Why Is the Right So Stupid?

[galvez]

Why are leftists so much more educated than right-wingers, in general? Why are they more sensitive, more compassionate, more analytical, more scientific, than right-wingers, in general?

Almost all of the Nordish, Medish, Slavic, etc., intellectuals have leaned to the left.

The conservatives have no response to this.

Anyone have a good response? I don't want a "high school-educated Skadiite" answer to the effect that there is "Jewish media control." Intellectuals have leaned to the left long before Jews gained preeminence in the West.

[Sandwich]

I used to think this was true, but I'm not entirely sure that it wll remain so. The left has failed to produce much of note since post-modernism chopped its balls off.

The key distinction is the Hobbes-Rousseau divide, the idea of the perfectibility of man. The left was aligned with progress, freedom from dogmatic restriction in thinking, greater democracy, and the festival of the oppressed during the 19th and early 20th century. The right was represented by grotesques like Wellington and Metternich, and later was animated by a constant fear of the rising power and literacy of the masses - as in the writings of the repulsive Virginia Woolfe.

It took a while to discover just what a horror Leninism actually was, and this was only finally accepted when the Wall came down. The left, bereft of its bastion, then retreated from espousing real values at all, embracing relativism and betraying its enlightenment roots.

I think Europe should now go back to Romantic values : Kant, Paine, Godwin, Beethoven, Hegel, Thoreau, Byron, Lamartine, Hugo and start spinning Grand Narratives about it's own future again. ;D

[eufrenio]

galvez said:

Why are leftists so much more educated than right-wingers, in general? Why are they more sensitive, more compassionate, more analytical, more scientific, than right-wingers, in general?

Almost all of the Nordish, Medish, Slavic, etc., intellectuals have leaned to the left.

The conservatives have no response to this.

Anyone have a good response? I don't want a "high school-educated Skadiite" answer to the effect that there is "Jewish media control." Intellectuals have leaned to the left long before Jews gained preeminence in the West.

Well, that´s taking too many things for granted! ;-)
Why do you assume they are more "sensitive and compassionate" among other things?

In part, you just answered your own question: since leftists intellectuals run the education system, they make sure generations of students believe leftists are morally better than conservatives.

Do you want a scientific answer? Read this essay by John Ray ,an Australian social scientist: "WHY ARE PEOPLE LEFTISTS?"
"The answer in five words: "Leftists need to feel superior". Now for the details:..."
jonjayray.tripod.com/leftism3.html

Here´s his web page, with plenty of interesting stuff:

johnray.batcave.net/

Don´t miss his blog, Dissecting Leftism:

dissectleft.blogspot.com/

[Sandwich]

Eufrenio, I guess you're an Italian living in Rome? (Wrongly as it turns out - I went by the Caput Mundi. Thought the name dounded Spanish)

And the best you can come up with is an American who has no sense of history at all?

How come so many of the great Italian film directors - the best cinema in the world - were *leftists: De Sica , Rosselini, Visconti, Bertolucci (also scriptwriter for Leone), Passolini ? Even if you disagree with their politics, don't you recognize their artistry?

* nb leftists. Not all were fans of the PCI.

[Melnorme]

Sandwich said:

Eufrenio, I gues you're an Italian living in Rome? And the best you can come up with is an American who has no sense of history at all?

I believe he is Spanish.

[Aria88]

I must be laconic now. The Left may be better educated, but they are so out of touch with the "real world" that their liberal education makes them ineligible to politically deal with society. Vis-a-vis the liberal aristocracy of the USA, which is predominantly encroached in the northeast, from Maine to New Jersey -- and California. These folks are largely to blame for Pax Americana. This is why the USA is so ingratiated with herself that she intends to rule, or at least manipulate the world. Bush, by the way, is no right-wing conservative. He and his cronies are just a slightly different wing of the foul Yankee imperialists, who are always of slightly left and slightly right varieties. Recall how these forces destroyed the South 140 years ago. That was a dry-run before they took on the rest of the world with their smug attitude of cultural superiority (e.g. democracy, which, BTW, is just an excuse to acquire power).

Deo Vindice

[eufrenio]

Sandwich said:

Eufrenio, I guess you're an Italian living in Rome? (Wrongly as it turns out - I went by the Caput Mundi. Thought the name dounded Spanish)

And the best you can come up with is an American who has no sense of history at all?

How come so many of the great Italian film directors - the best cinema in the world - were *leftists: De Sica , Rosselini, Visconti, Bertolucci (also scriptwriter for Leone), Passolini ? Even if you disagree with their politics, don't you recognize their artistry?

* nb leftists. Not all were fans of the PCI.

