Article reading time: 1,368 words, 3 to 5 minutes
Readers’ comments reading time: 28,664 words, 1 to 2 hours
This is the first post on the new “Stupid” category. There’s lots of material available so I expect to post more in the future. This is a story the San Francisco Chronicle did on “Life’s Little Mysteries” article titled “Incompetent People Too Ignorant to Know It” that I will post separately.
At the end of this article I also copied the first 200 of over 800 reader’s comments. So many comments means the article struck a nerve.
I’ll let you decide for yourself how many of these comments and replies confirm the thesis of the article below about dumbness. I copied “as is” and did not change spelling or grammar.
– Gerold
Scientists say America is too dumb for democracy to thrive
San Francisco Chronicle
March 9, 2012
The United States may be a republic, but it’s democracy that Americans cherish. After all, that’s why we got into Iraq, right? To take out a dictator and spread democracy.
“Government of the people, by the people, for the people.” “One person, one vote.” We are an egalitarian society that treasures the mandate of its citizenry.
But more than a decade’s worth research suggests that the citizenry is too dumb to pick the best leaders.
Work by Cornell University psychologist David Dunning and then-colleague Justin Kruger found that “incompetent people are inherently unable to judge the competence of other people, or the quality of those people’s ideas,” according to a report by Life’s Little Mysteries on the blog LiveScience.
“Very smart ideas are going to be hard for people to adopt, because most people don’t have the sophistication to recognize how good an idea is,” Dunning told “Life’s Little Mysteries”.
What’s worse is that with incompetence comes the illusion of superiority.
Let’s say a politician comes up with an ingenious plan that would ensure universal health care while decreasing health care costs.
According to Dunning-Kruger, no matter how much information is provided, the unsophisticated would 1) be incapable of recognizing the wisdom of such a plan; 2) assume they know better; and 3) have no idea of the extent of their inadequacy.
In other words, stupid people are too stupid to know how stupid they are. (my emphasis – Gerold)
If this seems elitist to you, you are probably not alone. Maybe we should only let Ph.D.’s, Mensa members and Jeopardy! champions vote? At least require a passing an IQ test before you get to cast a ballot?
The scientists do say that the incompetent can be trained to improve, but only if they acknowledge their own previous lack of skill, which would seem to be a catch-22 since they are too ignorant to do so on their own.
Life’s Little Mysteries said that Mato Nagel, a sociologist in Germany, ran a computer simulation of a democratic election based on Dunning and Kruger’s theories:
“In his mathematical model of the election, he assumed that voters’ own leadership skills were distributed on a bell curve — some were really good leaders, some, really bad, but most were mediocre — and that each voter was incapable of recognizing the leadership skills of a political candidate as being better than his or her own. When such an election was simulated, candidates whose leadership skills were only slightly better than average always won.”
It would appear then that democracy dooms us to mediocrity and misinformed choices. Not exactly encouraging news for the next round of California’s ballot initiatives..
.
Gerold again. Below are San Francisco Chronicle readers’ comments. They are very thought-provoking and revealing. In many ways they illustrate the all-too-human trait of self-deception.
Side note: Regular readers may remember me ranting about mankind’s failed efforts to prove our superiority to the rest of the animal kingdom. For millennia, philosophers and others have debated the so-called human attributes separate us from other animals i.e. opposable thumb, tool use, language, communication, social complexity, etc. One by one, all have failed as animals were found with these capabilities.
I’m convinced that the only uniquely human attribute is self-deception. A monkey might fool another monkey, but a monkey won’t fool himself. Only humans are capable of
self-deception. See also Skeptic’s Dictionary.
What’s interesting about many of the comments and replies to comments below is a cognitive bias known as “Illusory Superiority” also known as ‘superiority bias’, ‘above average effect’, ‘leniency error’ and various other terms. In Garrison Keillor’s fictional town, all the children are above average. This of course makes a mockery of ‘average’ which would have 50% above and 50% below that point.
Still that doesn’t stop 90% of us from believing we are above average. See
THIS and THIS and for a laugh, see THIS.
Also included with the comments below are the “Popularity” ratings which are the total of “thumbs up” and “thumbs down” given by the SF Chronicle’s readers. For example, a comment receiving ten “thumbs up” and four “thumbs down” has a popularity rating of six (10 – 4 = 6). A negative number indicates more thumbs down than thumbs up.
Pay particular attention to Popularity ratings as they are VERY revealing. They not only reveal political leanings but also self-deception.
For example, take the following comment: “But more than a decade’s worth research suggests that the citizenry is too dumb to pick the best leaders.”
“Simple observation suggests that they’re too dumb to do much of anything.” This gets a high Popularity of 181. Since most people believe they’re above average, they think this ‘dumbness’ doesn’t apply to them.
However, the Reply to the above comment “why the ‘they’re? isn’t it more like ‘we’?” gets a low Popularity of only 4 because this doesn’t support people’s self-deception of being above average.
Another example, is the low Popularity of comments about educated people also making mistakes. However, when it’s pointed out that there’s a difference between education and competence, it receives high Popularity. Presumably most people believe they are educated but NOT incompetent.
As well, not surprising is the unpopularity of what I consider realistic comments. Many have either a low or a negative popularity rating. Case in point are comments about the U.S. Constitution no longer being used as a basis for other countries new constitutions which was true until a couple decades ago. The fact is many countries now look to South Africa’s constitution or Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Also, there seems to be a large number of liberals or “centrists” (Democrats) as well as socialists commenting below as evidenced by comments slamming Democrat President Obama that have low Popularity whereas anti-Bush (anti-Republican) comments have high Popularity. Then too, comments about limiting the size and scope of government have low Popularity because left-leaning Democrats believe we need more government to solve our problems. Whereas, those of you who have been paying attention to current events and regular readers of this blog know that governments are largely to blame for most of our problems and more government just creates more problems.
I have utter disdain for centrists. I see them as intellectually lazy. In having failed to learn, research, discuss or even think about their position they take the middle ground as a default position; the path of least resistance. They’re nothing but fence-sitters unable to take a stand.
This becomes evident when I argue with liberals and self-styled centrists. Having no real platform to stand on, they often respond with personal attacks which simply confirms the poverty of their position (or complete lack of position.) I have more respect for misguided conservatives who have at least given some thought to their position than an aimless centrist. And, socialists (lukewarm Communists) are beyond contempt and are a waste of their skin and my oxygen.
Oh, and lest you think I’m a conservative, I’m not; I am an anarchist. If you want to read more about this, click on I am an Anarchist
Anyway, enough about me! Enjoy the comments below and have fun forming your own opinion. As always, feel free to leave your own comments at the very bottom.
Gerold
March 15, 2012
.
Comments: 200 out of over 800
Comments sorted by: Oldest to Newest.
Bold type are readers’ comments to the article. Regular type are readers’ replies to comments.
Note: not all readers’ weblinks may work.
——————————————————————————–
eurotimbr
9:38 AM on March 9, 2012
Probably true. Got any ideas for a better system? Me neither:(
Popularity: 98
19 replies
Dj415
9:47 AM on March 9, 2012
A third, fourth, or even fifth party. This one or the other and nothing in between
mentality needs to end.
Popularity 39
sfiplawyer
9:52 AM on March 9, 2012
Unfortunately the best system of government is enlightened despotism. It’s also the
least realistic, because power corrupts. Democratic republics are the best feasible
alternative.
Popularity 30
feefop
10:03 AM on March 9, 2012
The green party:
http://www.gp.org/about.shtml
Never happen, though. Society has never been concerned with what’s best for
everyone.
Popularity -7
voiceofreason
10:13 AM on March 9, 2012
You might want to check with Sup. Ct. Justice Ginsberg. She recommends
AGAINST our constitutional for other countries. Hopefully she still thinks the
Constitution is valid law for our purposes.
Popularity -6
WhomCanSay
10:20 AM on March 9, 2012
Ruth having witnessed the second election of GWB, she’d know our system is
flawed.
Popularity 18
Racist_Zero
10:22 AM on March 9, 2012
Like many other government jobs… How about we start out with a written test,
psychological evaluation, and a polygraph.
Popularity 25
eristone
10:38 AM on March 9, 2012
Even if you have a better idea, according to the research, it won’t be recognized as
one and…
Popularity 50
brendanb
10:57 AM on March 9, 2012
.it’s another good argument for limiting the scope of government, if the government
can only be as apt as the average citizen.
Popularity -18
.self_family
11:37 AM on March 9, 2012
@voiceofreason Your suggestion that Ginsberg opposes the Constitution and may not uphold it is a reactionary and simplistic misinterpretation of what she actually said. The interviewer asked her if Egypt should use “other countries’ constitutions -.maybe the United States’– as a model or maybe we come up with our own…?” She replied, “You should certianly be aided by all the constitution writing that has gone on since the end of WWII. I would not look to the US Constitution if I were drafting a
constitution in the year 2012. I might look at the constitution of South Africa. That
was a *deliberate* (emphasis hers) attempt…[at] embracing basic human rights…[and] an independent judiciary….So why not take advantage of what there is elsewhere in the world? I’m a very strong believer in listening and learning from
others.” She then critiques the US Constitution for initially excluding women and allowing slavery, but calls it “genius” for “expanding” over time to create “a more perfect union.” Advancing human rights by modeling a modern constitution on other modern ones that start with modern premises of what these rights are is not only a good idea, but it does not entail that older ones such as ours, initially drafted with less protections, are entirely worthless. Such black and white thinking is simplistic.
ronically, this article suggests that people lack the sophistication to recognize goodideas. Case in point.
Popularity 31
rdb
11:50 AM on March 9, 2012
Perhaps passing a test similar to a drivers license before being allowed to vote? It would cover two areas: general civics knowledge; and each candidate’s position on key issues.
Popularity 21
iamsmat
12:19 PM on March 9, 2012
abolish parties?
Popularity 0
ambiguous
1:08 PM on March 9, 2012
With respect to strong arm politics, Singapore did pretty well. Nazi Germany, not so
well.
Popularity 9
mbrady
1:33 PM on March 9, 2012
I’ve always liked the benevolent dictatorship. The only problem is it only works if I am
the benefolent dictator, but no one else thinks it would work with me as a benevolent
dictator.
Popularity 14
dub
2:19 PM on March 9, 2012
have computers figure out a couple of ways to fix the deficit, choose the best one by
email voting, then let the computers run the whole show – everything else is done
that way.
Popularity -1
melicious
3:54 PM on March 9, 2012
Tests were once used and abused in the past. Not a place to which we should go
again.
Popularity -1
Rdb
11:47 PM on March 9, 2012
@melicious: I can understand being concerned about a return to the Southern
states’ “literacy” tests. Don’t you think we could avoid that kind of abuse now
Popularity 1
crockeramazon49
1:51 AM on March 10, 2012
Yes. Limit the length of campaigns. Allow NO advertising. Publish the platform of
every candidate, give them generous and equal amounts of exposure to explain their
plan.
The process has become an industry and circus.
There are plenty of better ways to inform an electorate and to preserve a democracy based on reason rather than low passions.
Popularity 4
ReligiousWacko
5:37 AM on March 10, 2012
Get rid of one man one vote. Assign voting power to each individual based on intelligence * knowledge of current affairs.
Popularity -5
pooper
9:38 AM on March 9, 2012
Yep.
Popularity 64
1 Reply
ChristineBeatty
12:14 PM on March 9, 2012
We see evidence of the truth of this story every day here in the comments, mostly in posts snidely deriding “liberals.” The people of this country (combined with a corrupt Supreme Court) helped elect the worst president ever twice in a row, and many of these people are so DUMB they still stand by their vote.
Popularity 9
HumanCentipede
9:41 AM on March 9, 2012
Agreed.
Popularity 85
2 replies
Climber
10:23 AM on March 9, 2012
I agree with their conclusion but not how they arrived at it. Their whole train of reasoning seems flawed, even if they arrived at the correct conclusion in the end.
It seems that the authors are symptomatic of their premise.
Popularity -4
pleschylou
11:25 AM on March 9, 2012
The DEVIL made me do it…
it’s fault of the system that’s been created ~
American schools have been dumbing down the human race for over a decade…
http://www.deliberatedumbingdown.com/
Popularity 3
eoprtauci
9:41 AM on March 9, 2012
“But more than a decade’s worth research suggests that the citizenry is too dumb to pick the best leaders.”
Simple observation suggests that they’re too dumb to do much of anything.
Popularity 181
21 replies
feefop
10:01 AM on March 9, 2012
The fact that these clowns like Romney and Satorum reach the political heights that they do tells you all you need to know.
Popularity 47
james58
10:07 AM on March 9, 2012
You clowns for for Ross Mirkarimi.
For sheriff. Why?!
PROOF of dumber than dumb there.
Case closed.
Popularity: 27
CnL
10:22 AM on March 9, 2012
Don’t forget Obummer. Not much of an improvement there; either. Just because he is the best of the current pool — doesn’t say much about the pool. Bout’ time we elect a STANFORD grad, instead of these Harvard/Yale dullards.
Popularity -40
haypenny
10:22 AM on March 9, 2012
A friend of my father’s was quoted as saying “I voted for Bush ’cause he talks like me” … Good Gawd I suppose that is a reason.
Ohhh the horror of our future.
Imagine the technology savvy yet socially inepts trying to convey and then vote on the best candidate. It would have to be done by text.
Popularity: 41
omphallocentric
10:33 AM on March 9, 2012
In a Democracy, people get the government they deserve. In a nation of idiots, you get Idiocracy. Enjoy the ride, it’s all downhill from here.
Popularity: 45
Konigsberg
10:40 AM on March 9, 2012
the world has changed so much in a short span of time; give us a chance to adapt. in about two hundred years, we’ll be Perfect, and perhaps under water.
Popularity: 8
emet
10:54 AM on March 9, 2012
Yes, highly educated people are never misguided, never make foolish, emotional decisions, and always take the moral high road. Apparently, science tells us so.
Popularity: -19
thatguyinsf
11:29 AM on March 9, 2012
Emet, education and competence are two completely different things.
Popularity: 26
bungabunga
11:29 AM on March 9, 2012
We might be dumb, but we sure are hopeful.
Popularity: 9
Balbanes
11:47 AM on March 9, 2012
First data point: George W. Bush.
Popularity: 14
bungabunga
12:04 PM on March 9, 2012
First data point: anybody that points fingers at anyone else.
Popularity: 1
rudyc
12:47 PM on March 9, 2012
why the “they’re”? isn’t it more like “we”?
Popularity: 4
ambiguous
1:06 PM on March 9, 2012
A full half of you are below average.
Popularity: 13
Dick_D
2:21 PM on March 9, 2012
The dumb are on full display when you see the “Obummer”, “Marxist”, “Socialist” comments parroting almost verbatim the brainwashing they’re receiving courtesy of talk radio and Fox news. Of course they’ll never admit it, they’re just too dumb.
Popularity: 13
tahoeclouds
8:06 PM on March 9, 2012
A few years ago, I had a conversation with about six die-hard Palin fans.
.. after changing the topic several times when I’d asked them if any of them went to college, one of them finally asked me what difference it made if they went to college… he then went on to say that everything he would ever need to know in life could be found in the bible.
When I told him that that wasn’t really a decent book for education, and perhaps he could open something like an encyclopedia or dictionary if he had to hold a “book” in his hands, he became irate (and told me to go somewhere very hot)….
It’s interesting that he/they cannot have a disagreement and not take it back to this single “document”; and it is more amazing that they relish their ignorance.
While I am all for freedom of religion, I am not for the hatred and stupidity that accompanies most of them.
Popularity: 12
comengedit
8:11 AM on March 10, 2012
One prescription for this?…
Turn off your TV, getcher thumbs off of the smart phones, look at the stranger next to you (who is also puttiing down their smart phone), and engage in conversation about life and the world, if you can.
You’ll feel the results immediately, and be measurably smarter in days!
For the advanced regimen, you may also avoid advertising, CNN, and pop-culture magazines. The pop culture diversions may be substituted with literature or thought-provoking non-fiction, if you wish.
As Nietzche said, “Wake yourself up at least ten times a day”.
Popularity: 3
ambiguous
9:00 AM on March 10, 2012
The problem is smart people do incredible stupid things too.
Popularity: 2
rupunzel
9:57 AM on March 10, 2012
“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”
― Isaac Asimov
Popularity: 4
rupunzel
10:05 AM on March 10, 2012
@tahoeclouds, One basic requirement of Christianity (bible based) is dogma and acceptance of what you are told, never questioning what is told. To question means to not completely accept dogma and subject what has told to test, verification and proof.
To do this well requires critic thinking, logic, facts and verification by others, or much of the scientific method. This is HARD work. It is far easier to simply accept what another says that goes along with that individuals point f view and ideology.
Given many individuals tend to take the path of least resistance, dogma is the easy, lazy way.
Popularity: 5
jaapdenhaan
11:23 AM on March 10, 2012
Not to offend anyone in particular, but there is a lot of truth in that this country is not entirely suited to democracy, may the time come near that it will be replaced by something higher.
Popularity: 1
joebobbriggs
1:10 PM on March 10, 2012
The founding fathers never intended to create a strict democracy, and never intended to give stupid people the vote.
All that stuff happened later.
Popularity: 2
yzyer
9:42 AM on March 9, 2012
“According to Dunning-Kruger, no matter how much information is provided, the unsophisticated would 1) be incapable of recognizing the wisdom of such a plan; 2) assume they know better; and 3) have no idea of the extent of their inadequacy.”
The perfect description of an individual who is a die hard Fox News watching Conservative.
Pure, undiluted, ignorance.
Popularity: 148
15 replies
trolltoll
9:53 AM on March 9, 2012
unfortunately, they’re on both sides of the political spectrum.
Popularity: 55
bevatron
9:59 AM on March 9, 2012
The beauty of Dunning-Kruger is that the people most sure of the ignorance of others are almost certainly the most ignorant.
Popularity: 25
Carboran1
10:54 AM on March 9, 2012
how about the African American voters who refused to read Cain’s literature and jsut said they vote democratic. they did not care about any of his ideas. didn’t even bother to study them
Popularity: -15
lorpy
11:00 AM on March 9, 2012
“Pure, undiluted, ignorance.”
Exceeded by many including yourself who still plays the democrats vs. republican game just like they want you too.
Sleep little American while your rights and and income are whittled away by both sides.
Popularity: 34
ubiquitizm
11:26 AM on March 9, 2012
The article here has merit. But is exacerbated by the fact we have a 2 party system. Santorum and Romney are clearly different people and believe in different things. Yet they have to fight it out on one ticket. If the race could be split between Santorum, Romney , and Obama, etc, there is a better chance that reason can prevail.
Popularity: -2
sfmatt
11:38 AM on March 9, 2012
SMUG ALERT – South Park s10e02
Popularity: -5
Balbanes
11:49 AM on March 9, 2012
“unfortunately, they’re on both sides of the political spectrum.”
Agree. The difference is that the crazy/ignorant are not running the Democratic Party.
Popularity: 23
WhomCanSay
11:59 AM on March 9, 2012
“unfortunately, they’re on both sides of the political spectrum.”
True – but not all distributions are ‘fair and balanced’ – that’s a fallacy also.
