To Matt and Erin
> To clarify, my point is that I know nothing of Bush's intelligence, but I
do
> know to be wary of the constant liberal smear campaign to characterize
> conservatives as stupid. They can't ALL be dumb. Can they?
MATT:
Maybe they can. The very word "conservative" seems to indicate a
predilection towards static patters of value, does it not?
ROG:
Yes, I would say that it would indicate a predilection toward static social
patterns of quality. Don't see that this means that they are dumb though.
M:
Further, since a
synonym for conservative seems to be the "moral majority," it would appear
that they are largely concentrating at the social level.
R:
Not aware of this as a synonym. Certainly this is a conservative
constituency that is anti-intellectual (and one which I am particulaly wary
of). But this is about as credible as saying liberal is a symonym for
"welfare queen" or "union member". (in other words, not credible at all) As
for the argument that they are focused on the social level, though obviously
true, it seems a strange argument against a social (political) party.
M:
It would seem to
me, from their actions, that the conservatives tend to defend the social
level from the intellectual and from the Dynamic.
R:
I kinda agree. They do defend the social level. They are often very
static-quality focused. Not sure this is a bad thing though. The advance of
intellectual values should be built on social values, not based upon harming
them.
The main concern I have with your position is that you seem to be implying
that there is a direct correlation between the intellectual level and
biological intelligence (smartness/IQ/etc). If this is your point, I again
disagree. If not, my apologies.
M:
Who would
anti-intellectuals put forth as their figureheads? Popular people (famous
actors, yale frat boys) who have a just plain folks attitude, perhaps?
R:
Perhaps cigar smoking, McDonalds eatin', womanizing, southern good ol' boys
from Arkansas? I am being sarcastic, but it is just to point out the
silliness of this argument. And since when are actors considered
conservative? Or Ivy league schools considered factories for the dumb?
As for who the dumb would put forth as figureheads, why don't we settle the
matter and see who they tend to vote for? I know of no IQ tests at polling
places (God forbid!), but there are ample stats on voting records based upon
education level. Unfortunately, it again contradicts your hypothesis. In
fact inability to get a high school diploma is OVERWHELMINGLY correlated with
voting against Bush and against Republican candidates. The stats are kinda
alarming actually. As for the other side of the educational spectrum, I read
somewhere that college educated Americans are 1.5 times as likely to vote
Republican as Democrat.
M:
Obviously, not all conservatives are stupid. But the ones that we really
see might just be, and on purpose, to boot.
R:
Considering all the evidence against this hypothesis, do you still believe
MOST conservatives are dumb? Hmmm...
Like I said, I'm not impressed with Bush, but I find the dumb arguments to be
pretty... hollow.
But I could be wrong,
Rog
PS -- My favorite Onion article was on Cat Breeding. A classic!
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