ont do this constanza.tif

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