Popularity: 14
userbo
12:37 PM on March 9, 2012
Stupid scientists, I could TOTALLY do a better experiment than them…
Popularity: 34
red_x2
1:08 PM on March 9, 2012
yzyer: either that, or you’re the perfect example of points 2 and 3.
Popularity: 0
NB12
2:07 PM on March 9, 2012
“The perfect description of an individual who is a die hard Fox News watching Conservative”
AND, the perfect description of an individual who is a die hard Michael Moore watching, Al-Franken reading Liberal.
Both sides are riddled with those who treat politics more like football than real life. Supporting your party through thick and thin, wrong or right should not be seen as a noble trait.
Popularity: 6
A_Good_Citizen
3:16 PM on March 9, 2012
Hmmm – what does the Left say:
1. No human being is illegal.
2. Prop. 13 should be repealed because your parents and grandparents stole the land from the Indians.
3. Everyone should be equal, average, and poor.
4. Government should be horizontial organic democratic decision sharing.
5. You are a racist, bigot, homophobe, anti-Semite, teabagger, Republican.
6. The sky is falling because of anthrogenericistical global warming up.
There are more, many more, more than twice all these. But you get the idea ….
Popularity: -8
nullb1t
Wow, that was so funny! Let me give you a big, thumbs-up. After all, we are the superior, ideological beings here.
Really?!? You must be quite the alchemist, since you can assign such an absolute to a subjective term like “ignorance”. We should all marvel at your mental leaps. Dear alchemist, what do we get when ignorance is diluted?
A. Perfect
B. Pure
C. Undiluted
D. Ignorance
Yzyer, I’ll go with option “D” in describing your entire thought process.
Popularity: 1
Dick_D
8:19 PM on March 9, 2012
Thank you citizen and null for proving the OP’s point.
Popularity: 5
jpmelt
10:55 PM on March 9, 2012
nice opinion
Popularity: 0
wahwah
9:42 AM on March 9, 2012
Or they could have watched the movie Idiocracy.
Popularity: 70
12 Replies
gfk
9:47 AM on March 9, 2012
My friend and I were just talking the other day about how this will become reality eventually… only stupid people are breeding…. we’re screwed
Popularity: 27
yarbledarble
10:31 AM on March 9, 2012
It’s interesting that you mentioned this film. Although Idiocracy has become a popular cult film, the studio marketing department was so flabbergasted by it that it couldn’t figure out a marketing plan and decided to just let the film languish at its theatrical debut. Talk about stupid.
Popularity: 29
Frito_
11:54 AM on March 9, 2012
Go away! ‘Batin’!
Popularity: 10
SFBornandBred
12:26 PM on March 9, 2012
You know, I heard that this movie was SO funny and we just HAD to see it. We (my husband and I) saw it and found it incredibly depressing because it was so true.
Popularity: 19
sf_chronic_hell
1:44 PM on March 9, 2012
Seriously, we’re about two TV seasons away from seeing “Ow! My Balls” be a new hit show…
Popularity: 20
James718
2:54 PM on March 9, 2012
But its’ got elecrolights.
Popularity: 13
silvermoon
3:09 PM on March 9, 2012
As utterly stupid as this movie is, it really is scary how true it is. Uneducated, ignorant people keep breading at an incredible rate. The thinkers and planners ave 1 maybe 2 (if any) children
We are so screwed 😦
Popularity: 11
bako559
3:35 PM on March 9, 2012
^^
Yeah dumb people keep BREADING…
Popularity: -1
silvermoon
3:40 PM on March 9, 2012
Yeah yeah, BREEDING, not breading. My bad Mr bako559. I went to college and got a career so I haven’t done the breeding thing yet and hardly ever use the word. Get over it.
Popularity: 9
Juanamigo
4:30 PM on March 9, 2012
Then there’s the movie Smart People, where Thomas Hayden Church says: “If you call people stupid, they will usually…hate you.”
Popularity: 4
SFbaby40
12:20 PM on March 10, 2012
“You’re sh*t’s all retarded.”
Popularity: 2
Truthclubber
12:20 PM on March 10, 2012
Brawndo! It’s got what plants crave!
Popularity: 4
vendome
9:43 AM on March 9, 2012
Scientists? Scientists are now the Grant Hores of our generation.
Example: Global Warming/CO2 fraud. Climategate 1 and Climategate 2 exposes these scammers into turning raw climate data into corrupt climate models.
These do called Scientist will do anything if you pay them enough money via grants.
No-one with 2 brain cells listen to these Progressive frauds.
Popularity: -142
23 replies
saltpeter
9:46 AM on March 9, 2012
QED
Popularity: 59
gigantes89
9:46 AM on March 9, 2012
Exhibit A.
Popularity: 73
berkeleykev
9:47 AM on March 9, 2012
Grant Hores.
You work for The Onion, right?
Popularity: 52
therealone
9:48 AM on March 9, 2012
I think you just poved their point…
Popularity: 69
sfiplawyer
9:49 AM on March 9, 2012
Article makes the point that Americans are too dumb to make informed political choices.
First commenter bashes science and scientists.
Face, meet palm.
Popularity: 65
Bathsheba1
9:50 AM on March 9, 2012
Yes; only people with millions of brain cells listen to scientists. Obviously not you.
Popularity: 47
icenine
9:51 AM on March 9, 2012
Thank you so much for posting your comment and immediately illustrating the point of the article! You can’t even spell and you don’t know a thing about Science. I’m sure you voted for Bush who could barely be considered “above average”. Thank you so much for being the poster child for People Who Should Be Prevented From Voting.
Popularity: 57
twinpeaks
9:55 AM on March 9, 2012
vendome is a fine example
Popularity: 38
sparkplugsf
10:00 AM on March 9, 2012
I hear cancer researchers are only in it for the grant money too.
Popularity: 37
lifelongreader
10:09 AM on March 9, 2012
I hope your prayers for enlightenment are answered.
Yeah science what a racket…I guess you want to go back to the dark ages when the church condoned trials for people who practiced witchcraft.
Popularity: 39
GalapagosPete
10:13 AM on March 9, 2012
That’s right – people like you who have two brain cells won’t listen to scientists.
Popularity: 25
wakamesalad
10:46 AM on March 9, 2012
vendome: exhibit A
Popularity: 21
natnl_insecurty
11:06 AM on March 9, 2012
Vendome
What would you say to data that proved scientists could get MORE MONEY WITH LESS WORK by opposing climate change?
Popularity: 27
jfmelanson
12:44 PM on March 9, 2012
Whatever else is wrong with vendome’s position don’t get off on the spelling of Hore, the censors wouldn’t allow the correct spelling. Now, let’s bash him for all the rest of that garbage he spewed.
Popularity: 11
st_stephen
1:09 PM on March 9, 2012
jfmanelson – then how about “these do-called Scientist” or “No-one with 2 brain cells.” If you post on something like this, better to use proper English.
Popularity: 8
twpeaksresident
1:36 PM on March 9, 2012
Vendome – A visual aid
Popularity: 7
stuck_in_kc
3:41 PM on March 9, 2012
That’s right, those greedy scientists working at those evil universities. They get rich off that grant money, never-mind the fact that many of them regularly turn down jobs in the private sector making double their current salary, it doesn’t support my argument so I’ll pretend it’s not true.
Popularity: 9
finnlandia
3:57 PM on March 9, 2012
Thank you for proving their point.
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nuista
4:49 PM on March 9, 2012
Idiot. You don’t begin to understand how academia works and how it has been gutted by the right nor to what end or result.
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trouble94114
10:07 PM on March 9, 2012
Thank you for providing us with yet another fine example of why Dunning and Kruger hypothesis is almost certainly true.
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Walstib59
9:56 AM on March 10, 2012
Alar in apples, acid rain, ozone hole, population bomb, western starvation…global warming.
Scientists are capable of making big mistakes and engaging in “groupthink.”
Don’t kid yourself.
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rhythmdog
7:48 PM on March 10, 2012
Yes, by all means don’t listen to those Hores, while you read articuls on the innernet from yer cumpewter an watch that cool muvee about how the mune landing was all bogus and stuff.
You are a victim of Rupert Murdoch. I feel sorry for you.
Popularity: 0
Rhythmdog
8:28 PM on March 10, 2012
@Walstib: acid rain is real. I lived in the northeast, where many a lake was rendered biologically dead by acid rain. Alar in apples was media hype, not originating from scientific concensus. The ozone hole is real. Google Australia and skin cancer for some evidence. (And now we’ve got one over the Arctic). The TIMING of the ‘population bomb’ has so far been proven incorrect because we are still here. Ehrlich’s (and Malthus’ before him) prediction is still logically correct, however. At SOME point, there will be too many humans to sustain if we just allow nature to take its course. Western starvation? Not a scientific consensus, for sure. Global warming?: the CO2 problem is real, it is destabilizing, it is caused by human activity, the physics and feedback loops are complicated, but you (and I) are not likely to be better informed or more able to think outside the box about it than are smart people who have devoted their lives to the study of climatology. And MOST of those scientists arguing most fervently against global warming are being very well-paid by the petrocarbon industry.
That there ARE ‘Hores” within the scientific community is incontrovertible. But holding up those few ‘Hores’ who argue against scientific consensus to prove that ALL scientists are ‘Grant Hores’ and that therefore we should ignore their dire predictions is ironic in the extreme.
Which is what vendome is doing. You, of course are far smarter than those ‘scientists’ who dare argue against the benighted captains of industry, who only want the best for all mankind.
Popularity: 1
carcharodon
9:47 AM on March 9, 2012
And most of them vote Republican.
Popularity: 36
19 replies
HumanCentipede
9:54 AM on March 9, 2012
Really? Yeah, I’m sure all the Occupiers, Hipsters, and Illegals are ‘voting Republican”.
Popularity: 4
trixter
9:59 AM on March 9, 2012
@carch.. Did you know that California has the dubious honor of being the worst run state in the USA? Are you also aware that democrats have a stranglehold on California? Can you put 2 and 2 together?
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WhomCanSay
10:18 AM on March 9, 2012
The occupiers are better educated than Republicans. By definition.
If they were educated, they’d realize their GOP policies were crap, and change.
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letsbehonest
10:21 AM on March 9, 2012
trixter worst run state?? oh ya texas the shining star of the gop has a governor that fails in his presidential run against the worst group of presidential candidates ever
texas has a huge deficit and of course you cannot ignore the air, water and land pollution in texas because texas is ran/owned by big corporations that do not believe in saving the environment or regulation
california does have some faults some are due to having a republican for governor for the past several years. but then our air,water and land is cleaner then most states that sell out to big corporations
and if california is so screwed up why does it have 37 million people living here making it the most popular state in the nation?
also california is home to silicon valley and the birth place of the computer innovative people live in california versus texas where forward thinking is punished by the corporation and the repubs that want to control all citizens thought processes
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WhomCanSay
10:27 AM on March 9, 2012
CA is a tax donor state, also.
Big oil is the only reason Texas is solvent.
Over 1/2 the jobs they add pay less than 32k.
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sourdoughgal
10:42 AM on March 9, 2012
If most of the country is too stupid for words, and vote republican, how do you explain obama?
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carcharodon
11:59 AM on March 9, 2012
How do explain two terms of George W. Bush? How do you explain the popularity of a neanderthal like Rick Santorum? How do you explain intelligent design and global warming deniers? The GOP has made an art form out of taking advantage of stupid, poorly educated people. It’s really quite impressive if unconscionable.
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WhomCanSay
12:00 PM on March 9, 2012
He said most of the stupid vote Republican.
Not that most were stupid.
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carcharodon
12:18 PM on March 9, 2012
Yeah but I meant most of them are stupid, except for the evil geniuses at the top pulling the strings, getting rich and plotting the downfall of this country.
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clodbuster
12:34 PM on March 9, 2012
I vote for anyone who gives me free money to do nothing.
I don’t have to be smart, want to be smart or try to improve myself as long as I am handed money coming from somewhere other than my own pocket book.
I trust the government that hands me free money and will do anything they say as long as the free money is flowing.
Democrat or Republican…which party should I vote for. Decisions Decisions.
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carcharodon
12:39 PM on March 9, 2012
Free money such as tax breaks for the rich?
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red_x2
1:13 PM on March 9, 2012
Obama approved the tax breaks for the rich by extending the Bush tax cuts. Obama gives everybody free money. Bailouts all around. What’s your point?
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carcharodon
2:48 PM on March 9, 2012
My point is that Republicans are a bunch knuckle-dragging, warmongering, Bible-thumping, big hair-wearing, gay-bashing, women-hating, Freedom Fries-loving, hypocritical morons. Understand?
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red_x2
4:12 PM on March 9, 2012
Interesting, because I know a lot of republicans and I have voted for some republican candidates myself, but none of us are any of the names you called us. I don’t drag my knuckles, i have gay friends and relatives, I don’t read the Bible, I don’t have big hair, I really love women and frnch fries. Understand?
Popularity: 8
friscotown
4:19 PM on March 9, 2012
with respect to the op, like dems don’t have their legions of unthinking, “tolerant”, kool-aid drinking faugressive lemmings?
And FWIW, 32k goes a heck of lot farther in TX than nearly anywhere in CA, especially up here in the enlightened bay area.
@letsbehonest: CA has “some faults”? Are you speaking geologically? CA for it’s eye popping budget – cannot educate it’s children, pave it’s roads, maintain it’s infrastructure, or balance it’s budget without fraud, an endless array of bond measures or political gridlock. I’m now thinking that this state is simply un-governable. Our problems stem from a handful of GOP governors? Do you really see the absurdity in that belief? The legislature has been solidly, repetitiously DEM since what the early 70s?
Yes, our air water and what not is cleaner than many areas – CA mandated emissions devices on industry and cars from the outset – I do shudder to imagine what the LA basin would look like if you could see it with the amount of people there now all driving c. 1972 cars all over the place.
With that said, much of the regulations come down from the feds.
Anyone care to square the circle? If you’re going to cite CA as some progressive “forward-thinking” utopia that so many do (esp. here in SF) how on earth did Prop 8 pass? It couldn’t have been the GOPers, as they don’t constitute a plurality of voters, now do they?
Thoughts?
Popularity: 10
nuista
4:53 PM on March 9, 2012
Well, trixie, apparently YOU can’t put two and two together, since you don’t understand the most basic tenets of California politics.
I’ll give you three numbers and challenge you to look them up and see if you can grasp the meaning: 13, 4, 218.
Just the basics. A little work. A little mental exercise for the intellectually honest. Is this you?
Popularity: -1
nuista
4:56 PM on March 9, 2012
sourdough: only about 30 percent of the country bothers to vote. Under the current circumstances, I thank God. Fortunately, the Republican party is chasing out the faithful, who are becoming independent in droves. Perhaps they will get it together and reconstitute a more traditional (read: intelligent) Republican party that will stick a fork in the current brand.
Popularity: -1
rhythmdog
7:16 PM on March 10, 2012
@frisotown: it’s “its”, not “it’s”, for starters.
Brought to you by someone who actually still thinks it’s (as in IT IS) important to continue to hew to our grammatical conventions in order to make oneself easily understood…
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rhythmdog
7:19 PM on March 10, 2012
Oh, and @friscotown: You sound like you live in CA, so how could you fail to notice that due to certain peculiarities of the State Constitution, a 1/3 +1 minority can, yes, very well control what happens with regard to raising taxes, but a simple majority can always pass a new entitlement (just not fund it).
Popularity: 1
pooper
9:48 AM on March 9, 2012
This is one reason I don’t believe in same-day (as the election) registration. If means people are voting on a whim.
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4 replies
trixter
9:56 AM on March 9, 2012
@poop..excellent point!
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SF-FTW
10:52 AM on March 9, 2012
That does not mean your decision was made on a whim. You could have done your own research and taken the time to pick the right candidates, but just failed to register in time. Generalizations are nice and all, but think about it before you post.
Popularity: -6
moxichick67
11:34 AM on March 9, 2012
Ennie…minny…miny…moe…catch a politician by the toe. If he hollers make him pay fifty dollars every day…I vote for you!
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pooper
1:37 PM on March 9, 2012
If people are too lazy to make the minimal effort of registering to vote, they’re going to be too lazy to research issues.
Popularity: 6
repeater609
9:48 AM on March 9, 2012
Well of COURSE we’re too dumb for democracy to thrive. It’s why countries like Switzerland are among the richest in the world and don’t have nearly the amount of quality of life issues we have.
And please don’t tell me, “love it or leave it.” As you can see from my clown suit, I’m too patriotic to move.
Popularity: 130
11 replies
Name withheld
10:25 AM on March 9, 2012
This comment was left by a user who has been blocked by our staff.
Name withheld
11:33 AM on March 9, 2012
This comment was left by a user who has been blocked by our staff.
padsmom
11:49 AM on March 9, 2012
You look good, Homey.
Popularity: 21
Name withheld
12:13 PM on March 9, 2012
This comment was left by a user who has been blocked by our staff.
balikedes
12:14 PM on March 9, 2012
hit em with the sock
Popularity: 14
jrenaldi
12:25 PM on March 9, 2012
Keep playin it Homey!
Popularity: 10
oakland4real
12:27 PM on March 9, 2012
Such is the premise of communism, dictatorships, and other totalitarianst regimes. The people are to stupid for democracy, so someone capable of taking and holding power should make all the decisions for the people.
Popularity: 1
melicious
3:51 PM on March 9, 2012
Umm, Switzerland is effectively a direct democracy. I lived there; and they have regular elections.
Quality of life varies from canton to canton; and there are many stupid people just as there are here in the U.S.
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shmik
5:13 PM on March 9, 2012
Hey, Homey!!! Homey!
Merrrrrrry Christmas…
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ubiquitizm
8:43 AM on March 10, 2012
If we treated our country like we did our sports teams, we would have a much better pool of candidates. In modern politics people typically vote for those who are like themselves. You would never see this mentality from these same people if they voted for the starting 5 of the warriors. In this scenario people would vote for someone that is better than them. Someone with greatness. You don’t see that in politics anymore. Can’t believe people take their sports teams more seriously then our country.
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SFbaby40
12:21 PM on March 10, 2012
Homey don’t play that!
Popularity: 2
rnews
9:48 AM on March 9, 2012
All the evidence you need is Barry Obama as president. Dumb people believed every BS thing this guy said. THey are so stupid they still suipport him despite $5 gasoline and sky high unemployment with runaway spending and debt.
It is true people get the government they deserve.
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10 replies
rkeezy
9:54 AM on March 9, 2012
How does the president cause high gas prices again? Baseless and reactionary.
Popularity: 39
greenman
10:02 AM on March 9, 2012
because of course the POTUS controls world oil prices and therefore the price of gasoline. I think we have a winner.
Popularity: 36
kerm3000
10:09 AM on March 9, 2012
Love it or leave it, pal. Isn’t that what you would’ve said 10 years ago?
You might want to check out the law of cause and effect. What happens now is the result of what happened before. What’s happening now will determine what happens in the future. It’s complicated, I know.
Popularity: 26
letsbehonest
10:09 AM on March 9, 2012
rnews proves the scientist are correct
he heard this on faux news and faux news would never make up stuff rightttttt
Popularity: 26
WhomCanSay
10:18 AM on March 9, 2012
They always seem to fall right in.
