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The more intelligent people are, the more they are willing to engage into something new. Conservatives and religious people, in turn, do have a lower intelligence quotient. Psychologists believe, the phenomena can be explained through an evolution-biological view.
The following is a translation of an article found today in the Online version of the German newspaper Der Spiegel. After all, I was right: Conservatives are not smart people…
Conservatives Have Lower IQ
The more intelligent people are, the more they are willing to engage into something new. Conservatives and religious people, in turn, do have a lower intelligence quotient. Psychologists believe, the phenomena can be explained through an evolution-biological view.
It is a daily business in the political arena to categorize an opponent as naive, simple, and stupid. A new study conducted by psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa could strengthen the beliefs of lefties and liberals that they are indeed smarter than their conservative counterparts. According to Kanazawa, intelligent people tend more easily to accept social values as well as political and religious convictions new to the human evolution. The preservation of old values is, however, a matter of conservatives, who are supposedly less intelligent.
The scientist, in cooperation with his colleagues at the London School of Economics and Political Science, analyzed a survey of 14,000 US adolescents conducted between the year 2001 and 2002. One question addressed their level of religious beliefs. The options they were given ranged from “not at all religious”, “somewhat religious”, “moderately religious”, and “very religious.” The “not at all religious” group showed the highest IQ (103), while the “very religious” group came up with an average IQ of 97. This is, after all, only a minute but detectable difference. The average IQ of the entire population lies at 100.
The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health – used by the London scientists – also inquired the adolescents’ political convictions. As the scientists wrote in Social Psychology Quarterly, those who saw themselves as “very liberal” reached an IQ of 106, while those who characterized themselves as “very conservative” had only an average IQ of 95.
“Intelligence was advantageous for our ancestors when it came to solve new emerging problems for which they had no existing solutions,” says Kanazawa. For the same reason, intelligent people would detect and understand such scenarios sooner. The same is true when it comes to rethinking values and lifestyles. A higher IQ makes it possible to go new ways that are not compliant with values and convictions developed in the course of evolution.
The London scientist also claims, conservatives primarily take care of their family and friends, while lefties and liberals also have a heart for foreigners, people with whom they are in no direct genetical relationship. This may be a new development in evolution.
However, in case you are a lefty or liberal, don’t get too excited about the Kanazawa study. There are some slight side effects. People with higher IQs are often dissatisfied with their lives and make less money than conservatives.
Reference: http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/mensch/0,1518,680956,00.html
The Conservative Greenfielder’s Lament
I just discussed an article printed in the local newspaper, The Recorder, with my wife. She had kept it for me to read and was interested in my opinion about it. Before I share my – utterly unimportant – opinion, let me quote from the article (March 3, 2010) titled A Conservative’s Lament by Ben Clarke.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
- Lester B. Pearson
“I have always resented the liberal presumption of intolerance among conservatives – the notion that we huddle around campfires in endangered forests and seethe in our abhorrence of gays, ethnic minorities, illegal immigrants and France.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not proposing we amend the Constitution and smuggle in an undocumented lesbian from Honduras to run for president. But I would at least hear her out. Assuming she could cook.
…Ben Clarke spent the past 10 years working as a speechwriter and political consultant in Washington, D.C. He has recently relocated back to Greenfield, where he works as a freelance writer.” (Meaning, after George 43 there was no more job for him.)
Okay… Assuming she could cook. I am still not sure whether he was joking or not, and if he thought he was joking, maybe he should think twice about his writing. My analysis, leaving that last degrading comment unanswered for the moment, is that Ben Clarke is as divisive as the rest of hardcore conservatives he accuses as being out of touch with reality. What I didn’t like in his article was the touch of aggressiveness against everything and everybody who is not on his side, especially the utter hatred pointed against liberals. Regardless of my personal political affiliation, I despise radicals, may they be left or right, and Ben Clarke is apparently one of them. I am always shocked when I hear of young people hanging on to old ideas that reflect an utter incompetence to learn from experience.
Ben Clarke, as far as I know (his mother, my wife, and I are on the board of the Franklin County Community Meal Program), was born and raised here in Greenfield, and he reflects an attitude I see in many Greenfielders who are so vehemently opposed to changes in any shape or form. When the typical – in all regularity conservative – Greenfielder can’t have it his way, he comes up with lies. A comment like Assuming she could cook is written proof that Ben Clarke is out of touch with reality. His blabbering definitely strengthens the theory that liberals are more intelligent than conservatives.
P.S. Let’s see if Ben Clarke has his name on Google Alerts…;-)