Audacity of Truth
Rahmbo:
"Rahm Emanuel is son of the devil's spawn. He is an individual who would sell his mother to get a vote. He would strap his children to the front end of a steam locomotive."
-Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) on Obama's COS, 3/7/10
Velvet Lair- Legends March 18, 2010
- Some things are just not cute March 18, 2010
- The adventures of the lady spider killer continue March 11, 2010
- Intermission February 19, 2010
- People who allow their dogs to poop in other people’s yards February 16, 2010
Debunking a study on liberals supposedly being smarter than conservatives
Just got done reading a piece written by William Saletan at Slate on a a recent study done in Nature Neuroscience which supposedly indicated that, in essence, liberals were smarter than conservatives. An excerpt:
Frank Sulloway, a Berkeley professor who co-authored a damning psychological analysis of conservatism four years ago, illustrates the problem. Appearing in the Times as a researcher “not connected to the study“—despite having co-written his similar 2003 analysis with one of its authors—Sulloway endorsed the study and pointed out, “There is ample data from the history of science showing that social and political liberals indeed do tend to support major revolutions in science.” That’s true: When new ideas turn out to be right, liberals are vindicated. But when new ideas turn out to be wrong, they cease to be “revolutions in science,” so it’s hard to keep score of liberalism’s net results. And that’s in science, where errors, being relatively factual, are easiest to prove and correct. In culture and politics, errors can be unrecoverable.
The conservative case against this study is easy to make. Sure, we’re fonder of old ways than you are. That’s in our definition. Some of our people are obtuse; so are some of yours. If you studied the rest of us in real life, you’d find that while we second-guess the status quo less than you do, we second-guess putative reforms more than you do, so in terms of complexity, ambiguity, and critical thinking, it’s probably a wash. Also, our standard of “information” is a bit tougher than the blips and fads you fall for. Sometimes, these inclinations lead us astray. But over the long run, they’ve served us and society pretty well. It’s just that you notice all the times we were wrong and ignore all the times we were right.
In fact, that’s exactly what you’ve done in this study: You’ve manufactured a tiny world of letters, half-seconds, and button-pushing, so you can catch us in clear errors and keep out the part of life where our tendencies correct yours. And now you feel great about yourselves. Congratulations. You haven’t told us much about our way of thinking. But you’ve told us a lot about yours.
Indeed, and it didn’t take a silly “study” to prove it, either.
This study reminds me of the comments uber-fem Pat Schroeder recently made about how liberals were supposedly were smarter than conservatives because liberals ‘read more.’ She claimed to have gotten that information from an Associated Press-Ipsos poll, but when other people started digging into the stats of that poll, they couldn’t find the data to back up Schroeder’s claim.
Liberals: Either twisting poll data to fit their preconceived notions, or rigging the wording on a study in order to do the same. And they’re supposed to be smarter than we are? If they really were, you’d think they wouldn’t have to resort to these types of dishonest tactics.
And furthermore, I think a quick look at a Democrat convention or anti-war protest (but I repeat myself) would and should dispel anyone of the myth that liberals are smarter than conservatives. 
Case in point:
Michael Moore sits in the President’s Box
with Jimmy Carter during the 2004 DNC.
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Those are the generous interpretations…
an alternate one is: Liberals are more easily reprogrammed.
Considering the huge number of back-doors into the human mind, I think this represents a major hazard.
- Well I will concede that Liberals are pen uktimate experts in rivised history.
- Hows that “Cuba” thing working out for them anyhow?
- BBH –
For example, think back to the way our so-called liberal “intelligentsia” embraced the theory of eugenics back in the 1920s and 1930s.
And you know how THAT turned out…it morphed into Hitler’s gas chambers and suddenly all our “smart” people couldn’t remember anything about it.
The study could be spun as:
Liberals are more willing to accept revisions to history.
Liberals are less likely to have a functioning “BS meter”.
Liberals are more likely to believe what they’re told to believe.
Liberals are more likely to jump on the bandwagon (or join a stampeding herd).
Liberals think more like children.
Even if you were to presume this BS study was true, what does it say about liberals sense of self worth and self confidence that they constantly are trying to find studies that “prove” how superior they are? Seems to me that people with good self image and confidence don’t need such studies.
So a like minded Berkley college professor is suppose to add credibility to this study?? HA!!
Here is the other problem with Liberals, they tell us all the time what they think, or feel, but can’t defend the reasons why they think, or feel, this way.
Sev also makes an incredible point. Here is yet another “study” to try to prove something that most people don’t really care about. As if they are competing with GW’s Masters, and can’t.
These people are just laughable. – Lorica
LOL – loving the comments in this thread!
Yeah, they’re smarter, NOT.
John Stozel, last night on 20/20 made an utter fool outta michael moore’s sicko joke film. He even sat down with fat boy and still made him look the fool he is. He shot the hell outta moore’s lies and found out moore did not talk to any insurance company officals like he usually does in his lying docudrama’s.
Turns out when fat boy wanted to loose weight he went to a PRIVATE CLINIC to do so, if it had been gov’t run bet his fat ass would have still gone to a private one.
John also had Canadian docs on bashing the system and tallking about the wait time for appts. and procedures for everyone but the dogs and kittens who get state of the art care and same day MRI’S, ect.
Take that michael …. your latest film has been debunked by a major msm and ya all GOTTA LOVE IT.