Popularity: 16
sparky_cat
10:19 AM on March 9, 2012
Yes, President Obama wants everyone to go to college so they will be dumb enough to support him. I mean “suipport” him.
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WhomCanSay
10:24 AM on March 9, 2012
You’re at no risk of being exposed to higher learning, you’re safe, Republican.
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FrankCostanza
11:04 AM on March 9, 2012
You had all the evidence you needed prior to Obama being elected. Remember the prior tenant of the home in which Obama currently resides?
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jrenaldi
12:27 PM on March 9, 2012
Rnews.. you are hilarious. Lots of talking points – zero substance.
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chiyonofuji
2:42 PM on March 9, 2012
rnews is a perfect example. See: hammers, bag, dumber than…
Popularity: 8
tiko_lia_
9:49 AM on March 9, 2012
GOPs reject all scientific findings. Hence they think they are very very very smart. Examples are Palin, Rush, Bachman, Santorum, and Glen Beck.
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5 replies
red_x2
1:18 PM on March 9, 2012
The GOP doesn’t believe in any science, at all??? I never heard that before.
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bill7
4:55 PM on March 9, 2012
tiko_lia…actually, it’s the skeptics who tend to demand more out of climate science than
Popularity: -2
jpmelt
11:11 PM on March 9, 2012
what are you talking about? i find myself voting conservative on many issues, and i research science frequently.
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kma699
11:52 PM on March 9, 2012
tiko,
What an idiotic remark. Belongs right up there with the dem’s “Republicans are waging a war on women”.
Typical elitist lefty. Anyone with a different outlook must be ignorant.
I’ll take Palin, Beck or Bachman any day.
Popularity: -1
jagg3d
10:11 AM on March 10, 2012
So rejecting evolution isn’t rejecting science? You guys are a bunch of clowns. Own up to the candidates you running, thanks!
Popularity: 1
kvonl
9:50 AM on March 9, 2012
Even with its shortcomings, our Western-style democracy (actually republic) is still better than any other alternative form of government.
Popularity: 3
5 replies
rkeezy
9:56 AM on March 9, 2012
I am conditioned to agree without hesitation, but results in healthcare, education, and quality of life (you know, quantifiable data) suggest otherwise.
This blog hits it on the nose – we are too stupid! And we don’t like anyone tell us that we don’t know best. Because gol dangit, that’s what America is about! Being the best! Even when we’re not.
Popularity: 18
swinta
9:58 AM on March 9, 2012
But there are many western democracies where elections aren’t about who cheated on their wife and who believes in the right God.
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friscotown
4:23 PM on March 9, 2012
@swinta- you’re correct. The Conservatives in the UK (actual, real conservatives – not the blowhard reactionaries we have here) never even flinch upon hearing about gay marriage or climate change……
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ksp308n
5:17 PM on March 9, 2012
They’ve trained you well.
Popularity: 1
zedly
7:45 PM on March 9, 2012
Why?
Popularity: 1
doobeedoo1
9:50 AM on March 9, 2012
…dummer…and dummer…and dummer…
we’re becoming an Idiocracy!
Reply
5 replies
fistonation
1:10 AM on March 9, 2012
“dumber”
Popularity: 6
Frito_
11:52 AM on March 9, 2012
Popularity: 2
joeyjess
12:29 PM on March 9, 2012
“Welcome to Walmart, I love you”
Popularity: 3
doobeedoo1
1:04 PM on March 9, 2012
Dummer. So dum meny kant spel.
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usatoday
9:04 PM on March 9, 2012
What a bumber!
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SincerelyYours
9:52 AM on March 9, 2012
But, then again, smart people aren’t smart enough to know that they’re really not that smart.
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4 replies
Knight81
2:08 PM on March 9, 2012
So if people aren’t smart enough unless they know they’re not that smart… then it follows that knowing they’re not smart makes them smart. But, uh-oh, we’re back to them being smart, which can’t be true unless they know they aren’t that smart…
I think I need one of those aspirins the Republicans keep talking about.
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Fice
2:27 PM on March 9, 2012
That’s actually a dumb guy. There’s too much to learn in this world, and smart people realize how stupid they actually are the more they learn.
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zedly
7:44 PM on March 9, 2012
That’s only true of the ones that really aren’t that smart.
Popularity: 1
usatoday
9:05 PM on March 9, 2012
Conversely, those who know very little think they know everything!
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NonProphet
9:53 AM on March 9, 2012
Well, that accounts for the rise of the Tea Party…
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4 replies
red_x2
1:17 PM on March 9, 2012
“According to Dunning-Kruger, no matter how much information is provided, the unsophisticated would 1) be incapable of recognizing the wisdom of such a plan; 2) assume they know better; and 3) have no idea of the extent of their inadequacy.”
I think you just proved it.
Popularity: 4
Izod
11:06 PM on March 9, 2012
NonProphet:
You must be one of the many and increasing group of non-taxpayer takers.
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jagg3d
10:12 AM on March 10, 2012
Teaparty – so stupid they don’t even know what a teabaggger is.
Popularity: 1
rhythmdog
7:07 PM on March 10, 2012
Izod: Great thinking there. The number of “non-taxpaying ‘takers’ ” [sic] is increasing because the plutocrats are not paying them enough to make their incomes large enough to pay INCOME taxes. The number who paid no INCOME tax was approximately 40% of US households, until an additional 7% or so were axed during the recession we continue to endure. But you blame THEM. (?!?) GE paid no INCOME taxes, either. So, do you include THEM in the ‘takers’? This ‘idea’ that the world is divided into ‘makers’ and ‘takers’ is just a slimy red herring designed to divert attention from the continued class war promulgated on the middle class and lower classes by those who wish to take what’s left of our dignity and freedoms away in the name of the ‘makers’- who couldn’t ‘make’ their almighty dollars without selling to those ‘takers’.
NO one is a ‘non-taxpayer’, unless they live in a state with no sales tax AND no property tax. And there is no such state.
But flawed, simplistic ‘reasoning’ like yours will always be with us, I guess.
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Destabilizer
9:53 AM on March 9, 2012
You can’t have smart without stupid. Geez, just enjoy the benefits; you don’t have to rub it in.
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sparkydog75
9:53 AM on March 9, 2012
LOL
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sparkplugsf
9:55 AM on March 9, 2012
When you decry post-secondary education as “indoctrination mills”, convince people tax cuts decrease deficits and refuse to listen to scientists who spend their entire lives searching for the truth, is it any wonder?
Popularity: 98
6 replies
rupright
11:17 AM on March 9, 2012
If you are unable to see the intense indoctrination in our public education, if you cannot see the evil and waste in government and cannot see the blending of the two in the “global warming” scam, then you should not be voting.
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padsmom
11:50 AM on March 9, 2012
rupright’s comment proves the article.
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spice_agony
11:56 AM on March 9, 2012
So tell us rupright; if you are not ‘indoctrinated’ yourself, does that mean you never went to school?
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bungabunga
12:46 PM on March 9, 2012
Intelligence is demonstrated by the willingness to listen to someone who may completely disagree with you, the thoughtful presentation of your own ideas, and via debate and compromise arrive at some level of mutual understanding. Everyone on this chain “proves the article”.
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friscotown
4:25 PM on March 9, 2012
the willingness to listen, appreciate and make an effort to understand others’ positions isn’t intelligence; it’s civility and intellectual honesty.
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jagg3d
10:13 AM on March 10, 2012
bungabunga – seriously? You’re really saying that rupright has something worth reflecting over in his post?
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frome777
9:55 AM on March 9, 2012
We must save the proletariat by creating a central committee of highly intelligent people who can think for them. This or create reeducation camps. LOL
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3 replies
illiniguy
10:16 AM on March 9, 2012
I funded this research and I agree with this message.
/signed: Vladimir Putin
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WhomCanSay
10:16 AM on March 9, 2012
The latter – we used to call them ‘schools’…
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Thirdeye
11:17 AM on March 9, 2012
Something like American Crossroads? Wall Street Lobbyists?
Popularity: 1
swinta
9:56 AM on March 9, 2012
The two-party system is the problem. With more parties people would actually have the choice to vote for a party that matched their political and intellectual preference more accurately. Members of congress would have to work together to achieve something rather than work towards gridlock to sabotage the other side. And most of all, elections would be about displaying the specific qualities, plans and benefits of a party, rather than a popularity contest to win over a crowd that votes based on nothing but uninformed emotion and preset party affiliation.
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4 replies
Gothic
10:04 AM on March 9, 2012
Thanks, but a political system that’s a cross between Italy and Israel is not something I look forward to.
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swinta
10:14 AM on March 9, 2012
Me neither, but Scandinavian countries, Germany, Holland and even the UK seem to do a better job than we do.
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dinoslayer
10:50 AM on March 9, 2012
I’d go the opposite direction and say that banning all political parties is the proper route.
You know our founding fathers did debate this subject extensively. They went with a two party system… one of the major mistakes they made.
Get rid of all parties. Those that want to make public service their career would have to start at the local level and move up, proving that they can serve.
All elections would be financed by tax dollars and public assets, such as the radio and TV stations, which are public property.
What we have now is leading us over the cliff.
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dub
2:40 PM on March 9, 2012
it would probably create a civil war with respect to the article’s ideas
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tower_raven
9:57 AM on March 9, 2012
It took scientists to figure this one out?
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2 replies
GalapagosPete
10:10 AM on March 9, 2012
No, it took scientists to demonstrate that it was true.
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bako559
3:36 PM on March 9, 2012
and a whole lot of grant money…
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communist_red
9:57 AM on March 9, 2012
Thanks to TV most of our youth idolize stupid people.
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4 replies
dinoslayer
10:54 AM on March 9, 2012
Please stop picking on the youth… they have become what they are due to their parents… and their parents.
My parents and siblings are no rocket scientists and I’m the youngest at 50.
It’s a pattern: the older folks, not wanting to accept responsibility for their own sins, start blaming the youth for the state of the world. It’s cowardice.
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padsmom
11:52 AM on March 9, 2012
Regardless of affilation, can’t imagine why anyone would thumbs-down your very accurate observation.
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friscotown
4:25 PM on March 9, 2012
Idolize no one.
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BigWayne19
9:35 AM on March 10, 2012
——- because tv doesn’t cause stupidity any more than it causes violence . . .
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larkspur420
9:58 AM on March 9, 2012
A lawyer friend of mine once postulated that Americans aren’t smart enough to come in out rain, but they can vote.
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2 replies
Frito_
11:55 AM on March 9, 2012
I like money
Popularity: 2
Name withheld
2:47 PM on March 9, 2012
This comment was left by a user who has been blocked by our staff.
richmonder
9:58 AM on March 9, 2012
Exhibit A proving this thesis are some of the very comments seen above.
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ken_in_sj
9:58 AM on March 9, 2012
How many of you mindlessly agreeing even know the smallest details of a bell or normal distribution?
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5 replies
WhomCanSay
10:07 AM on March 9, 2012
I’m familiar with the normal ‘bell’ distribution.
What of it?
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Destabilizer
10:09 AM on March 9, 2012
oooh, sounds like someone took a statisitics class at the local community college.
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WhomCanSay
10:13 AM on March 9, 2012
Ken you played the barbed hook, but there was no meat on it.
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spice_agony
12:06 PM on March 9, 2012
Well I don’t know ken. You prefer calling it normal distribution, I prefer calling it Gaussian distribution. What sigma level do you consider adequate?
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sean2834
1:19 PM on March 9, 2012
distribution? sounds elitist …
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skloomsh
9:58 AM on March 9, 2012
More Critical Thinking and Philosophy should be taught at an earlier age.
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7 replies
Gothic
10:03 AM on March 9, 2012
How about more math, science, and spelling (such as, this is not German, so we don’t capitalize nouns mid-sentence unless they are proper nouns, of which “critical thinking” and “philosophy” are not).
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WhomCanSay
10:16 AM on March 9, 2012
His point was apparently missed upon you Gothic, in your sudden shift to pedantic.
In understanding Philosophy, (capitalized intentionally) and applying critical thinking learned early, the PROCESS of learning and the depth of it are enhanced.
You’d suggest people learn mechanics before they know how to read properly.
Popularity: 13
ParksMieter
10:18 AM on March 9, 2012
Ah, prescriptive grammar rules. Goth is a bit of a totalitarian herself, it would appear.
skloomsh, feel free to capitalize any Word you wish, especially for Emphasis and to distinguish philosophy from Philosophy, depending upon the context. Professional writers do it all the time in English.
Popularity: 12
dinoslayer
11:03 AM on March 9, 2012
Bingo!
With proper critical thinking skills everything else would follow naturally.
I noticed this years ago while living overseas in several countries with, of all things, dating.Women in other cultures know how to use critical thinking skills; American women are clueless.
Would love to expound but don’t have the time right now.
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Gothic
2:42 PM on March 9, 2012
Oh please, philosophy is nothing more than gibberish. I’ve read plenty. It’s useless drivel, like arguing on the internet. Math, science, geography, et al., are far more useful.
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melicious
4:03 PM on March 9, 2012
Gothic, if you are going to rant about another’s writing, do recognize that this was an issue of mechanics, not spelling.
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skloomsh
7:45 AM on March 10, 2012
You’re right, Gothic. My mistake. I was picturing a curriculum in my mind with the courses, naturally, being capitalized. But that’s neither here nor there. I have to disagree with your characterization of philosophy. (How about critical thinking? Does that mean you have no problem teaching IT at an earllier age, the fact that you didn’t smear it?) And your fondness for ‘math, science, geography, et al’ calls to mind — my mind, anyway — Einstein’s quote about the same kind of thinking that created our problems being incapable of solving them. Yeah, just what we need: MORE Newtonian, reductionist thinking. Good luck with that!
Popularity: 2
reallyamerican
9:59 AM on March 9, 2012
People will be offended by this because it is true.
Finally, someone has expressed what we have all suspected about our country.
When our elections are no longer about the most important issues at hand but, rather, about “riling up” small, segmented groups of our society, it may be time to reexamine the process . . .
Popularity: 107
4 replies
self_family
11:56 AM on March 9, 2012
When asked whether their driving skills are poor, average, or above average, the average driver answers, “above average.” Nobody will be offended by this because everybody knows that they are smart and it’s everyone else who is dumb.
Popularity: 13
veggie180
4:31 PM on March 9, 2012
@self, you nailed it. I watched a documentary on Education about a year ago, and they pointed out that we are ranked the bottom of everything in comparison to our global counterparts.
With the exception of one thing:
Our sense of self. Apparently we truly believe that we are the BEST at everything.
We’re delightfully delusional. No wonder we believe these candidates are qualified.
Popularity: 10
acegik
9:12 PM on March 9, 2012
HL Mencken wrote “All the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre — the man who can most easily (and) adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum. The presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
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jaapdenhaan
2:50 PM on March 10, 2012
Dangerous. But, democracy has lost its good name.
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ccca2
10:01 AM on March 9, 2012
Totally agree! Dumb and corrupt leaders and misinformed voters and many are dumb as well. It is a Democracy out of control totally not intended by the founding fathers!
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lifelongreader
10:01 AM on March 9, 2012
I have a prime example, I recently heard a speech by George Romney when he was Governor of Michigan. The speech delivered in the 1970s was well written and intelligent.
Fast forward to Mitt Romney, who has two Masters degrees from Harvard and is a extremely wealthy businessman.
Yet he has to portray himself as some kind of middle class simpleton in order to get Republicans to vote for him.
His main rivals have been mostly simpletons, Bachman, Perry, Cain and now Santorum. I would say that Newt Gingrich is the exception. He is a smart man, he is mean, pandering and a jerk but intelligent.
So for most Americans but I’d say a large part Right Wing Republicans ignorance is king.
Prime example Rush Limbaugh who in October 2011 lionized the Lord’s Resistance Army as a Christian Army. Limbaugh went on the attack against Obama for sending Special Forces Advisors to fight against an Army know to enslave children. Yet ignorant Limbaugh went on the attack to score points. Yet all the while rabid fans of Limbaugh listened and nodded their heads in approval without any knowledge of the facts.
Popularity: 115
11 replies
swinta
10:06 AM on March 9, 2012
Exactly. The two party system is at fault. If religious nuts and tea party enthusiasts had their own party, the socially liberal/yet fiscally conservative would be able to speak more freely and intelligently. Same on the liberal side, there’d be room for a middle of the road party, a green party, a labor party and a fringe party for extremist nutcases.
The US has long ciriticized gridlocking European countries, when in fact, they’re not as gridlocked as the US is now, they just take a little longer coming to a working compromise that better reflects the will of the people.
Popularity: 43
primaryfocus
10:12 AM on March 9, 2012
limbaugh is a fat slug..who cares about him…I dont know why they account him as a republic speaker only there are others more talented and smarter than the pumpkin head ego maniac…
the only thing I see is that rush was right was about Donovan mcnabb being overrated
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emet
10:56 AM on March 9, 2012
Ignorance. The Obama DOJ got caught smuggling arms to violent Mexican Cartels. The word “wise” does not exactly come to mind.
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pleschylou
11:31 AM on March 9, 2012
It’s not ignorance, it’s not stupidity, it’s
APATHY!
Most people have gotten so fed up with lying, self-serving politicians that they don’t care, since they don’t believe they’re represented.
APATHY IS THE KILLER OF ALL GREAT CIVILIZATIONS IN RECORDED HUMAN HISTORY.
Popularity: 20
beb123
11:54 AM on March 9, 2012
oh, and we elected Obama. ’nuff said.
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balikedes
12:13 PM on March 9, 2012
emet – Iran Contra under Reagan. Don’t be so pious.
Popularity: 30
userbo
12:30 PM on March 9, 2012
Compare some of George Bush’s early speeches as Texas Governor to his later speeches as presidential candidate, and you will see the same effect.
He intentionally dumbed-down his talk and his appearance in order to appeal to the lowest common denominator in the electorate.
Unfortunately, it worked.
Popularity: 21
sierrajeff
3:55 PM on March 9, 2012
It’s stunning to watch clips from 1950s or early 1960s talk shows – cogent, erudite discussions about substantive topics. Nary a Snookie or “made me want to vomit” to be seen.
We are intellectually devolving, it’s so very sad.
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g7caligirl
4:32 PM on March 9, 2012
Most of the blatantly biased posters on this site don’t know what cogent or erudite means.
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jpmelt
10:58 PM on March 9, 2012
Because all Republicans are unintelligent & ignorant. There’s definitely no intelligent people who are conservative.
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joebobbriggs
8:37 AM on March 12, 2012
The requirement for dumbing oneself down in order to be popular is a sad truth. Both Bushes did it, and Obama is starting to do it too.
That said, I strongly suspect that if we had to pass an IQ test in order to vote, (a) the pool of candidates would be much better than we have; and (b) liberals would never again get elected.
This is not to suggest that there aren’t any intelligent liberals; there are some. Take Warren Buffet as an example. He has a charitabe agenda, and he wants to make the government force the rest of us to follow it. Makes sense- it would multiply his charitable contributions. But in the aggregate, smart voters would see through that. Let Warren give his billions to his own social programs, and don’t force the rest of us to contribute.
