"Why Liberals Are More Intelligent Than Conservatives"

[applegrove]

Why Liberals Are More Intelligent Than Conservatives

http://current.com/1rdev4c

"SNIP......................................

Liberals think they’re more intelligent than conservatives because they are.

It is difficult to define a whole school of political ideology precisely, but one may reasonably define liberalism (as opposed to conservatism) in the contemporary United States as the genuine concern for the welfare of genetically unrelated others and the willingness to contribute larger proportions of private resources for the welfare of such others. In the modern political and economic context, this willingness usually translates into paying higher proportions of individual incomes in taxes toward the government and its social welfare programs. Liberals usually support such social welfare programs and higher taxes to finance them, and conservatives usually oppose them.

Defined as such, liberalism is evolutionarily novel. Humans (like other species) are evolutionarily designed to be altruistic toward their genetic kin, their friends and allies, and members of their deme (a group of intermarrying individuals) or ethnic group. They are not designed to be altruistic toward an indefinite number of complete strangers whom they are not likely ever to meet or interact with. This is largely because our ancestors lived in a small band of 50-150 genetically related individuals, and large cities and nations with thousands and millions of people are themselves evolutionarily novel.

The examination of the 10-volume compendium The Encyclopedia of World Cultures, which describes all human cultures known to anthropology (more than 1,500) in great detail, as well as extensive primary ethnographies of traditional societies, reveals that liberalism as defined above is absent in these traditional cultures. While sharing of resources, especially food, is quite common and often mandatory among hunter-gatherer tribes, and while trade with neighboring tribes often takes place, there is no evidence that people in contemporary hunter-gatherer bands freely share resources with members of other tribes.

........................................SNIP"

[Speck Tater]

1. I've always thought that conservatives are evolutionary throwbacks

kind of like Neanderthals or Loch Ness Monsters.

It explains so much. It also explains why conservatives always lose in the long run, and are always on the wrong side of history.

[applegrove]

2. Also explains why their reptilian brains are more easily appealed to.

[Speck Tater]

3. The real question is...

does conservatism itself correlate with being dumb, or is it that being dumb correlates with being easily taken in by the intelligent conservatives who know how to manipulate the ignorant masses AND have no moral objections to doing so?

[applegrove]

7. Liberalism is novel according to this OP. Liberalism in action concerns itself with new ideas. So

it's a fit. Of course you need to be able to think of a better world to be a liberal. You need to be able to think into the future. That is what the GOP base is bad at...thinking through what their vote will mean to their economic self interest.

[MannyGoldstein]

4. Because if Conservatives were smarter... They'd be Liberals

"As Mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to the protections of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality."
- George Washington

[Populist_Prole]

5. Wanna know what frustration is?

How about having a conservative friend with a very high IQ? His arguments are trite and lame; pretty much MSM talking points. Civic-ally unaware and unread by choice, yet he believes he always has the correct take on things because he has a 160+ IQ. So what we have here is an ignorant jackass that is good at solving brain teasers and complicated math problems in his head.

Point being? Being conservative requires irrational stubbornness and willing ignorance. What a waste.

[Brigid]

6. Your friend is intelligent, but lacks wisdom.

There's a difference.

[oldhippydude]

11. same here

have an acquaintance (used to be rather close friends).. Mensa member, retired spends all day watching Fox news, and listening to right wing radio..a while back i mentioned i wouldn't talk politics simply because he had his own set of facts..

the guys training is as a psychiatrist.. think if nothing else he we recognize some of the crazy stuff... he has no problem with labeling others behavior, but folks like Glen Beck seem to enamor some of these folks..

[SheilaT]

8. At the risk of over-generalizing,

I think an important difference is that Liberals are, for the most part, willing to think things through, not to accept what they're told on simple authority. They tend to be comfortable dealing with ideas.

Conservatives, I've observed, want to be given rules to follow, and are very uncomfortable with any kind of ambiguity.

[Rex]

9. We like to read?

Would be my guess.

[applegrove]

10. Yes. Absolutely. And our reading puts us into the brains & lives of other people so our empathy is

increased (the book "Better Angels Of Our Nature" goes into this).