Intelligent People more likely to be godless liberalsFollow

regardless of what you read into his posts, he didn't say that.

Let's recap. Someone posts thread about how intelligent people are more likely to hold a variety of ideas traditionally associated with being "liberal".

I responded that in the science and engineering fields, most people are conservative.

Joph responded by quoting the Pew study at issue. A study which only looks at "scientists", and if you read through the entire multiple pages of the report, pretty clearly is looking primarily at "research scientists".

Joph used the study to counter my statement. The study does not actually refute my statement. The only way one could think that it does is if one assumes that the scientists polled in the study represent all people working in the "science and engineering fields" and/or that only those who are "scientists" of the sort polled in the Pew study are "intelligent". Neither of which are correct.

At the end of the day, if Joph didn't think that the Pew study supported the idea that intelligent people are more likely to be liberal, then why did he post it? I suppose we could just pretend that he posted it randomly because he thought we'd be interested in the study, but it seems much more likely that he thought that it represented some sort of strong evidence for his position.

For you to now insist that he didn't mean that is kinda ridiculous. Again, if not for that reason, then why post the study?

Edited, Mar 2nd 2010 2:16pm by gbaji

And in your recap, there is nary a mention of pelagic ducks, which i believe was a pretty relevant component of the discussion.

Edited, Mar 2nd 2010 10:04pm by paulsol

Joph posted the study in a response to catwho's comment about sciences and leaning. He also referenced it later as disproving that all the smart people, or the creme or the creme as you insisted were conservative. Maybe you should start actually reading threads instead of just assuming what people are saying.

The entire discussion could be ended with an admission from both sides that the vast, and I'm talking Pacific Ocean vast, majority of the followers of conservative and liberal ideologies would make perfect Jaywalk All-Stars and move on.

As we used to say in the Usenet days: Pot. Kettle. Black.


Nope, sorry. I even said that I'd be curious in a wider ranging survey because I wasn't necessarily satisfied with what I had but it was the best I could get. However, it is true that absent any other criteria these groups of people display a pronounced tendency to be liberal/Democrat and there are no such groups with a conservative/Republican lean. As I said, it's really a No True Scotsman game for you -- IQ doesn't count, degrees don't count, career field doesn't count... but somewhere out there is the silent, uncounted Republican majority of smart folk who can't be classified by any such means. There's no way of knowing who they are (aside from the nebulous "I bet people who slap a smaller camera into cell phones are all conservative!") but we must admit to their vast presence for no other reason but because Gbaji tells us so.

Also, you're ignoring the other fields beyond "scientists who are probably OMGReseach scientists". Which makes your #1 even more suspect but, well, finding yet another hole in a block of Swiss cheese isn't anything really noteworthy.

Edited, Mar 2nd 2010 4:29pm by Jophiel

Didn't you know? Every post is a direct reply to Gbaji.

Edited, Mar 2nd 2010 4:39pm by Xsarus

Nope, sorry. I even said that I'd be curious in a wider ranging survey because I wasn't necessarily satisfied with what I had but it was the best I could get. However, it is true that absent any other criteria these groups of people display a pronounced tendency to be liberal/Democrat and there are no such groups with a conservative/Republican lean. As I said, it's really a No True Scotsman game for you -- IQ doesn't count, degrees don't count, career field doesn't count... but somewhere out there is the silent, uncounted Republican majority of smart folk who can't be classified by any such means. There's no way of knowing who they are (aside from the nebulous "I bet people who slap a smaller camera into cell phones are all conservative!") but we must admit to their vast presence for no other reason but because Gbaji tells us so.

MacGuffin, Strawman, Anthropomorphic Climate Change!!

Anyway, the conclusions being drawn from the data here are being framed poorly by all participants. While it's vaguely interesting what party demographic groups align themselves with, what's far more interesting is that ALL POLITICAL PARTIES in any sort of vaguely democratic process ruthlessly target the low end of the IQ/Education spectrum, as the votes of the completely ignorant count equally with the votes of educated genius. The far more useful conclusion to take from this study is that the GOP does a better job of winning this crucial voting block. We could be caviler and pretend it's because liberals lie less, but that's almost certainly not true. A better understanding of WHY it is cowardly morons and slack jawed yokels vote GOP would help us win those votes in the future.

Knowing why well informed, intelligent people who rely on reason vote for the Democratic Party has virtually no benefit. Those votes are far less likely to be swayed by propaganda.

Paula,



Cost of liberating 10's of millions priceless. Why do you love terrorist baby killers?



Jophed,



Advanced degrees like the one the govn awarded Kwanza with?

Cost of liberating 10's of millions priceless

Liberated, transferred from serfdom at the hands of the Taliban into serfdom at the hands of the Karzai family,....similar.

Apparently they do.

Being from your own state, one would think you'd realize that....

So the guy thinks Ann Coulter should have been in the White House after 9/11 and that "political coorectness" is a grave threat and Varus thinks the guy is some liberal who only got his degree through affirmative action?

Hehehehe.... Varus be crazy!