By and large, the current conservative voting bloc is composed of redneck dummies, evangelical Christians, and intelligent economists who believe in capitalism and generally free markets. And yes, the first two groups have much overlap.
The current liberal voting bloc is composed essentially of entitlement beneficiaries, guilt-ridden limousine liberals like TAFKADV, and intelligent economists who believe in socialism and heavily regulated markets.
If you could ratchet up the IQ requirements far enough, I suspect that there would be more people in the conservative camp than in the liberal camp. Not in Berkeley, or even in SF probably, but across the nation, almost certainly.
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Gothic
10:01 AM on March 9, 2012
What do you expect from a country that practically rewards failure, deemphasizes (and even penalizes) intelligence and hard work, and does its best to insulate people from the consequences of their own stupidity? We used to have “Gifted/Talented” programs in grade school, which is now considered elitist, if not racist. We used to flunk kids who failed; now no one fails. We also make it practically unnecessary for citizens to need to speak English. Oh, and what do they teach in school? Junk, at all levels.
Popularity: 38
8 replies
WhomCanSay
10:03 AM on March 9, 2012
You support junk science, for one.
You also support cutting education.
You also support trickle-down economics.
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primaryfocus
10:09 AM on March 9, 2012
yep…. buy a house 10x more than you can afford no problem…that neighbor who bought within his budget will get punished
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outsidecity
10:30 AM on March 9, 2012
whomcansay,
I think you’ve proven the article and Gothic’s post are on solid ground with the
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CnL
10:36 AM on March 9, 2012
Did I miss something from Gothic’s post? I don’t see him mentioning he supports junk science, cutting education, or trickle-down economics.
All I see is a complaint about dumbing down education (which sounds quite the opposite of supporting education cuts), and penalizing hard work and intelligence.
Popularity: 5
WhomCanSay
11:57 AM on March 9, 2012
I didn’t say she supported those things in this particular comment – (it’s a she btw).
I have not mischaracterized her support.
In fact, those concepts are antithetical to the very IDEA of verifiable fact.
Trickle-down HAS failed, Republicans ARE advocating education be cut, AND they DO support junk science to combat the REAL science motivating the world to act.
Sorry, those are provably Republican talking points, and also logical fallacies.
If you want to remain stupid, fine, but realize what you’re doing.
Popularity: 7
primaryfocus
12:34 PM on March 9, 2012
As far as California is concerned Republicans seem to be pushing for pension reform and stop continuing in the union of game of taking tax money into their world and leaving services and education to be cut
all I see is pensions and illegal alien taking a bigger part of the budget every year somewhere something has to be cut to allow it to continue if you continue to ignore the white elephant
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PoolMaster
2:25 PM on March 9, 2012
All Liberal ideas
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Gothic
2:36 PM on March 9, 2012
Gothic has a functioning penis.
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BobGreen
10:02 AM on March 9, 2012
“. . . the incompetent can be trained to improve, but only if they acknowledge their own previous lack of skill . . . .”
Self reflection: by and large most of the people I’ve met seem to lack the cognitive capacity to recognize and correct their own patterns of error. Such reflexivity is vital to the sustainability of their fulfillment, if not their very lives.
And I hate to say it, but honestly those dormitory nights at college with way too much booze and other party favors did ultimately help to render my own capacity to reflect. Before that I had no clue of the extent to which my own behavior had been scripted for me by my immediate family members (who to this day seldom if ever reflect).
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3 replies
Destabilizer
10:06 AM on March 9, 2012
Haha. Conformity’s not so bad. House, food, clothes, beer, trips to the mall etc. Self reflection=mental masturbation.
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ParksMieter
10:10 AM on March 9, 2012
people talk about the things they know about, destabilizer bunny.
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Konigsberg
10:38 AM on March 9, 2012
the world has changed so much in a short span of time; give us a chance to adapt.
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Mr_Jefe
10:02 AM on March 9, 2012
The founding fathers recognized this back when people were even less educated. That’s why we have a strong constitution so that the majority can’t make any old law they want.
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5 replies
WhomCanSay
10:06 AM on March 9, 2012
Paradoxically, they were better educated, it was just less common to have ANY.
It was a divided society with wealthy, educated landowners vs everybody else.
Only the elites were involved in government.
Now, compare to the GOP.
Popularity: 12
CnL
10:31 AM on March 9, 2012
We should go back to that — only land owners should be allowed to vote. And Senators should be elected by our State reps.
The Progressive Movement (the *real* one) has FAILED.
Popularity: -11
emet
10:44 AM on March 9, 2012
Both Franklin and Hamilton were self-made men; their influence on the our course of our nation is very strong.
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Gothic
5:16 PM on March 9, 2012
Around 1780, America had one of the highest literacy rates in the world – certainly for a nascent country as long as it was (Maine/Massachusetts to Georgia). The Revolution could not have been won without widespread literacy.
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Mr_Jefe
1:05 PM on March 10, 2012
Gothic, that’s true. Still, they didn’t think that was a high enough bar. That’s also why we have the electoral college. They didn’t trust the judgement of the electorate.
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swarner
10:03 AM on March 9, 2012
This holds true for the jury system as well. (see: Casey Anthony)
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2 replies
primaryfocus
10:07 AM on March 9, 2012
same for OJ
but alas Phil Spector was not as lucky, but it seems he was less of a killer than Casey and OJ
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dub
2:44 PM on March 9, 2012
everybody’s gots dna
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WhomCanSay
10:04 AM on March 9, 2012
I think I’ve said as much. The inertia of ignorance is difficult to overcome.
Some minds do not want to be in motion, they want to ‘stay the course.’
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1 reply
lillipublicans
6:29 PM on March 9, 2012
It’s not just stupid people.
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picman
10:04 AM on March 9, 2012
Well, that explains California!
Popularity: -7
3 replies
WhomCanSay
10:09 AM on March 9, 2012
There’s more education in CA than any other state in this nation.
Popularity: 7
gaelic_femme
11:14 AM on March 9, 2012
Hardly, as an outsider I can tell you for the most part, CA, OR and WA are the most rational states in the Union and they are also the most forward thinking,
Popularity: 9
friscotown
4:30 PM on March 9, 2012
There might be more “education” in CA, but there’s also a lot of political, unthinking, “me-too” lemmings.
Popularity: 1
truthseekr
10:04 AM on March 9, 2012
Of course a bunch of high IQ scientists think what’s missing is brains. If it was a study by, say, a service-oreinted group (nurses, social workers, counselors), they’d say what’s missing is heart. People need to care more, be more involved. If it was a study by bankers, they’d say democracy is failing for lack of resources (ie money).
Popularity: -28
2 replies
GalapagosPete
10:08 AM on March 9, 2012
Appreciate you coming by to help prove the findings of the study.
Popularity: 17
Gothic
5:18 PM on March 9, 2012
And the neocons think we lack courage — we just need the Wizard of Oz to fix things.
Popularity: 4
handmadehand
10:05 AM on March 9, 2012
I’ve been posting here for a while that the only problem with representative government is that stupid people always out-breed smart people.
It might have helped the situation if our oligarchy hadn’t convinced the recipients of their campaign dollars for the past 30 years (since Reagan) that their tax cuts should be paid for by cuts to education and the institution of “No Child Left Behind.
And Faux News hasn’t helped, either.
Or maybe human genetic material is just wearing out…
Popularity: 21
primaryfocus
10:05 AM on March 9, 2012
the problem we have is too many voters are voting self interest than for whats good for all….
Union members vote by the party that gives them more power regardless of impact on state/cities
Illegals alien caucuses push the vote toward who will continue to welfare and bring laws that give them more rise
City employees (non-union as if there is any) would vote to whoever will provide “bigger government”
Oil riggers will vote to whoever will increase their profit and provide less hoops
CEOs and billionaires living off dividends and investments will continue to bribe politicians to lower their risks for greater reward
Prisoners and Prison guards are more for those who are against death penalty and will leave the system more reliant on needing larger prisons.
Gays/lesbian will vote on those who support their agenda regardless of the rest
Business will vote on those who allow them to send more jobs overseas and increase their bottom line no matter how its affecting people domestically
we have become a total selfish society with those in the have’s having more and risking more while harboring no real risk as they rely on taxpayers who are barely making it as it is.
Sample: Banks will charge the middle class / poor for keep savings/checking account while rich do not have to pay…its like that for everything. Rich Bribe politicians through “donations” so they continue to push their ways..etc…
California is going bankrupt USA is soon at 20 trillion in debt…yet the greed and separation of classes expand
Donations to campaigns should be abolished because that is the leading cause to
Popularity: 2
5 Replies
StringerBell
10:12 AM on March 9, 2012
dude, you can barely write in English, are you sure you are really qualified to be lecturing Americans on how dumb we are?
Popularity: -12
primaryfocus
10:13 AM on March 9, 2012
ITs chat board I do not double check here and write quickly…so get over it
Popularity: 9
jack_griffin
10:34 AM on March 9, 2012
primaryfocus,
if all StringerBell can retort is your grammar then they have nothing from a legitimate bases to refute your post.
Regardless, they have no ability to refute your post.
Popularity: 3
dinoslayer
11:10 AM on March 9, 2012
So you’re saying that stupid leads to selfishness??? Or is it the other way around???
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WhomCanSay
12:03 PM on March 9, 2012
What need be refuted, and how would that be accomplished?
It’s all over the place – some true, some ridiculous assumption.
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Iamwatching
10:05 AM on March 9, 2012
Outstanding ! Finally truth is written down. This rarely happens.
The model fits the 99% verses the 1%?
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1 reply
Handmadehand
10:21 AM on March 9, 2012
It’s the 1% who provide the money to the candidates who the 99% “choose” between.
It’s the “elected” officials who pass the stupid laws that have us in the mess we’re in.
Popularity: 4
kencraw
10:06 AM on March 9, 2012
There’s no better example of the results of this set of studies than watching newspaper reporters trying to report science. They’re incapable of knowing just how deficient their reporting is.
Which is really what this study is about… that people are incapable of understanding of how deficient their understanding of a subject is.
It was a general study and wasn’t specific to politics, although the authors of the studies list it in the implications of the results. But that’s QUITE different than what this ridiculous blog post suggests.
Popularity: 4
2 replies
daisy0072
10:20 AM on March 9, 2012
Politics came in with the simulation done by the German sociologist.
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jack_griffin
10:33 AM on March 9, 2012
Yea like when they talk about salmon jumping for joy out in the ocean. Salmon don’t jump out in the ocean. They school up and stay at 70 feet or deeper. They know when and where they are prey.
And like with a reporter talking about the recent solar storms referring to the expected maximum solar activity as “solar storminess” when the proper term is “solar maximum”. Dolts!
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paramount2me
10:06 AM on March 9, 2012
The reported Cornell study is confirmed by Murdoch’s stable of anti-American minions at Fox “News” 24/7.
http://tinyurl.com/77xnlcq
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madness
10:07 AM on March 9, 2012
These scientists come up with this stuff because they were indocrinated by their post-5th grade educations.
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5 replies
WhomCanSay
10:10 AM on March 9, 2012
It’s terr-rrrrism!
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iokt
11:26 AM on March 9, 2012
Yes. That’s the answer. No more education beyond 5th grade lest we be indoctrinated. By you know, actually knowing and understanding sh*t.
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mugwomp
11:33 AM on March 9, 2012
Good thing you dropped out when you did, madness.
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userbo
12:43 PM on March 9, 2012
Responses 2 and 3 did not get your sarcasm…they must be on the ‘dumb’ end of the curve. Haha.
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madness
2:09 PM on March 9, 2012
What is this “sarcasm” you speak of, userbo? They must cover that in 6th grade.
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copteranchor
10:08 AM on March 9, 2012
And the manipulation of elections by billionaires and PACS who control the information feeds outside of academia was taken into considerations as well huh.
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1 reply
jack_griffin
10:30 AM on March 9, 2012
People have the responsibility to seek the facts themselves.
Don’t displace individual responsibility to the $$$$aires and PAC$.
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bro_
10:08 AM on March 9, 2012
Whenever a conservative talks or writes, democracy is regressing….
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6 replies
primaryfocus
10:25 AM on March 9, 2012
just curious every post you do is hate on republicans nothing but spew of hate
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jack_griffin
10:29 AM on March 9, 2012
Oh for goodness sakes. Give the hyperbole a break.
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mproust
10:43 AM on March 9, 2012
Have you ever looked at the myopic world of hate your posts illuminate?
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maxxpup
10:51 AM on March 9, 2012
*rolls eyes*
hyper-partisanship is so last century.
news flash:
the fix is in…both parties represent their best interests, not yours.
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dinoslayer
11:13 AM on March 9, 2012
maxxpup… exactly.
Now we need to convince the other 100,000,000.
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berbot
11:48 AM on March 9, 2012
Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views.
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maxxpup
10:08 AM on March 9, 2012
This and previous POTUS are perfect examples.
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1 reply
jjonzz
12:43 PM on March 9, 2012
Are you saying that intelligent people voted for McCain and Palin?
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WhomCanSay
10:08 AM on March 9, 2012
A Democracy is controlled by an ‘informed populace’.
Now remove the verifiable information? You’ve got nothing. An ox.
It goes forward when you crack the whip.
Popularity: 3
Name withheld
10:09 AM on March 9, 2012
This comment was left by a user who has been blocked by our staff.
atninusa
10:09 AM on March 9, 2012
Just rain down some bombs on the bad guys. It will all work out, the U.S. knows how to handle military matters. Just look at the record.
Popularity: 3
1 reply
Grog
11:28 AM on March 9, 2012
the USA hasn’t been on the winning side of a war since WWII.
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voiceofreason
10:11 AM on March 9, 2012
Intelligence is not the problem,….it is the decline in integrity and general morality. The founding fathers expressly stated that the new American system of governance presupposed a good and moral (and religious) people. Today, more and more Americans readily lie and cheat the system on a daily basis without consequence. It corrodes the system.
Popularity: 4
8 replies
voiceofreason
10:16 AM on March 9, 2012
The founders also talked about requiring that the public be informed so I think there is a combination of the two elements required: a moral/good public and an informed public.
Pure intelligence is not the problem
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jack_griffin
10:28 AM on March 9, 2012
You are absolutely correct in your assessment!!
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stoptheinsanity
10:35 AM on March 9, 2012
I completely agree with you voiceofreason!
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WhomCanSay
10:35 AM on March 9, 2012
Isn’t personal integrity a product of higher intelligence?
I like to think so.
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kencraw
10:49 AM on March 9, 2012
WhomCanSay, all the evidence I’ve seen suggests otherwise.
I’ve seen plenty of really smart people who have zero integrity/morality and I’ve seen some humble, simple minded people who are rocks of morality.
While there might be some correlation between being poor, being desperate and doing stupid immoral things due to that desperate state, all things being equal, all my experience suggests there’s absolutely no correlation between being intelligent and moral.
Popularity: 9
oaklandjm
11:18 AM on March 9, 2012
The lack of integrity is a product of our culture. What do we cherish? Money and power, over all. That has taken the place of being a good person who is morally and ethically responsible to themselves, and their fellow citizens.
This pathos knows no economic, gender or race boundaries. There are examples of people being sleazy and corrupt at every level of society and on both sides of the political aisle.
So lets throw our political differences aside here… how do we reinstill (what I think is) the pride in ourselves and our country so we do begin to act with greater consideration towards one another…
My opinion is to engage in frank discussion and keep an open mind to other solutions presented by ‘the other party’.
Our politicians need to set an example and hold themselves to a higher standard. Instead, we have political bickering that leads to stalemate- unless of course the subject is opening loopholes for reducing tax burdens and voting themselves raises…
Tough situation to be sure. Getting rid of ‘career’ politicians I think is a start.
Popularity: 3
twpeaksresident
2:33 PM on March 9, 2012
I was with you until I read the “…governance presupposed a good and moral (and religious) people”. I believe the founding fathers were genuises in acknowledging in THOSE days that morality and religiousness can be mutually exclusive of each other. People can be moral AND non religious. Ironically in today’s world the more of religious blowhard you are, bigger the chances that you have filth under your carpet. Case in point Ted Haggard, Larry Craig, Vitter, the guy with Rentboy and of course the pedophile holy priests who were shielded from arrest by none other than holier of the holys the great prada wearing Nazi himself. Morality has nothing to do with religiousness which is NOT to say that being spiritual/religious renders you immoral.
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jsweb
1:14 AM on March 10, 2012
I agree, twpeaks. Separation of church and state was the crowning act of the Age of Reason. And certainly one can have spiritual values whether religious or not. And were people back in the day really more moral than we are? Really? I like to think not.
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mrorange
10:12 AM on March 9, 2012
Well the internet certainly isn’t going to help. Talk about a source of misinformation.
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bigbella
10:12 AM on March 9, 2012
This is yet another exercise in the absurd by an academic who teaches rather than does. “Very smart ideas are going to be hard for people to adopt, because most people don’t have the sophistication to recognize how good an idea is?”
“Let’s say a politician comes up with an ingenious plan that would ensure universal health care while decreasing health care costs?”
Those and others aren’t plans; they’re political promises in the course or an election, fantasies far more baroque than Tolkien — and it’s more cynicism and distrust than stupidity in the case of the American populace, that has been sold a bill of goods for too long.
Oooh, “Yes We Can . . .” How does this study reflect on the Harvard man currently residing at 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue? Plenty of mouth-breathers were carrying his placards on Haight Street . . .
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6 replies
gonz
10:18 AM on March 9, 2012
You know, you’re behaving EXACTLY like the idiots referred to in the article. You seem completely unwilling to consider new ideas and you’re very arrogant about how superior you are.
I’m not saying you’re dumb, but …
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bigbella
10:37 AM on March 9, 2012
“You know, you’re behaving EXACTLY like the idiots referred to in the article. You seem completely unwilling to consider new ideas and you’re very arrogant about how superior you are?”
We have been lied to on both sides of the fences for so long by politicians — so it comes as little surprise that no one believes what is being said. Grandiose ideas and promises aren’t simply good because they’re grandiose. Dictators have capitalized upon them since antiquity. Have you ever seen Hitler and Albert Speer’s architectural plans for Nuremburg? They’re spectacular and as insane as a s**thouse rat . . .
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dingerz
10:39 AM on March 9, 2012
The White House is at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
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BornAgainByBay
10:40 AM on March 9, 2012
Then there are the cynical that won’t believe anything…
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bigbella
10:50 AM on March 9, 2012
“The White House is at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue”
Ooh, you caught me in typo. Good for you! I am sure that that has never happened to you on an iPhone
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userbo
12:54 PM on March 9, 2012
Those on the ‘dumb’ side of the curve always seem to find an excuse as to why their ‘gut feeling’ is more correct than an expert’s conclusion.
BigBella seems to think that it’s all a big conspiracy by academics and politicians- that’s the reason the world never agrees with his own opinions on reality.
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doodoo
10:13 AM on March 9, 2012
Unfortunate but true. Maybe we need to prize education above everything else? Just a thought…
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1 reply
doodoo
11:30 AM on March 12, 2012
Pretty amazing. 9 people are against prizing education. Another sign of the apocalypse.
Popularity: 1
LongerView
10:15 AM on March 9, 2012
“It would appear then that democracy dooms us to mediocrity and misinformed choices.”
