Study: Fox News Viewers Average Age Higher than Average IQ
In the first of its kind study on intelligence, Brown University incorporated ideology into intelligence quotient calculations. The study looked at intelligence levels up and down the political spectrum, but took the unique approach of factoring in the ‘real world effects of final decisions’ in lieu of the standard tests that fail to take biases and prejudice into account. What they found verified the validity of past studies, but shocked the scientific community with its dramatic variation in degrees. Heading the study was L. Bruce, PhD, who is a pioneer in the field of ideological psychology.
“We knew going into this study that Fox News viewers were misinformed and incorrect on the major issues of our time,” said the bespectacled Bruce. “We also knew that past studies showed a five to ten point difference in the IQ’s of the Fox viewers compared to those who get their news from other sources, but we were unprepared for the precipitous drop that occurred when ideology was thrown into the mix. And it seemed to be inversely proportional to the time spent watching Fox News. The more they watched, the lower the intelligence. What we haven’t determined, is whether the viewing caused the drop in aptitude, or a lower intelligence made one more predisposed to watch Fox.”
Judy Collins, PhD coauthored the study and was forthcoming with the details. “While the average age of Fox News viewers is 73.4, the average IQ, using Doctor Bruce’s scale, is 65.3. Quite a difference. We started with the premise that the end result of intelligence, meaning its practical application, was more important than the pieces that are in place to make any intelligence possible. Kind of like a disassembled watch. All the pieces are there, but it can’t tell time. So, what’s the use, unless one removes, in this case, the ideology that prevents critical thought?
“I’ll give you a real life example. One of our subjects who watches Fox, insisted that the earth is only six thousand years old. We then showed this person a cross section of the sediment of Japan’s Lake Suigetsu, which has 52,800 clear layers that are deposited annually. After a few minutes of silence, this person responded by saying, ‘The earth is six thousand years old.’ So, this person may be capable recognizing numbers in the millions or billions, but can only count to six thousand when it matters. We scored this person, in the mathematics category, the same as one who was capable of only counting to six thousand. The same holds true when there is evidence of global warming, equality of races, or teachers not being responsible for the economic recession, and is completely ignored.”
“While Judy’s watch analogy is apt and rather insightful, I prefer to compare a mind bogged down in ideology with gymnast in a suit of armor,” said Bruce. “The person inside a suit of armor, just like one trapped inside of rigid ideology, may be an uncoordinated lout unable to walk and chew gum at the same time, or they may be a world-class gymnast. But an observer would never know the difference being that all athletic feats attempted would be abject failures. We approached this study with that fact in the forefront of our minds… Now we hope that this study will wake those trapped in their individual suits of armor, and allow them to think more clearly.”
Satire by: 20score
= new reply since forum marked as read
First, for the "average age" of Fox viewers to be 73.4, you'd have to have some seriously elderly folk constituting a good chunk of the audience. However, let's say that it's true and the population is a mix of 60-year-old's and 80-year-old's.
Second, unless Dr. Bruce's scale is radically different than the typical scale (where an IQ of 100 is literally "average"
, 65.3 is many cookies short of a dozen. I know many Fox viewers aren't the strongest in critical thinking, but 65 is pretty cognitively impaired. I know a lot of Fox viewers and although I can blame them for not thinking critically, not being exposed to alternate viewpoints, and having grown up in conservative households, and generally being under-informed, being under-(or mis-)informed is not quite the same as cognitive disability.
I think you have some of the folks here convinced. Let's all sit back and watch the trolls flame it.
If the layers are clear then how can you see them?
Bravo!! Bravo, my friend.
I'll share too this too when I log back into FB.
to laugh my f*****g ass off ... :
Yea ... as if we didn't already know this.
OOPS! I didn't read the responses before posting mine. I now see that this was a satire (or was it???). Anyway I'll admit to being gullible (at time).s