Perhaps not democracy, more so the glut of self-indulgent distractions that are pandemic in American society — iPad, Burning Man, America’s Got Talent, denial of the coming oil crises, and etceteara.
Popularity: 6
enpop1
10:16 AM on March 9, 2012
Face it – We have become a country filled with, and governed by, Homer Simpsons.
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3 replies
lifelongreader
10:19 AM on March 9, 2012
Nah I don’t think so Homer admits when he is wrong.
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swinta
10:20 AM on March 9, 2012
Filled with Homers and Flanders, governed by Burns.
Popularity: 10
doh
1:08 PM on March 9, 2012
woohoo! wait – am i supposed to be offended by that?
lifelongreader
10:17 AM on March 9, 2012
Lets just skip ahead and start watering our crops with Gatorade. Because it has Electrolytes!
Long live President for Life Camacho!
Popularity: 32
giantsfog
10:18 AM on March 9, 2012
Democracy does NOT lead to bad choices. The emphasis on “consumer culture” versus Citizenship does. Another culprit is the attack on science and our ability to agree upon basic facts such that we are voting about policy, not whether or not we have been convinced that there is Global Climate Change or the validity of President Obama’s citizenship and election, among too many other things.
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jack_griffin
10:19 AM on March 9, 2012
“The United States may be a republic, but it’s democracy that Americans cherish. After all, that’s why we got into Iraq, right? To take out a dictator and spread democracy.”
No. The United States liberated Iraq from a brutal dictatorship and helped cultivate the Democratic *REPUBLIC* of Iraq.
A primary reason the citizens of the United States are dumbed down lies squarely at the fee of the news media.
Like “solar storminess”. My goodness. It’s called solar maximum.
Popularity: 3
2 replies
[Gerold note: jack griffin reply was later removed by SF staff]
lala_salama
10:23 AM on March 9, 2012
I’m afraid you’re right. However it also has to do with the lack of interest by the population to find those sources of news and information that are reliable. It’s much easier to have news and information spoon fed to you than to seek it out and think for yourself.
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WhomCanSay
10:33 AM on March 9, 2012
No, we attacked Iraq presumably to stop them from getting nuclear weapons.
They weren’t close – Bush lied.
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le_ace
10:19 AM on March 9, 2012
“At least require a passing an IQ test before you get to cast a ballot?”
I like the sound of the idea that people shouldn’t be allowed to reproduce without IQ tests also.
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bro_
10:20 AM on March 9, 2012
Hey, higher rating for foxNews….
Popularity: 4
1 reply
kingsatan
10:21 AM on March 9, 2012
These comments are so great.
If you don’t agree with the genius enlightened ideas of certain groups of people you are stupid. In the case of these comments, if you don’t agree with the opinions as fact of the left you are stupid.
If the discussion was at a Rick Santorum meeting the results of who is stupid would be those not agreeing with the rights opinions as fact.
So funny. Any Mirkarimi voters here?
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2 replies
jack_griffin
10:24 AM on March 9, 2012
You nailed it square on the head.
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[Gerold note: jack’s reply was later removed by SF staff – they don’t seem to like jack griffin]
gonz
10:28 AM on March 9, 2012
Indeed.
“In other words, stupid people are too stupid to know how stupid they are.”
This is true of all of us at some point. Genuinely stupid people don’t think they’re capable of doing anything stupid. Personally, I’m a complete idiot.
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myluv1s
10:22 AM on March 9, 2012
As evidence, this thread will have up to 300 comments from posters explaining why and expressing how they are excluded from the analysis.
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1 reply
kingsatan
10:27 AM on March 9, 2012
Exactly correct.
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jack_griffin
10:23 AM on March 9, 2012
“incompetent people are inherently unable to judge the competence of other people, or the quality of those people’s ideas,”
“Very smart ideas are going to be hard for people to adopt, because most people don’t have the sophistication to recognize how good an idea is,”
“What’s worse is that with incompetence comes the illusion of superiority.”
My goodness! This could have been an in-depth study of management in government bureaucracies in California!
Popularity: 1
1 reply
[Gerold note: this comment was later removed by SF staff – who really seem to have it in for poor jack]
WhomCanSay
10:33 AM on March 9, 2012
Who is saying CA bureaucracy specifically is ‘better’? Nobody.
Maybe you don’t understand the point here?
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Climber
10:24 AM on March 9, 2012
I agree with their conclusion but not how they arrived at it. Their whole train of reasoning seems flawed, even if they arrived at the correct conclusion in the end.
It seems that the authors are symptomatic of their premise.
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2 replies
dnegri
10:32 AM on March 9, 2012
For example?
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panchodanny
10:46 AM on March 9, 2012
For example, you need to find a way to objectively measure the quality of political actions. It’s easy to say that people who deny climate change are stupid. I believe that is true. But it is quite another to claim that you have scientific proof that they are indeed stupid.
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kingsatan
10:25 AM on March 9, 2012
Headline should read
“Scientists who view their opinions as facts say that those not smart enough to agree with us are stupid.”
San Franciscans say we always vote smart, look at our representatives like Ross Mirkarimi.
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9 replies
WhomCanSay
10:29 AM on March 9, 2012
I don’t think anyone has said ‘we always vote smart’. Can you source that? No.
You miss the point of the article and demonstrate it at the same time.
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gonz
10:30 AM on March 9, 2012
Their work is based on actual study. That’s not to say it’s factual, but to dismiss it as “opinion” is dishonest.
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kingsatan
10:34 AM on March 9, 2012
“Their work is based on actual study.”
You likely have never taken a social science class at college or don’t mind having your grade based on how well you can agree with the teacher.
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BornAgainByBay
10:35 AM on March 9, 2012
Thanks for proving their point.
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gonz
10:40 AM on March 9, 2012
Yea, keep it up King. I’m sure you’ll prove that you’re smarter than everybody else eventually.
I have taken a social science class. So?
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giantsfog
10:40 AM on March 9, 2012
kingsatan, you may not believe in the validity of any of the social sciences, but they do have rules for study, and the work needs to be vetted. They are drawing a conclusion based upon data. They have to follow certain rules. Therefore, it is not simply an opinion.
You can dispute the validity of their underlying premises, but you have to credit them for using the tools, and the logic.
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kingsatan
10:43 AM on March 9, 2012
You’re cracking me up there gonz.
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gonz
10:50 AM on March 9, 2012
Happy to help.
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jsweb
1:22 AM on March 10, 2012
…says the guy with the Evil Is My Lord t-shirt on!
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le_ace
10:25 AM on March 9, 2012
Whenever you have a large percent of a population that believes that a old book of fairly tales claiming to be the word of a sky-fairy should dictate how people should live their lives—- you got problems.
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1 reply
kingsatan
10:29 AM on March 9, 2012
Thats odd because they feel the same way about us atheists.
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aandw1991
10:25 AM on March 9, 2012
This is why the Santorums of the the world attack higher education. Anything that promotes independent thinking is bad for him and his kind.
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3 replies
MrTea
10:29 AM on March 9, 2012
HA HA!
Brainwashed by higher education? Yea those professors are soooo independent.
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jpmelt
10:59 PM on March 9, 2012
And Greece = America in two decades if Obama could stay in office for 20 years
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Izod
11:04 PM on March 9, 2012
Leftists are the least independent thinkers.
Lemmings, who believe they have the only answers, is their M.O.
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jack_griffin
10:25 AM on March 9, 2012
This study is confirmed every time I see an episode of “Jaywalking” on the Leno show.
By the way, Jay is not a progressive type.
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2 replies
[Gerold note: this comment was also later removed by SF staff]
WhomCanSay
10:30 AM on March 9, 2012
Jay Leno appeals to a very mediocre mind.
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gaelic_femme
11:59 AM on March 9, 2012
Jay is safe and non-offensive to all the scared old white Americans.
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Eibalz
10:27 AM on March 9, 2012
A republic *is* a democracy. It’s an indirect, or representative, democracy. Direct democracies aren’t the only kind.
I learned this in high school civics class in the 1970s. Evidently it’s become fashionable in teaching circles since then to claim that America isn’t a democracy, as a subtle way of implying that America isn’t as great as some would have one believe. That would be consistent with the way that the radicals of the 1960s went to ground in the schools and universities to make a “long march through the institutions” when it became clear that mainstream Americans wanted no part of their vision of what the country should be.
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2 replies
panchodanny
10:50 AM on March 9, 2012
Bad civics class. The Roman Republic wasn’t a democracy. Didn’t claim to be. A representative government may a republic. But not all republics are representative democracies.
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fatboy5
10:24 PM on March 9, 2012
There has not been one democracy, that would be mob rule, that is why founder of this country set up electoral college and three branches of government.
Blacks wouldn’t have votes, gays, laws etc.
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MrTea
10:28 AM on March 9, 2012
Yes it is really sad that so many people think government can better decisions that they can. Why would someone want the government deciding on what should be taught in school or what kind of health care is best for you?
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7 replies
WhomCanSay
10:30 AM on March 9, 2012
It’s funny that you think you’re better equipped than educated people to decide.
You aren’t.
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dnegri
10:31 AM on March 9, 2012
Nice simplistic try. But where the issue counts is in aspects of the life of all of us where government, like it or not, plays a significant role. In any advanced country, by the way.
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vkkv
10:34 AM on March 9, 2012
Because everyone in society else ends up paying for it one way or another: in either higher costs of living, crime are only two.
WingNuts don’t seem to understand the Big Picture.. Small thinking is what’s it’s called I suppose.
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pamblepip
10:35 AM on March 9, 2012
You missed the whole point of the article.
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MrTea
10:39 AM on March 9, 2012
I guess my post hit a nerve from those who rely on government to do their thinking for them.
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lifelongreader
10:42 AM on March 9, 2012
By your logic, people shouldn’t want a government where bureaucrats decide who we bomb this week.
I mean everyday people with no foreign policy or military background should have a say in military matters. Right?
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gonz
10:49 AM on March 9, 2012
What do you think government is? It isn’t some guy making decisions behind a curtain. Most Americans agree with what is taught in schools; if they didn’t, the cirriculum would probably change. Most Americans are in favor of government involvement in healthcare; if they weren’t, it wouldn’t be a huge political issue.
I think it’s call Democracy. Too bad it doesn’t always go your way.
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gigantes89
10:30 AM on March 9, 2012
Booooring…Ooh! Keeping up with the Kardashians is on. I’ve only seen this episode twice.
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dnegri
10:30 AM on March 9, 2012
We have the largest percentage of Fundamentalists than any other advanced country. Hence the largest percentage of people who take literally every word of a 2,000 year old book, but consider scientists – especially those in the biology and earth science disciplines – to be frauds perpetuating a series of hoaxes on us. This is the problem, pure and simple…and stupid.
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vkkv
10:30 AM on March 9, 2012
This is exactly why the GOP wants to cut education. Ignorant people are easy to manipulate. As it is even today, Americans are being told that their rights are being taken away – and many conservative leaning viewers of right wing media are believing it.
The rich right-wingers want to keep eduction available only for themselves and their families.
Just look at the way they vote.
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5 replies
MrTea
10:34 AM on March 9, 2012
This is why Democrats are against private education. They need to indoctrinate people for group think.
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kingsatan
10:35 AM on March 9, 2012
It’s all a massive conspiracy to get over on our self appointed smarter betters.
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WhomCanSay
10:36 AM on March 9, 2012
Democrats aren’t against private education.
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Grog
10:40 AM on March 9, 2012
Do you know how to hide money from an Obama Democrat……. put the welfare check under their work boots.
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oaklandjm
11:05 AM on March 9, 2012
Mr Tea and Grog… your comments are proving the point of the article- honestly.
Instead of engaging in discussion and intelligently countering a point made by vkkv, you are resorting to insults, wild assumptions, and pundit rhetoric.
Try again.
Popularity: 5
Name withheld
10:30 AM on March 9, 2012
This comment was left by a user who has been blocked by our staff.
WhomCanSay
10:31 AM on March 9, 2012
Education is fatal to Republicanism.
China is a nuclear power. Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan.
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pamblepip
10:33 AM on March 9, 2012
Wow I have said this for years and years – it is good to see it in print – have never seen this said out loud and spelled out. It doesn’t make me happy but truth is truth.
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Buildabong
10:33 AM on March 9, 2012
The GOP: “With incompetence comes the illusion of superiority.”
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nocomment1
10:33 AM on March 9, 2012
muahahahaha!
Our plan the divide, dumb down and enslave America is coming along nicely…
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billsf94131
10:34 AM on March 9, 2012
I realised just how stupid most Americans were when Bush got elected not once but twice!
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6 replies
Grog
10:37 AM on March 9, 2012
Yea, well how many times have you sent Pelosi, Maxine Walters, Boxer and then you re-elect Moonbeam Brown again…..
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bd0793
10:39 AM on March 9, 2012
Bush was elected with around 40% of the popular vote. Still, I agree with you.
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Rogus
10:42 AM on March 9, 2012
Like Kerry was any better.
It was voting either for Tweedledee or Tweedledum.
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dsgonzale6
10:45 AM on March 9, 2012
The first time was not really a win.
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WhomCanSay
11:20 AM on March 9, 2012
Grog – you fail to notice that in a 2 party system, you require an alternative.
If the alternative to Pelosi is un-electably stupid and backwards? Pelosi it is.
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dinoslayer
11:42 AM on March 9, 2012
Whom… it’s not a two party system any longer, it only stays that way because stupid Republicans and stupid Democrats keep voting party line, because they’re more afraid of, “the other” getting their hands on power.
In the end it’s all meaningless.
I don’t know where you live but here in Oregon we have plenty of choices on each ballot. For instance I’ve not voted for either corrupt party for a decade now, always putting my check next to the Green party candidate.
I happen to think Americans are now more insane than stupid: “Doing the same thing over and over and over expecting a different result.”
Yep, sounds like Republicans and Democrats to me.
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VoidContext
10:34 AM on March 9, 2012
Well, then you’d have to be pretty dumb to believe that we have a democracy. It’s a republic. That was the genius of the Founding Fathers in the drafting of the Constitution. We vote for representatives to govern us. It worked great for a great part of our history until recently. Unfortunately that concept has been undermined by special interests who own the representatives and do their bidding.
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1 reply
iamjared
10:39 AM on March 9, 2012
Remember how people in this article don’t know what they’re talking about, but they act superior because they don’t know how wrong they are?
Man, it’s almost like the way you talk about our DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC.
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ulipian
10:34 AM on March 9, 2012
They don’t call TV & Video Games “Idiot Boxes” for nothing!
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1 reply
swinta
10:45 AM on March 9, 2012
Luckily there’s computers and the internet to get away from that sort of thing 🙂
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yarbledarble
10:35 AM on March 9, 2012
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: voters get the leaders they deserve.
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Grog
10:36 AM on March 9, 2012
The USA is so radicalized it is unbelievable. The right are so far to the right they make Iran look liberal. And the state of California one party Democratic extreme Left wing haven run with media complicity for and by the public service unions. You are insolvent, running out of other peoples money to spend and want the Feds to send more. This coupled with a blanket California amnesty that is proposed, how is this “democratic”? More like a welfare nanny state. Both sides are so extreme.
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1 reply
WhomCanSay
10:43 AM on March 9, 2012
Actually we’re a tax donor state. Thanks though.
Reagan said Amnesty. Is Reagan left wing?
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tylerdurden
10:36 AM on March 9, 2012
like voting to pass bill they don’t read
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bro_
10:36 AM on March 9, 2012
Hey, the red states are rolling back voting rights, women rights and gay rights. Those states are thriving, right?….
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Vkkv
10:37 AM on March 9, 2012
MR TEA WROTE::”””Why would someone want the government deciding on what should be taught in school or what kind of health care is best for you? “”””
———————————————
– You forgot retirement and other social safety nets.
The reason? Because everyone in society else ends up paying for it one way or another: in either higher costs of living, crime, more prisons, are only a few reasons.
WingNuts don’t seem to understand the Big Picture.. Small thinking is what’s it’s called I suppose.
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4 replies
MrTea
10:41 AM on March 9, 2012
Huh? Why do you assume everyone is as inept as you to make rational decisions? Some of us are smart enough. I guess you do prove the point of the article that too many people can’t think critically enough to elect a great leader?
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WhomCanSay
10:46 AM on March 9, 2012
“Some of us are smart enough.” -fail.
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vkkv
11:00 AM on March 9, 2012
Educated voters would vote for leaders with good reason rather than “because he’s not black” or “he’s a good Xtian” or “too funny looking” or “he may have failed in business, but he’s going to run the country like a business” or “he looks really goofy driving that tank” or “he’s promising 2.50 gas”.
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oaklandjm
11:02 AM on March 9, 2012
vkkv has it spot on.
Mr. Tea… so those darn poor people can’t afford health care, and there is no option for them. Then little johnnny gets sick. Pretty soon mom and dad can’t cope with the bills.
What happens next?
You think Mom and Dad are going to roll over and let Johnny slip away? Or are they going to take him to emergency care without insurance, get him fixed up, then leave EVERYONE holding the check? Or maybe Dad is a little more brash, and knocks over a liquor store for money? Or maybe, just maybe, he robs you.
That is what is meant by the ‘big picture’.
I agree that people need to take care of themselves, and have accountability for what they do. But the reality is that some people just wont be able to hack that. Not motivated enough, or smart enough, or in some rare cases, a rash of terrible luck.
The point is, if these people are ignored or swept under the rug, they will generate more costs and problems than if we provided assistance for them in the first place.
Not trying to start a flame war here.. lets discuss rationally?
What is your rebuttal?
Popularity: 2
caldjm
10:39 AM on March 9, 2012
And it’s been proven that conservatives are low I.Q. individuals they do not help the cause with the people they vote for.
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budinsf
10:39 AM on March 9, 2012
“the citizenry is too dumb to pick the best leaders.”
It isn’t that the citizenry is too dumb to pick the best leaders, it is that the people who would make the best leaders, won’t run for office. They don’t want to get involved in politics. So, voters are left with mediocre or even bad candidates. Just look at some of the current candidates running for President. Some of the comments they are making are just stupid and don’t make sense. Other candidates may be intelligent, but they are serving their own special interests and don’t care about the country as a whole. My father used to say “good people don’t run for office.”
Another problem is our educational system. I have known many high school graduates who don’t understand our governmental system and who know next to nothing about the U.S. Constitution. Voters and taxpayers don’t want to spend money on good schools that provide an excellent education. One theory is perhaps the elite want to keep the masses uneducated, so the political power and government will stay in the hands of the wealthy and elite. Other studies have shown that educated people and those who are well informed make better decisions. So, we need a better educational system and an honest media.
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6 replies
WhatsAUsername
10:41 AM on March 9, 2012
It’s chicken/egg. Maybe the best people won’t run, because they know about all the BS the stupid people make them put up with to get them to vote for them?
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teegyeff
10:51 AM on March 9, 2012
I will say this – our educational priorities are also out of whack. We are all consumed with the terror that children in China are going to have more advanced math skills than our kids. Good math skills are indeed important. But history and civics learning has been relegated to at best an afterthought, and at worst something that must be dealt away with because it takes too much time away from math and science.
It is possible to be very good at math and still have a poor conception about the basic principles behind good government. And to the extent that we continue to neglect those things we will be a country with a few decent mathematicians and a whole lot more bad voters.
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budinsf
11:13 AM on March 9, 2012
teegyeff, thanks for your comment. You made some excellent points. I agree with you.
Popularity: 1
Kingsatan
11:26 AM on March 9, 2012
The USA is third in per student spending
There is something else going on here, perhaps educational faddism, “educating” the worlds refuse, etc…
Bar Graph Map Correlations
Showing latest available data.
Rank Countries Amount
# 1 Switzerland: $9,348.00 per student
Education in Switzerland
# 2 Austria: $8,163.00 per student
Education in Austria
# 3 United States: $7,764.00 per student
Education in United States
# 4 Norway: $7,343.00 per student
Education in Norway
# 5 Denmark: $7,200.00 per student
Education in Denmark
# 6 France: $6,605.00 per student
Education in France
# 7 Italy: $6,458.00 per student
Education in Italy
# 8 Germany: $6,209.00 per student
Education in Germany
# 9 Japan: $5,890.00 per student
Education in Japan
# 10 Australia: $5,830.00 per student
Education in Australia
# 11 Sweden: $5,648.00 per student
Education in Sweden
# 12 Netherlands: $5,304.00 per student
Education in Netherlands
# 13 United Kingdom: $5,230.00 per student
Education in United Kingdom
# 14 Israel: $5,115.00 per student
Education in Israel
# 15 Portugal: $4,636.00 per student
Education in Portugal
# 16 Spain: $4,274.00 per student
Education in Spain
# 17 Ireland: $3,934.00 per student
Education in Ireland
# 18 Greece: $3,287.00 per student
Education in Greece
# 19 Czech Republic: $3,182.00 per student
Education in Czech Republic
# 20 Hungary: $2,140.00 per student
Education in Hungary
# 21 Thailand: $1,177.00 per student
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WhomCanSay
12:08 PM on March 9, 2012
Educational ‘faddism’, he says.
You cannot make this stuff up.
Take a class in sociology, it will not kill you, it will kill your understanding.
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kingsatan
1:33 PM on March 9, 2012
WhomCanSay
The reason I’m laughing right now is that I own a hundred or so books on sociology. Thats why this study is so funny.
I also enjoy how not agreeing with your self appointed smart set views requires the correct education.
Your posts always crack me up.
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WillfromSF
10:39 AM on March 9, 2012
One man’s stupidity is another man’s genius.
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Rogus
10:39 AM on March 9, 2012
All people care about is whether there’s a “D” or an “R” by the name or the measure.
Other than that – they don’t care.
That’s how you can get a majority of voters vote down a tax measure 3 years ago and today have it repackaged under a different party and have it leading.
Popularity: 1
earthboysf
10:39 AM on March 9, 2012
I wonder what elitists funded this study?
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Name withheld
10:41 AM on March 9, 2012
This comment was left by a user who has been blocked by our staff.
Chuckybill
10:41 AM on March 9, 2012
So, careful to speak slowly so the unwashed masses can understand the brilliant ideas that our leaders are formulating to help us become better, more productive citizens ! What should “leaders” do ? Do we need or want technocrats to come up with universal soluations, or would it be better to have more “folks’ involved, even if they don’t have Ivy league PdD’s ?
Popularity: 3
happygrazer
10:42 AM on March 9, 2012
If you think that the strength or purpose of democracy is picking the best leaders, then you really don’t understand people, democracy, psychology, or much of anything else. The strength of democracy is that it allows a bunch of hairless apes to pick their leaders with a minimum of bloodshed. Which sounds kinda weak until you compare it with how most hairless apes have done it throughout history.
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1 reply
myluv1s
11:20 AM on March 9, 2012
Nicely put.
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teegyeff
10:42 AM on March 9, 2012
I agree with the basic principal seemingly espoused by Dunning-Kruger: Lots of people tend to think they know better about how to deal with a given problem than all those people fancy-pants professionals with degrees and schooling, and that the stronger an individual’s convictions are in this regard the less likely they are to be competent enough to handle a lemonade stand, let alone the great problems of our day. Common sense is quite frequently nonsense.
However, experience tells us that all hope is not lost. There is no larger group of ideologically confused and misguided group of people in our country I can readily identify than today’s GOP base. And yet even they are lurching towards picking Romney, because (I suppose on some purely primal level) even they understand what a disaster nominating any of the other candidates in that race would be.
Popularity: 2
Name withheld
10:42 AM on March 9, 2012
This comment was left by a user who has been blocked by our staff.
cleanbla2003
10:43 AM on March 9, 2012
Now i feel better!
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swinta
10:43 AM on March 9, 2012
I once worked with a man who picked up on the news somewhere that scientist are looking in to the possibility that life on earth may have originated elsewhere in the universe.
His rebuttal: “That’s stupid, I’m not a scientist, but I know that if a man would fall from that high up, he’d be dead.”
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panchodanny
10:43 AM on March 9, 2012
Something is missing. What did the researchers do to form their conclusions? How did they get from research results to the conclusion in the headlines? This often happens. The researchers extend their conclusions beyond what the evidence shows. The reporters amplify the error to something absurd.
The word “intelligence” is used loosely. IQ tests don’t test the ability of a person to dispassionately look at the information available and connect the information to the proposed conclusion. That is very different from the ability to pass a multiple choice test or to calculate products of 10 digit numbers.
For a democracy to work, we need to raise the level of public discourse. It is not the shortcomings in peoples’ brains that causes the problems. It is the failure to engage in honest discussion.
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kyrajane
10:43 AM on March 9, 2012
As good an analysis of the current GOP candidates as any I have seen. The average voting schlub is too damn dumb to do anything but follow “leaders” like Limbaugh right down the toilet. I’m no rocket scientist but I can recognize an ignorant narrow-minded bigot when I see one.
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1 reply
MrTea
10:46 AM on March 9, 2012
As good an analysis of the current Democrat electorate as have seen
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thinkleo
10:43 AM on March 9, 2012
I don’t get it.
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2 replies
WillfromSF
10:49 AM on March 9, 2012
You wouldn’t.
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peevish
11:12 AM on March 9, 2012
Quell surprise.
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myhumbleopinion
10:44 AM on March 9, 2012
The labeling of educated people as “elitist” and then rejection of higher education as a worthy endeavor is likely to result in the final collapse of our society. This morning driving to work, I wondered: Who do all these numbskulls think built the freeways, the trains, the cars, their TVs, their microwaves and microwave popcorn, and even created their beloved reality shows … without education and smart people, there would be nothing for stupid people to do, see or eat.
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1 reply
WhomCanSay
10:47 AM on March 9, 2012
Excellent point – the TRUE creators, job, art, and otherwise.
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MrTea
10:44 AM on March 9, 2012
Here’s a good test to see if you fit the profile in the article.
A vote for Obama in 2008 was to recover the economy or prolong the recession?
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3 replies
WhomCanSay
10:55 AM on March 9, 2012
You fail thinking. There will not be a retest.
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Peevish
11:11 AM on March 9, 2012
It was to reverse the trainwreck that had us speeding headlong into Depression. It was also to put someone who was reasonably intelligent and articulate in the White House, a guy who was not quite as wealthy as other POTUS candidates and who seemed to have a slightly firmer grasp on the realities of the middle class voter.
Most of us remember where the country is in 2008. Even if you choose not to.
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thinkleo
1:34 PM on March 9, 2012
@Peevish: You knew where the country was in 2008, yet you still chose to put in a community organizer as CEO? You are the subject of this article!
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pressto
10:44 AM on March 9, 2012
“found that “incompetent people are inherently unable to judge the competence of other people, or the quality of those people’s ideas,”
Which is why our founding fathers chose to make the US a Republic and not a Democracy and it is unbelievable how many graduation from HS now don’t know this or understand the difference between the two.
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1 Reply
peevish
11:09 AM on March 9, 2012
You are correct in that the founding fathers built in certain restrictions on who could vote – landowning educated white guys, to be precise.
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thinkleo
10:45 AM on March 9, 2012
Here is proof:
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bro_
10:45 AM on March 9, 2012
Remember those who voted for George W Bush, TWICE?…..
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9 replies
WhomCanSay
10:47 AM on March 9, 2012
He was selected the second time, he lost the popular vote thankfully.
At least we can say that.
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MrTea
10:49 AM on March 9, 2012
You mean the people who voted for 4.4% unemployment?
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makoce
10:50 AM on March 9, 2012
I remember them well. Election Software and Systems. Diebold. Optical scanners. Removable memory cartridges. Registration roll purges. And, ultimately, the Supreme Court.
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WhomCanSay
10:55 AM on March 9, 2012
At least Justice Stevens had the wherewithall to call it as it was – our darkest hour.
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thinkleo
10:57 AM on March 9, 2012
Wrong, Whom. He blew John Kerry out.
If the Bush/Gore, Bush/Kerry, Bush/Obama elections were held today, Bush would probably still win.
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outsidecity
10:57 AM on March 9, 2012
They voted for the guy with the higher GPA at Harvard and Yale.
Kerry and Gore had lower GPAs.
Ever wonder why BHO never disclosed his? Maybe BHO’s GPA was 2.0, but due to affirmative action requirements? I wonder?
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Rogus
10:59 AM on March 9, 2012
Yeap if only those people who voted for Gore could have simply punched out the right hole.
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thinkleo
11:01 AM on March 9, 2012
@Rogus: LOL
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WhomCanSay
12:04 PM on March 9, 2012
“He blew John Kerry out.”
We were talking about the Gore election, obviously. I mean, it IS obvious, right?
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gromit801
10:46 AM on March 9, 2012
Pretty much sums up the Republicans and their religious leaders.
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mproust
10:46 AM on March 9, 2012
Oh, Yea! Another scientific study signifying nothing. Well, we’ve done better than most countries and I suppose we’ll continue to thrive for many years ahead. By the way… Talk about elitist academic BS!
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4 replies
WhomCanSay
10:54 AM on March 9, 2012
Try analysis.
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alphaxanon
10:55 AM on March 9, 2012
You’re exactly what the article is talking about: Rejection of sound scientific argument
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peevish
11:08 AM on March 9, 2012
“Elitist academic BS.” Fear of education. Exactly what the article is about.
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gromit801
12:09 PM on March 12, 2012
Thank you for dramatically proving the article’s point!
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WhomCanSay
10:46 AM on March 9, 2012
To the anti-CA spiel-spammers who are against public education :
Nowhere could your pathetic rants be more ironically out of place.
You are literally going off-topic to prove the article correct.
You are whom this article is describing. Apparently, children have been left behind.
Education is not ‘snobbery’, but it IS indoctrination – to our society.
Your fear of it, your demonstration of how it can be ignored…
these are the problems we seek to solve. Thanks, I guess.
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WillfromSF
10:47 AM on March 9, 2012
“Not exactly encouraging news for the next round of California’s ballot initiatives.”
No, but the problem is that that system is awful. The initiatives are drawn up by special interest groups so they are almost all bad government. They are designed to deceive. They are pushed by moneyed interests. And they are complex and the average citizens ,and even the super-intelligent ones, don’t have the time to analyze these bills. Basically the system is there because we don’t trust the people we vote to the state legislature to do their jobs. So we try to do their jobs for them. All in all a terrible system. Just vote no on all of the propositions (and local initiatives) unless you have a very compelling reason for voting yes on a few of them. This is no way to do legislation.
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Niner_Prinz
10:47 AM on March 9, 2012
Don’t scientist vote as well…. Talk about being a hypocrite?? Thanking all the scientist of the world for helping incompetent, illiterate, presidents create nuclear weapons!! Go get laid!!
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5 replies
swinta
10:49 AM on March 9, 2012
People getting laid is actually at the root of most problems this world is facing today. Bad advice.
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republicant
10:55 AM on March 9, 2012
IRONY: reading an article about Americans being too dumb for democracy and then happening upon this gem of a comment in response to said article.
Thanks for the chuckle.
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jl8967
11:29 AM on March 9, 2012
Please don’t reproduce.
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Niner_Prinz
11:36 AM on March 9, 2012
@jl8967 too late you are my child!!
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Niner_Prinz
11:59 AM on March 9, 2012
Niner_Prinz has a bunch of HATERS!! Alright!! Awesome!! But it’s true scientists do vote and take part in this democracy…. Well I’ll be on my Xbox…. and thanks for developing that…. Peace OUT!! HAHAHA!!
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almostalways
10:48 AM on March 9, 2012
What’s the problem with an uninformed electorate? They’re easily fooled by politicians:
http://www.city-journal.org/2012/22_1_taxes.html
(excellent article)
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preece
10:49 AM on March 9, 2012
This is what those who are gov’t want. They want to decide whats best for you, because some scientist says you are too stupid to figure it out for yourself. You want health care, well we can provide it for you because we know whats best for you! You want to save on gas, well we have an electric car that will do that very thing, here you go! To much pollution in the air, well we have this fuel additive, called MTBE, that we can force you to use which will lower the emissions from you car, it will raise the cost og gas, but thats what we think is best for you! Oh wait, it pollutes the water? Well lets take it out and force you to use ethanol, which will raise the price of corn and beef and pork and anything else that uses corn, but thats what we think is best for you! You are using too much electricity at home, but we know how to fix that, fluorescent light bulbs! It doesnt matter they cost almost 4 times as much than a regular light bulb and dont worry about the mercury poisoning you might get if you break one. WE KNOW WHATS BEST FOR YOU!
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2 replies
A1234567
10:56 AM on March 9, 2012
Sorry, no. You failed to understand. What the elected officials want is to appease your prejudices and vanities.
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MrTea
10:58 AM on March 9, 2012
Yup promise paradise and deliver sewage.
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Name withheld
10:50 AM on March 9, 2012
This comment was left by a user who has been blocked by our staff.
politico
10:50 AM on March 9, 2012
Unfortunately I have to agree. Too much religion makes people stupid.
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truthispainful
10:50 AM on March 9, 2012
It’s not that Americans are too dumb to pick the best leaders.
Those who would potentially make the best leaders are too SMART to get into politics.
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emet
10:50 AM on March 9, 2012
This explains why Ron Paul will not get the nomination. He is against invading foreign countries (good idea most would say), he wants to stop aid to other nations, and use that money for the benefit of Americans (wise idea), and he believes that we should follow the Constitution, not circumvents it (seems reasonable, or why have a Constitution?). Yet people call him a nut, but say nothing about Bishop Romney and necro baptism, or that he believes that only Mormons (some, not all) can get into the highest heaven and become like Gods (exalted).
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2 replies
peevish
11:07 AM on March 9, 2012
No, I think his desire to return to the Gold Standard may have something more to do with it.
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dsgonzale6
3:03 PM on March 9, 2012
The problem with his statements about the Constitution is that he really doesn’t understand the Constitution.
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slugger886
10:51 AM on March 9, 2012
i knew a girl who said she had voted for obama because his family was cuter than mccain’s
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6 replies
WhomCanSay
10:57 AM on March 9, 2012
No, you didn’t.
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dsgonzale6
11:01 AM on March 9, 2012
I read about a Republican in Ohio who chose the candidate he voted for by “eeny, meenie miny moe.”
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peevish
11:06 AM on March 9, 2012
I know a few people who have no respect for any of the GOP candidates running but will vote for them because all they really care about is that Obama not succeed.
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gaelic_femme
11:12 AM on March 9, 2012
I know many Americans who pick their leaders based on looks alone. I also know many American men who pick their leaders based on how pro-military they are alone.
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slugger886
11:38 AM on March 9, 2012
you’re right whom, i still know her
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WhomCanSay
12:15 PM on March 9, 2012
When you picture her, is she riding a unicorn?
Or a solid-gold Harley?
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poisson_rouge
10:51 AM on March 9, 2012
Two words: Prop 8
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2 replies
channelclemente
10:57 AM on March 9, 2012
Prop 13, a close 2nd.
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WhomCanSay
11:18 AM on March 9, 2012
Prop 16…
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R_94110
10:51 AM on March 9, 2012
The real concerning part is that lots of the commenters agreeing with this are too stupid to realize that this article is talking about them.
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lharrison
10:53 AM on March 9, 2012
The fact that B. Hussein O got elected, and may be heading for reelection, proves the headline of this article quite accurate.
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5 replies
oaklandjm
10:55 AM on March 9, 2012
How do you explain the current crop of conservative candidates? I mean, it looks like the idots in society are now running for office.
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MrTea
10:56 AM on March 9, 2012
Yea but boy can he read a teleprompter!
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peevish
11:05 AM on March 9, 2012
We can’t all write nifty notes on our hands.
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fsharp
11:07 AM on March 9, 2012
Your comment has proven the point of this article in the most perfect way possible. Bravo!
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icenine
11:15 AM on March 9, 2012
Sarah Palin. ‘Nuff said.
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fsharp
10:53 AM on March 9, 2012
“incompetent people are inherently unable to judge the competence of other people, or the quality of those people’s ideas,” OMG! Stunning discovery!
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badminton
10:54 AM on March 9, 2012
Democracy depends on an educated population to function. This is why it is absolutely necessary to invest heavily in good public education. The voters have to have sufficient education to make an informed choice.
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4 replies
MrTea
10:55 AM on March 9, 2012
Public education is the problem. We have been investing heavily since the 60s and I
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peevish
11:04 AM on March 9, 2012
So we should gut the system, issue private school vouchers that only rich people will really be able to use, and let everyone else go back to home schooling? Yeah, that will keep us really competitivein the global market.
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MrTea
11:11 AM on March 9, 2012
@peevish you don’t understand vouchers. The rich don’t need them because they already afford the best education.
It was working well in DC before Obama killed it…why? The poorly educated already vote in a predictable way. Educated voters will act much differently.
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fatboy5
10:32 PM on March 9, 2012
They don’t want an educated citizenry, that is why in fact we are where we are.
Education does not educate, it, for the most part trains people to be good workers and debt slaves and be for the self and compete with everyone, because everyone is against you.
We need a radical revolution in thought, from the ground up in order to change anything
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elevatorpitch
10:55 AM on March 9, 2012
When the Founding Fathers talked about “Free Speech”, they meant the free discourse of ideas and opposing viewpoints. They didn’t think Free Speech gave you the right to call someone a slang synonym for a prostitute, falsely claim to be a Medal of Honor war hero, or protest military funerals because there are gays in the military. But then again, the idea of a history book to the fathers is Thomas Paine’s “The Age of Reason”. Nowadays, it’s a web blog.
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2 replies
MrTea
11:14 AM on March 9, 2012
You need a history lesson. The early elections were much more vitriolic than now.
People are really proving this article true…at least those who don’t realize they aren’t smart.
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dsgonzale6
11:38 AM on March 9, 2012
Define smart.
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jack_griffin
10:55 AM on March 9, 2012
The system is rigged in the liberals favor.
Face the facts:
Education from elementary though college education, particularly in public institutions, is dominated by liberal educators.
The media is dominated by liberal partisans who masquerade partisan editorializing for objective reporting.
The entertainment industry is dominated by liberal partisans. These people are responsible for the “popular culture” – enough said, and the propagandization of fact in the Hollowood film industry.
The court system is dominated by liberal partisans. I don’t believe I need to serve up any examples to support my premise.
The government bureaucracies are dominated by liberal partisans.
QED, or quod erat demonstrandum, which, translated from Latin means, “that which was to be demonstrated.”
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6 replies
[Gerold note: Yeah poor jack got deleted again but SF staff left the replies below]
WhomCanSay
10:58 AM on March 9, 2012
Reality has a liberal bias.
Education leads to liberalism, from the depths of pseudo-Conservatism.
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jimw
11:01 AM on March 9, 2012
You seem to feel pushed aside by every instituition. I feel sad for you.
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swinta
11:02 AM on March 9, 2012
BS, or Bull Sh!t, which, translated from English means, “You are misrepresenting the facts.”
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peevish
11:03 AM on March 9, 2012
Fear of education is one of the reasons for this article. Thanks for demonstrating.
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jl8967
11:16 AM on March 9, 2012
John Roberts = liberal
Thanks for proving the point.
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fatboy5
10:33 PM on March 9, 2012
NEO-LIBERALISM
VON MESES
HAYAK
MILTON FRIEDMAN
LOOK THEM UP AND GET YOUR HEAD OUT!!!!
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maxxpup
10:57 AM on March 9, 2012
///A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. …//
~alexis de tocqueville
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jimw
10:57 AM on March 9, 2012
I don’t know about “dumb”, but I do think there is a pessimistic hopeless attitude that runs through many generations and regions, that combined with the narrow “mind your own business” view of “freedom”, is resulting in a diminishing collective conscience.
The mathematical models are absurd.
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MallardDrake
10:58 AM on March 9, 2012
Biggest problem IMO is that too few people have learned basic ECONOMICS 101. Or perhaps they learned economics from goofy liberal professors who were previously taught by other goofy liberal professors earlier.
Democrats feed on the public’s ignorance of economics and slick politicians know that good politics is often bad economics and good economics is often bad politics. So, politics wins–especially with ignorant Democrats who vote without considering unintended consequences from bad government.
Our problems in California are proof because Democrats keep electing the same people who’ve been wrecking CA for decades. Maybe voters will take notice now that the costs of excessive union pandering have been in the news.
Lack of understanding of economics has given us the ultimate perversion: a “President Obama.”
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6 replies
channelclemente
11:02 AM on March 9, 2012
Raptured Duck has spoken.
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peevish
11:03 AM on March 9, 2012
LOL.
You voted for Bush, twice, right?
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nocomment1
11:17 AM on March 9, 2012
looks like someone did well in Hyperbole 101…
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WhomCanSay
12:14 PM on March 9, 2012
Lack of understanding of economics?
Do you have a degree in economics?
You have displayed 0.0% economic understanding, anywhere.
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MallardDrake
12:57 PM on March 9, 2012
“Whom” can say?
“Who” is subject and “whom” is object.
But that’s not economics about which I know quite a bit despite the critical remarks by Obama lemmings out there.
Trying to educate liberals is like trying to teach French to a squid.
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dsgonzale6
2:21 PM on March 9, 2012
I thought you claimed the French were a bunch of squishy invertebrates.
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mhardebeck
10:58 AM on March 9, 2012
Some people are too stupid, but I would argue most people are too lazy to understand the issues and make informed decisions. Everybody (well, not everybody) wants something for nothing. This type of thinking doesn’t work, hasn’t worked and won’t work in the future and, until we change that, we are doomed to continue to repeat the mistakes of the past.
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join_reality
10:58 AM on March 9, 2012
They couldn’t be more correct… Not exactly earth-shattering news, but seriously- name a President since maybe FDR (or maybe even Teddy Roosevelt) that was a truly inspirational leader. Maybe Kennedy, maybe…
There is a reason Taft isn’t engraved on Mt. Rushmore.
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1 reply
Mrkwong
11:16 AM on March 9, 2012
‘inspirational leader’ and ‘brilliance’ do not go together.
Great men are often not good men.
The most inspirational President of recent times was certainly Reagan. He’s certainly not our greatest President, but he’s easily in the top 10. He was no intellectual, and he knew it. But he had experience, principles, and judgment.
Herbert Hoover was very intelligent, very capable, a very good man. And pretty much a failure as President.
Woodrow Wilson fancied himself quite the intellect, and many would have agreed. He bumbled through his Presidency and his war in much the same fashion as our recent Bush.
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dsgonzale6
10:58 AM on March 9, 2012
Mike Judge, you were right….
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1 reply
malvenkemo
11:02 AM on March 9, 2012
Seriously. Camacho for President
Freedom_Lost
10:59 AM on March 9, 2012
This study boiled down to its most elemental terms goes something like:
I think I have a really great idea, I am a brilliant person, just ask me. If you don’t think my idea is really really great then you must be dumb.
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6 replies
WhomCanSay
10:59 AM on March 9, 2012
MrTea-
“Public education is the problem. We have been investing heavily since the 60s and I don’t see smarter grads.”
The expectations you have are not going to be met by reality.
That doesn’t make reality wrong.
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Geo77
10:59 AM on March 9, 2012
Your headline writer needs to tighten up their accuracy a bit. I don’t think that’s exactly what the study said.
However, the validity of Dunning-Kruger’s idea has certainly been borne out by what’s happened on the ground here in America over the last 30 odd years. There’s nothing wrong with being ill informed if you are willing to be open to all points of view to become better informed. But it doesn’t look to me like that’s happening these days. Lots of people appear ever more willing to ignore facts and go on believing that their rigid adherence to their opinions that fly in the face of reality make them smarter than the next guy. And it’s having a disastrous effect on our ability to run this country efficiently and effectively.
Unfortunately the advance of modern media does nothing but make the problem worse. Instead of being exposed to a spectrum of opinions from people in their entire community, lots of people now self select their “on-line community” which is full of people that think almost exactly like them. This results in what can be called “echo chamber” opinions. We all agree with each other because all we know is what’s inside our little cocoon.
Then almost all the interactions with others that don’t agree takes the form of sound bites and one-liners, with little or no information exchanged that is capable of educating those few that might still possess an open mind.
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bro_
11:00 AM on March 9, 2012
This is why republicans like to go after the NASCAR crowd….
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7 replies
peevish
11:02 AM on March 9, 2012
Also why good ole boy Bush was more “likeable” and, therefore, electable, than Gore, who liked to use a lot of numbers and stuff.
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skullduggery
11:03 AM on March 9, 2012
Yeah, well. Hate to krapp on the compound of cliche’ swimming in your head but it sure isn’t the Nascar crowd that’s run California into the ground.
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Freedom_Lost
11:04 AM on March 9, 2012
Don’t you have a chicken to boil or something?
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Rogus
11:05 AM on March 9, 2012
When did Michelle Obama and Jill Biden become Republicans?
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Name withheld
11:11 AM on March 9, 2012
This comment has violated our Terms and Conditions, and has been removed.
bro_
11:27 AM on March 9, 2012
Considering that CA taxpayers receive less than we pay the fed, we are doing better than the NASCAR states that get more than us…
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Grog
1:55 PM on March 9, 2012
And the Democrats go after the welfare crowd.
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thinkleo
11:00 AM on March 9, 2012
More proof:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/1389/saturday-night-live-dont-buy-stuff
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10 replies
peevish
11:01 AM on March 9, 2012
Gee, thinkleo, I saw this article and immediately thought about you.
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thinkleo
11:05 AM on March 9, 2012
Yeah, because “Hope and Change” was about as cerebral as you could get.
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dsgonzale6
11:12 AM on March 9, 2012
But “Drill, baby, drill” was so much more intellectual?
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thinkleo
11:17 AM on March 9, 2012
Yes, gonzo, “drill, baby, drill” is infinitely more intellectual than “Hope and Change”. By definition. One requires thought. One requires submission.
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dsgonzale6
11:44 AM on March 9, 2012
You clearly didn’t understand what Obama was saying. QED, indeed.
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WhomCanSay
12:13 PM on March 9, 2012
You’re looking for ‘cerebral’ in a campaign slogan?
Voting for Herman Cain?
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fiddlesticks
1:07 PM on March 9, 2012
Thinkleo: You hit the trifecta of Obama shills!
Well done. I call them Curly, Larry & Moe!
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thinkleo
1:10 PM on March 9, 2012
Those are awfully kind word for these nitwits. It’s amazing what passes for intellect in this liberal echo chamber.
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fiddlesticks
1:23 PM on March 9, 2012
I have all three of them on ignore. Not that I don’t know what they’ll say, it’s that I know it will just be the same inane babble they ALWAYS say.
The really sad part is:
They think I’ll actually read it!
Now how Gaumless is that?
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dsgonzale6
2:10 PM on March 9, 2012
The two of you can blow smoke up each others’ wazoos all you like, I know which side here has a better understanding of reality, and it’s not yours–or should I remind you how badly you misunderstood the Laffer curve?
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friction_jack
11:00 AM on March 9, 2012
This is only true for Democrats. Republicans let God decide for them.
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domokun
11:00 AM on March 9, 2012
Makes one appreciate the circuit breakers engineered into our system of government that make change based on a gradually building consensus.
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iveyoung
11:00 AM on March 9, 2012
I came to the same conclusion without 10 years of research.
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channelclemente
11:01 AM on March 9, 2012
I don’t believe it’s stupidity so much but ignorance. I’d be the first to say ignorance, about something, is sort of a state of nature. Today, it seems, that wilfull ignorance is the problem. Many people wear their ignorance as almost a badge of honor. That’s a mystery to me.
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6 replies
WhomCanSay
11:04 AM on March 9, 2012
Damn, we had the same comment at the same time. Well said, well thought.
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channelclemente
11:15 AM on March 9, 2012
You know everytime I read one of these rumination on ignorance/stupidity, for some reason I think of an old novel by Bernard Malamud, The Fixer or, for some, the movie of the same name with Alan Bates. Yakov Bok’s ruminations on why such a ‘low man’ would read Spinoza should come as an epiphany to many.
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justmefolks
11:31 AM on March 9, 2012
Those ignorant badge of honor wearers are everywhere and they multiply. I refer to them as the invincibly ignorant.
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MallardDrake
1:00 PM on March 9, 2012
The ignorant surely multiply in CA which accounts for continuous Democrat rule in the legislature here.
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channelclemente
1:50 PM on March 9, 2012
Raptured Duck, you’re always there when a good example is required. Thank you.
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MallardDrake
3:20 PM on March 10, 2012
Really?
I didn’t vote Democrat; you did.
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vkkv
11:02 AM on March 9, 2012
And this study doesn’t help the Wing Nuts’ arguments:::
AS REPORTED A FEW WEEKS AGO::
Low IQ behind some conservative beliefs
Children with low intelligence are more likely to grow up to be social conservatives and racists, researchers found in a study published out of the U.K.
The study, which appeared in the journal Psychological Science and was written up by LifeScience, built upon previous research linking low education with prejudice, using data from two studies testing IQ and then political beliefs.
“As suspected, low intelligence in childhood corresponded with racism in adulthood. But the factor that explained the relationship between these two variables was political: When researchers included social conservatism in the analysis, those ideologies accounted for much of the link between brains and bias,” LifeScience wrote.
Lead researcher Gordon Hodson, of Brock University in Ontario, concluded that people with low IQs are attracted to the hierarchy and structure in socially conservative institutions.
His findings are expected to cause some controversy since they play into some stereotypical notions of the political divide in the U.S., where liberals can be characterized as elitist and intellectual and conservatives as dumb and backwards.
The Daily Beast, however, points out that the report only addressed socially conservative beliefs and not the whole spectrum of political and economic values of the right.
Hodson also noted that the results should not be used broadly across all people of either political affiliation, saying: “There are multiple examples of very bright conservatives and not-so-bright liberals, and many examples of very principled conservatives and very intolerant liberals.”
In the study, researchers used two forms of IQ tests to determine intelligence and a survey of statements on family life, authority and race relations to determine levels of social conservatism and racism, LifeScience reported. In another study, Hodson and colleagues found a similar link between low education and homophobia.
“They’ve pulled off the trifecta of controversial topics,” said Brian Nosek, a social and cognitive psychologist at the University of Virginia who was not involved in the study. “When one selects intelligence, political ideology and racism and looks at any of the relationships between those three variables, it’s bound to upset somebody.”
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3 replies
Name withheld
11:08 AM on March 9, 2012
This comment has violated our Terms and Conditions, and has been removed.
kingsatan
12:24 PM on March 9, 2012
Heh, as a moderate I wonder why they don’t study these same qualities in minorities and the far left.
Low IQ doesn’t mean you are going to grow up to be a conservative, it means you will grow up inclined to be an authoritarian.
The USSR was cheered along by low IQ members of the left.
The structure of SF progressivism is top down, racialist, and it’s members adhere to s strict narrow agenda and follow the leaders like robots.
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politico
1:10 PM on March 9, 2012
William Buckley, Jr. was a smart conservative and an intellectual. Unfortunately, he was the last of his kind.
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WhomCanSay
11:02 AM on March 9, 2012
“Intelligence” isn’t the issue. It’s WILLFUL IGNORANCE that is the issue.
Fox News exploits the trend – people who don’t live in reality. They don’t want the truth.
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4 replies
gaelic_femme
11:10 AM on March 9, 2012
Yes that is a good point..simply put many people don’t want to know the truth, it scares them.
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carolsiriusb
11:15 AM on March 9, 2012
and it might require some energy expended to FIX things…
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channelclemente
11:17 AM on March 9, 2012
It can’t be said enough. If there is such a thing as sin, that is it.
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WhomCanSay
11:17 AM on March 9, 2012
WHILE killing their ‘social heritage’ of bigotry, you might note.
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buttseriously
11:03 AM on March 9, 2012
No surprise here. Smart people have known this for a long time.
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WhomCanSay
11:05 AM on March 9, 2012
I have a lot of patience for people who aren’t too bright, but mean well.
It’s the type that aren’t bright but advocate their idiocy…
Who attacks public education? Stupid people do.
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2 replies
MallardDrake
11:40 AM on March 9, 2012
Who puts up with bad public education?
Unionized teachers and their supporters do.
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WhomCanSay
12:12 PM on March 9, 2012
Who wants to get rid of all public education to ‘combat’ a problem.
Stupid people do. Baby @ bathwater
disturbance
11:05 AM on March 9, 2012
Yes..it all started 10s of thousands of years ago with what we wave as our flag of superiority over all the other species on the planet..super intelligence..which, evidently will lead to one thing..the continued downhill slope to eventual extinction.
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nocomment1
11:05 AM on March 9, 2012
ok…so maybe we’re a bit slow, but damn…we look GOOD.
(what’s that? we’re morbidly obese? ok, but we have nice cars and big TVs.)
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sfg_watchdog
11:06 AM on March 9, 2012
This is obvious. Most people out there are deluded nutwhacks, be they of the religious type, or the Republican type.
Cuz come on – Republicans think that only THEY have the secrets to economic success when the states that they’ve controlled for DECADES are the worst off, economically, educationally, in healthcare, and several other metrics.
If they’re such geniuses – why haven’t they been able to fix their own states? And why do the stupid people IN those states continue to vote for them?
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3 replies
Freedom_Lost
11:14 AM on March 9, 2012
Yes, and that is why California is on such sound financial footing. Oh wait…
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anothersteve
11:15 AM on March 9, 2012
Pelosi, Feinstein, Boxer. Please explain.
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WhomCanSay
12:11 PM on March 9, 2012
Pelosi – no real challengers.
Feinstein – no real challengers.
Boxer – no real challengers.
Or did you want it broken down, chewed for you?
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WhomCanSay
11:07 AM on March 9, 2012
Who thinks more STD’s and unwanted pregnancies are “God’s path?”
Stupid people do.
Q: Why do they think being stupid is good enough for the rest of us?
A: Because they don’t know any better.
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1 reply
channelclemente
11:19 AM on March 9, 2012
Who can’t understand that contraception minimizes abortions?
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skullduggery
11:07 AM on March 9, 2012
“and so I said, do you love me, and she said, no, but that’s a great ski mask”
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glands
11:08 AM on March 9, 2012
Some “smart” people think they are smarter than the rest and able to decide what is best for everyone. They are called dictators. We have one in the office of Presidency at the moment.
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7 replies
icenine
11:13 AM on March 9, 2012
We are smarter. Eight years of Bush proved what happens when idiots run the country (into the ground.)
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TedSpe
11:15 AM on March 9, 2012
And see? You just proved this article’s point. Kinda fun, huh?
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Geo77
11:21 AM on March 9, 2012
That post is flat out stupid.
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thegarbageman
11:21 AM on March 9, 2012
What was that about being too dumb to know that you’re dumb?
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MallardDrake
11:44 AM on March 9, 2012
Two kinds of Democrats:
1. Elitists like Obama who think they know what’s best for everybody;
2. People who are dependent on government.
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dsgonzale6
11:49 AM on March 9, 2012
Asinine generalizations also fit the bill, so to speak.
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WhomCanSay
12:10 PM on March 9, 2012
Two kinds of logical fallacy:
1. False dichotomies
2. Shaddap, I’m right
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reggie75
11:08 AM on March 9, 2012
There is a corollary principle that although the public holds politicians in extremely low regard, the quality of politicians and of the public services they oversee is actually much higher than the public deserves or is capable of appreciating in most cases. Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner are actually very hard-working, dedicated public servants who sacrifice a lot to be where they are. But trying to get the public to understand that is hopeless.
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suprobo37sl
11:08 AM on March 9, 2012
Too dumb to know you’re that dumb? That explains why that guy I saw wearing his NE Pats Tom Brady jersey at SF Giants Fanfest this year.
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HGHNTR
11:08 AM on March 9, 2012
I for one, would welcome our new progressive overlords, because they’re so smart!
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1 reply
WhomCanSay
11:16 AM on March 9, 2012
You find yourself smart, which you think is evidence of itself. It isn’t.
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Mad_Jack_Duncan
11:08 AM on March 9, 2012
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” … “entitled to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
Funny,the prerequisites didn’t say anything about being smart?!!
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2 replies
edchicago
11:21 AM on March 9, 2012
Yeah, but it is implied you want to better yourself and learn something new, which a lot of people reject anymore. Very sad.
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Mad_Jack_Duncan
11:51 AM on March 9, 2012
Welcome to the Orwellian world of 1984.
gaelic_femme
11:09 AM on March 9, 2012
Some real truth in that. Just the fact that there are states that are still fighting having evolution taught in school should tell you how irrational many Americans are.
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yarbledarble
11:09 AM on March 9, 2012
This is the cause and effect of the art of political polarization. It silences the middle where thoughtfulness, compromise, and cooperation reside.
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Geo77
11:10 AM on March 9, 2012
MallardDrake- Why is it only liberal economists who can be wrong in your world? When I look at the 2008 economic meltdown I see where blame can be placed on both parts of the political spectrum.
For instance Clinton did a lot of things right fiscally because he was genuinely concerned about reducing deficits and acted on that concern. But he also did things that were bad for our economy – playing along on deregulation, jumping on the free trade bandwagon without thinking through the ultimate consequences to our industrial base, and getting chummy with Wall St types through his Sec. of the Treasury (Rubin).
The problem is with deregulation and free trade he was following the conservative playbook, not the liberal playbook. And the chumminess with Wall St was truly a bipartisan effort. Your inane ramblings about liberal economists are one-sided and not grounded in reality.
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2 replies
carolsiriusb
11:11 AM on March 9, 2012
Clinton did not care. He was part of the banking team from the get-go.
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skullduggery
11:15 AM on March 9, 2012
Starting with the fact that a spectrum doesn’t have just two points on it, like our political ‘spectrum’ does, like our two factioned/one party system does, where the results always seem to be fundamentally the same, excepting quite shallow differences.
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Freedom_Lost
11:11 AM on March 9, 2012
This is just another leftwing, feel-good about how brilliant we are, circle jerk. Nothing more to see here, move along.
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3 replies
MrTea
11:21 AM on March 9, 2012
YupIn other words, stupid people are too stupid to know how stupid they are.
validation by the group doesn’t make one smart.
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WhomCanSay
12:09 PM on March 9, 2012
Facts are facts. If you don’t look at the facts, spend all your time avoiding them?
You are limiting yourself from reality.
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dsgonzale6
1:45 PM on March 9, 2012
Finally something that suits your expertise.
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spokeshave
11:12 AM on March 9, 2012
Krugman wrote an apropos piece in yesterday’s NYT titled “Ignorance is Strength”.
“It’s not hard to see what’s driving Mr. Santorum’s wing of the party. His specific claim that college attendance undermines faith is, it turns out, false. But he’s right to feel that our higher education system isn’t friendly ground for current conservative ideology. And it’s not just liberal-arts professors: among scientists, self-identified Democrats outnumber self-identified Republicans nine to one.
I guess Mr. Santorum would see this as evidence of a liberal conspiracy. Others might suggest that scientists find it hard to support a party in which denial of climate change has become a political litmus test, and denial of the theory of evolution is well on its way to similar status.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/09/opinion/krugman-ignorance-is-strength.html?_r=1&hp
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5 replies
rustyrosco2000
11:19 AM on March 9, 2012
If Krugmann could read an X-Y plot he might see no global warming in the past 15 years. But obviously his indoctrination is complete.
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Geo77
11:24 AM on March 9, 2012
Rusty- Do you realize this article is about you?
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channelclemente
11:28 AM on March 9, 2012
To mistake weather for climate is a fatal error. The premise of what became global warming in the press, began with visible climatic instability and variation. I think there is adequate proof of that for anyone to notice. When your an ant on a basketball, it’s hard not to let ‘locality’ influence your POV.
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rustyrosco2000
12:26 PM on March 9, 2012
Can’t read one either, eh Geo? Not surprised there.
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dsgonzale6
1:47 PM on March 9, 2012
RR, your statement is evidence of the thesis of this article.
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jl8967
11:12 AM on March 9, 2012
Socrates was right!
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3 replies
skullduggery
11:18 AM on March 9, 2012
and they killed him.
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shuzzie53
11:43 AM on March 9, 2012
Who?
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dsgonzale6
1:47 PM on March 9, 2012
skull, people have always feared the truth.
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oneflpdwn
11:12 AM on March 9, 2012
I know I’m an idiot. I think that makes me a genius.
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Name withheld
11:12 AM on March 9, 2012
This comment was left by a user who has been blocked by our staff.
badminton
11:13 AM on March 9, 2012
There is an anti-intellectual tendency in American culture that doesn’t respect or value education. People who are well-educated and have a thirst for knowledge in this country are often branded as elitist or snobs. The intelligent and curious are labeled “nerds”. This anti-intellectual tendency does not serve us well. Hopefully, we’ll evolve out of it someday.
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1 reply
MrTea
11:18 AM on March 9, 2012
Are you talking about education that merely results in a piece of paper showing you paid tuition or a real degree?
There were over 80,000 Performance Art majors last year and yet fewer computer science grads than graduated 25 years ago.
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montgog
11:13 AM on March 9, 2012
Intelligence”Very smart ideas are going to be hard for people to adopt, because most people don’t have the sophistication to recognize how good an idea is” “Let us assume ” Candidates that deny,avoid,lie.can no longer run. Would that framework be sophisticated enough for your theory.
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1 reply
dsgonzale6
1:49 PM on March 9, 2012
How would you prove it?
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linsanity
11:13 AM on March 9, 2012
George W Bush x 2.
That proves it all.
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2 replies
channelclemente
11:21 AM on March 9, 2012
If anything proves it, it’s WWE.
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Rogus
11:27 AM on March 9, 2012
Or if the people who wanted to vote for Gore could have simply punched the right hole.
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vkkv
11:13 AM on March 9, 2012
Just think how great it would be to have government and military policy determined by slogans.
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Ikar
\11:14 AM on March 9, 2012
The only thing more powerful than an idea whose time has come is a citzenry incapable of understanding an offer it makes to itself. Pogo was right. We have met the enemy and it is us.
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oceansurf1
11:14 AM on March 9, 2012
Hey, not all Republicans are “unsophisticated”. The wealthy one’s can be very smart about profit margins, the bottom line and even science and gun control. They can be just as smart as anyone. Being a Republican doesn’t necessarily mean that they lack sophistication, or brains. In fact, quite the opposite could be said. Many wealthy Republicans enjoy a positive upbringing, go to the best schools and experience the best the world has to offer. Now, juxtapose that with a blue-collar Republican from Modoc County, California, or the like and then the article begins to gain merit. Trouble is, there are too many blue-collars latching on to the business desires of the white-collars. Somehow, the blue-collars think that they have allies. That is unsophisticated.
Here’s another example:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/29/BAUU18ETCF.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea
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2 replies
hawguy
11:15 AM on March 9, 2012
Isn’t this what the Electoral College is for? To cast the right vote for Americans who are too uninformed to vote “correctly”?
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snoozysuzie
11:15 AM on March 9, 2012
So you think we invaded Iraq to spread democracy? You are as dumb as the people you are disparaging.
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4 replies
skullduggery
11:21 AM on March 9, 2012
I thought that we invaded it so that we could profit from destroying it and then profit from rebuilding it. At least that’s why feinstein was on board. A 500 million dollar reconstruction contract for her and her husband is nothing to sneeze at.
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wskibum
11:21 AM on March 9, 2012
Yup, I think that says it all.
Kind of makes everything else he has to say irrelevant
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DeanCutlet
11:26 AM on March 9, 2012
I was hoping, really really hoping the author was being sarcastic…
But, whatever. I’ll just hop over to Livescience.com and read the original article. They are more credible than SFgate anyway.
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skullduggery
11:51 AM on March 9, 2012
Nah, Sfgate is just here to keep us occupied and amused on our work breaks.
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rundontwalk
11:16 AM on March 9, 2012
This is news? I think we all saw this phenom play out many moons ago with the jury in the OJ Simpson trial.
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jackpantalones
11:16 AM on March 9, 2012
The Dunning-Kruger effect is old news.
This particular experiment, performed by a German sociologist and apparently unconnected to Dunning and Kruger, sounds pretty sketchy. As described in the LiveScience article, it sounds like he specifically designed it to attain the result he was looking for.
I don’t particularly disagree with the conclusion, but this “scientific proof” isn’t very convincing.
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Jacktwopipe
11:17 AM on March 9, 2012
I knew there was a reason why I don’t vote. I’m just too stupid to tell the difference between an “honest” politician and a “lying” one.
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rustyrosco2000
11:17 AM on March 9, 2012
This can all be solved via increased third world immigration.
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2 replies
vkkv
11:19 AM on March 9, 2012
– who’s schools rank higher than ours, yes I agree.
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TeaPotPartier
12:13 PM on March 9, 2012
Typical example of the ignorance that plagues us all.
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padsmom
11:17 AM on March 9, 2012
This is nothing new. Plato’s Argument Against Democracy is an example proving this is an old theory. Sadly, getting the facts about issues is harder now than ever before. It should be the opposite with the Internet but filtering out fact from partisan rhetoric takes at least a basic education and more time and effort then most are willing or able to spend. Much easier to attach your alliance to anyone with a D, R, or I after their name. If politicians had any morals that might be okay. But they don’t. The striving for power, money and a position amongst the elite becomes the be-all and end-all for the vast majority. The voters are merely a stepping stone – a mass of hollering humans to be paid a moments attention every couple of years.
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1 reply
shanghaijim
11:20 AM on March 9, 2012
Yay people who read Plato!
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vkkv
11:18 AM on March 9, 2012
EFFIN’ LOST WROTE::””This is just another leftwing, feel-good about how brilliant we are, circle jerk. Nothing more to see here, move along.”””
———————————————–
Yah, like the 4th of July and the good ‘ol red, white and blue.
Don’t be a commie and forget to wear your flag pin!
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brew2day
11:18 AM on March 9, 2012
interesting and agreed! people will believe anything if your persuasive enough including BS.
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wsegen
11:18 AM on March 9, 2012
The “god complex” thrives in academia. easy bucks. the moral highground of a pet rock. plenty hearst filler. these “researchers” are a good definition of welfare.
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eddiec
11:18 AM on March 9, 2012
Why liberals are more intelligent than conservatives
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-scientific-fundamentalist/201003/why-liberals-are-more-intelligent-conservative
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7 replies
eddiec
11:19 AM on March 9, 2012
http://american.com/archive/2009/october/are-liberals-smarter-than-conservatives
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channelclemente
11:23 AM on March 9, 2012
As much as it may be true, you do realize that’s the same argument made in The Bell Curve.
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thinkleo
11:29 AM on March 9, 2012
Most college professors cannot even balance their checkbook.
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vkkv
11:40 AM on March 9, 2012
nice.
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eddiec
11:41 AM on March 9, 2012
Tell that to the Dean of Medicine at Stanford.
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ladeeda
11:47 AM on March 9, 2012
Just do some searching on the author of that article, Satoshi Kanazawa, and you’ll see he doesn’t play with a full deck. Go ahead, do it.
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rustyrosco2000
12:22 PM on March 9, 2012
Ah yes, “The Bell Curve” . Libruls went NUTS over that.
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looktoplanb
11:18 AM on March 9, 2012
I’d reserve judgement untill November. Hopey/Changy exposed and trillions more in debt, the GREAT Divider is really going to have to get the hate and envy going to win again. It might just work….
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2 replies
landoke
11:23 AM on March 9, 2012
You…might want to revisit the premise of this article, my friend.
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WhomCanSay
11:33 AM on March 9, 2012
Republican war debt, Republican tax cuts for the rich, Republicans advocate more –
of both of them, if Romney gets office.
Sorry! The ‘great divider’ knows division and you’re stuck on subtraction.
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shanghaijim
11:18 AM on March 9, 2012
Plato sez: told ya so! He pointed out this basic flaw of democracy in The Republic two and a half thousand years ago. The answer is clearly to disenfranchise anyone who isn’t smart enough. Of course, fairness indicates if they don’t get a vote, they oughtn’t have to pay taxes. Hey, this sounds promising.
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gphi66
11:19 AM on March 9, 2012
…. says Dr. Sheldon Cooper. (TBBT)
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kjg
11:19 AM on March 9, 2012
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/
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BillyBoy55
11:20 AM on March 9, 2012
Our democracy has a long history and traditions with deep roots. Its greatest feature is that it is decentralized. Most laws that really impact our lives are state and local. Because of mass media, the electorate is probably more informed than ever in our history. Also, the expansion of voting rights in the ’60’s and ’70’s and electoral reforms made the system much more fair and transparent. Our founding fathers put an emergency brake in place to prevent mass populist movement is take power, i.e., the US Senate and Supreme Court. It is hardly perfect, but still serves us well.
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3 replies
rupright
11:28 AM on March 9, 2012
Then why does it not stop all of our illegal, unconstitutional Wars? Why does it not stop our evil empire? Why does it not rein in the government’s insane spending? Just to name a few basic flaws in your paean – the brakes appear to have been tampered with.
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Geo77
11:35 AM on March 9, 2012
The effectiveness of the Supreme Court as a brake depends heavily on politicians not trying to pack the court with political ideologues. Unfortunately that has been on a serious downward spiral recently.
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Geo77
11:38 AM on March 9, 2012
And just to clarify my point I do think the GOP has been much more guilty of court packing with political ideologues if you look at the records.
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stash4me
11:22 AM on March 9, 2012
Go away! I’m baitin…
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sprtplt11
11:22 AM on March 9, 2012
And that is why we have a representative republic, not a democracy.
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BenderRodriguez
11:22 AM on March 9, 2012
I wouldn’t worry about that … moot point once robots take over the world …
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1 reply
scionkirk
11:29 AM on March 9, 2012That assumes that the robots are any smarter. I’ve known some pretty dumb robots.
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rupright
11:23 AM on March 9, 2012
Instead of IQ tests or even tests based upon knowledge of the Constitution, let’s simply disallow all government workers from voting, plus all people on welfare and all those who do not pay income and/or property taxes. I think this would go far toward improving our “democracy”.
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2 replies
nevermindme
11:25 AM on March 9, 2012
If you can’t find the crazy person on the bus, It’s you.
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donaldcrox
8:48 PM on March 10, 2012
Here here!!!
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thinkleo
11:23 AM on March 9, 2012
Idiocracy
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2 replies
WhomCanSay
11:32 AM on March 9, 2012
“Zeitgeist”
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Squeeze
11:38 AM on March 9, 2012
Ow my balls!
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nevermindme
11:24 AM on March 9, 2012
“It would appear then that democracy dooms us to mediocrity and misinformed choices. Not exactly encouraging news for the next round of California’s ballot initiatives.”
Anti democratic people, usually monarchists or those who thing basic equality does not exist and deem themselves to be in a higher category than regular folks, are the only folks who could makes such a statement or write such an article ignoring the central fact that makes these manufactured over time factoids seem to be essential truths.
The intentional destruction of rational education in favor of encouraging a falsely based sense of inclusion since the 1960’s, which creates these ignorant people, and the elimination of proper formal English to discuss publicly important issues also to create a falsely based sense of inclusion.
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bastonelec
11:24 AM on March 9, 2012
Eight years of the absolute idiot Bush is a perfect example – Dumb as a post….
A “C” student in college even when daddy was pulling the strings.
The republicans go for image not brains.
They need to sell their corporatiszing & privatizing of America for the rich like a TV reality show, Remember Reagan using images of Clint Eastwood as his secretary of defense, Charlton Heston as such & such, etc. etc….these are just actors like republican puppet Reagan was – yet these Fox watchers eat it up….they are just dumb!
The Fox watching Limbaugh dittoheads who are so uninformed, uneducated imbeciles who really believe they are informed and are told they are by republicans propagandist Fox & Limbaugh and the rest of the fascist Who push fear hate & patriotism for wars and everything else……..These sheep don’t even have clue what fascism means – they never ever look things up for themselves they just repeat the republican lies they are told verbatim, (uh, verbatim means – word for word – The IQ of a pea Fox “news” watcher).
All these idiots know how to do is push the thumbs down sign complete morons, sheep, robots for the republicans hate & fear pushing.
Popularity: 0
1 reply
pupstuff
11:58 AM on March 9, 2012
Honey, did you miss American Idol last night? Is that why we’re so angry?
Popularity: 1
northduc
11:24 AM on March 9, 2012
The government schools are serving their purpose.
Popularity: 2
1 reply
eddiec
11:29 AM on March 9, 2012
Education starts at home.
Popularity: 0
landoke
11:24 AM on March 9, 2012
Can we reiterate why good education is a fundamental backbone of a democracy?
Popularity: 6
1 reply
WhomCanSay
\]11:32 AM on March 9, 2012
I wish we didn’t need to…
Popularity: -1
MrTambourineMan
11:24 AM on March 9, 2012
It took scientific research to figure this out?
Popularity: 6
mrkwong
11:25 AM on March 9, 2012
One would like to ask Mr Dunning and Mr Kruger what they consider to be ‘very smart ideas’.
There’s a large slice of the academic left that’d say CO2 regulation, taxation, etc. is a ‘very smart idea’. They’re wrong, of course, but they believe it very, very fervently.
So, come on. What kind of ‘very smart ideas’ are these cranks peddling?
Humanity is not a little clique of brilliant shiny beings all with exactly the same interests and the same goals like some Gene Roddenberry TV show. One person’s ‘very smart idea’ is an intolerable intrusion to another.
Popularity: -7
4 replies
WhomCanSay
11:31 AM on March 9, 2012
Regulation and taxation aren’t the same thing.
Popularity: 1
Geo77
11:33 AM on March 9, 2012
mrkwong- I can truly say that through your various posts on this web site you have proved yourself to be an expert on wrong ideas. Maybe this is a marketable skill for which researchers like Dunning and Kruger would be willing to pay?
Popularity: -2
mrkwong
11:34 AM on March 9, 2012
WhomCanSay – okay, so they’re two ‘very smart ideas’.
They’re both embraced with religious fervor by much of the academic left.
And they’re both clear examples of the inability to recognize one’s own stupidity.
Popularity: -2
WhomCanSay
11:40 AM on March 9, 2012
“WhomCanSay – okay, so they’re two ‘very smart ideas’. ”
Your words?
They ‘can’ be smart ideas, used ‘smartly’.
You are an absolutist – that’s not intelligence.
Popularity: 0
londonview
11:25 AM on March 9, 2012
I agree with the findings. This incompetence goes way back and is current now. Just look at jerks running for office now. Only a fool would vote for those hate filled bigots. We are scrapping the bottom of the barrel
Popularity: 3
1 reply
mrkwong
11:29 AM on March 9, 2012
Well, by your standards then 53% of America voted for a hate-filled bigot last time, maybe we’ll get rid of him this time ’round.
Popularity: -2
scionkirk
11:25 AM on March 9, 2012
I said it before, and I’ll say it again, the best way to determine who wields supreme executive power is through watery tarts laying in ponds throwing swords at people.
Popularity: 6
danke
11:25 AM on March 9, 2012
This is really hard for me but I will be strong —
And stay out of this.
Popularity: 2
roadsterred
11:26 AM on March 9, 2012
With two, going on three, generations of the Great Society living on government entitlements, what do you expect?
Remember the definition of insanity, putting forth the same solutions but expecting different results.
With 49% of our working population paying no Federal Income Taxes, the other 51% are too busy working to support their families to pay attention to the politics in Washington D.C. Hopefully, they’ll take the time to pay attention this election year.
Popularity: -2
1 reply
Name withheld
11:34 AM on March 9, 2012
This comment has violated our Terms and Conditions, and has been removed.
jzj
11:27 AM on March 9, 2012
The Onion always has great satire! Wait, this isn’t the Onion…
Maybe we would have been spared this study if someone had noticed that in Plato’s Republic, he had observed that ‘In a democracy, those who are expert at winning elections and nothing else will eventually dominate democratic politics. Democracy tends to emphasize this expertise at the expense of the expertise that is necessary to properly governed societies. The reason for this is that most people do not have the kinds of talents that enable them to think well about the difficult issues that politics involves. But in order to win office or get a piece of legislation passed, politicians must appeal to these people’s sense of what is right or not right. Hence, the state will be guided by very poorly worked out ideas that experts in manipulation and mass appeal use to help themselves win office.’
Popularity: 5
1 reply
montgog
12:18 PM on March 9, 2012
I like it..
Popularity: 0
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