Melnorme has it right: I am Spanish! ;D
I know in the days of the Roman Empire, the Latin phrase ran : "Roma caput mundi" (literally: Rome, head of the world; meaning: Rome, top of the world, capital of the world).
When Spain (sort of) ruled the world in the XVI th
century), the phrase was revived to refer to Spain, if you pardon my mild chauvinism! "Hispania caput mundi".
I remember seeing a picture of that era, a geo-political and figurative illustration,representing Europe as a lady : the Iberian Peninsula stands at the head, of course crowned. I have been being googling that illustration, to no avail. It´s probably somewhere in an old encyclopaedia I own.
As for John Ray, he´s an Australian, not an American.

I am also a great fan of early Italian movies: rest assured I can separate art from politics.

[Aria88]

Oh, yes, one more thing: I resent the denigration of "blue collar" attitudes and morals. It is the middle class, most of which can be described as "blue collar" which pays most of the taxes and makes up the vast majority of the population. It is the working class that ought to control the destiny of the nation, not some limousine liberals or old money conservatives, or other plutocrats. This premise is so obvious folks can't see it because it's right in front of their eyes!

When I mention certain establishment figures to...let's say...my boss, as being capitalist scum (e.g. Alan Greenspan), he thinks I adhere to a Communist ideology. When I retort that Communism is just as evil, and that the solution is the Rule of the Middle Class, he responds by saying, "that will never happen!" Why not? Yes, it's scary to the establishment, both left and right that somehow the workers could really control their own destiny and the destiny of the nation. And I don't mean this in a Marxist way. If we make up the numerical majority and pay the majority of taxes, then we should have political power (and I don't mean the "democratic" method of voting for your choice of one of two candidates who will do things against your interest, any way). Trouble is, even the middle class itself is so thoroughly brainwashed that it, too, finds the idea absurd, because, of course, that's what the aristocrats say. (Please don't try to tell me there is no American aristocracy.)

A true populist politician would be eliminated by the powers that be, one way or another.

[Sandwich]

Funny, in England, Middle Class means doctors and lawyers and academics and civil servants - the people who, throughout Europe, from the 19th century onwards, in alliance with the unionised or unionizing working class, have secured a steady accumulation of social benefits for the poor, greater opportunities for all, a national healthcare system, paid holidays and all sorts of protection from plutocrats and the landed interest. The architects of European social democracy, which delivers a society that, on many indices that matter to human happiness, puts the US in the shade.

It's odd to think of these people as the left at all. They're not even necessarily political, They're just the fellows to whom everybody turns when things go wrong, or a problem needs sorting out, or a principle - legal or scientific - needs to be understood. The middle class, the hereditary intelligentsia, the nothing in the least effete about my snobbery lot, who prevent society falling apart into tyranny, as it invariably does whenever their influence is removed, even for a year - even for a month.

As opposed to "leftists", those who believe in the dictatorship of the proleteriat. Usually people from the lowest ranks of the white-collar middle class, who would love to take over positions of responsibility, and have a go at bossing the proles around themselves, but have not really got any significant skills or qualifications for the job. Hang on though - that's rightists too isn't it ?

God bless the real Middle Class - neither right nor left, but unashamedly elitist - who believe hoi polloi are, as they have ever been, all too easily swayed by demagogues. God bless the Hoplites of Athens, not the Aristocrats who will join with the other side, and not the galley Oarsmen, who will vote without thought for whoever pays them to.

Without a powerful role for the solid, privileged, educated elite that generates new ideas constantly and also entertains the better ideas of the left and right, tempering them with it's own self interest, plutocrats and demagogues rule, and quickly make a horrible mess for everyone.

I really don't see what is wrong with denigrating "blue collar"attitudes, just because they're in the majority.

[zain]

galvez said:

Why are leftists so much more educated than right-wingers, in general? Why are they more sensitive, more compassionate, more analytical, more scientific, than right-wingers, in general?

Almost all of the Nordish, Medish, Slavic, etc., intellectuals have leaned to the left.

The conservatives have no response to this.

Anyone have a good response? I don't want a "high school-educated Skadiite" answer to the effect that there is "Jewish media control." Intellectuals have leaned to the left long before Jews gained preeminence in the West.

Right are the soul of the nations , leftist are it’s Brian
i think in every nation there are literalist v.s figurative, liberals vs conservatives ,Saints vs sinners ,smart vs stupid, and tradition vs modern, it is kind of human nature ,sometime even in a single family you can see both types

from my observation minority groups tend to be leftist most of the time ,and they also tend to be more rational ,and liberals than the majority . in the other side (the majority side) emotional people ,religious, fanatic ,and raciest tend to be right-wings because they think they represent the soul of their nation, and they got to save it . (what ever that nation is ) ,you can find then in every country , they might have different names ,but they are the same mentality .

[recluse]

duh...i doesn't know...maybe some smart left man 'splain to me it.

p.s. aria88, I wouldn't change a word of what you said about Bush, yankee imperialism, and populism.

[alex221166]

If you were forced to endure 7 years of socialist government, I doubt you would have the same opinion.

In my country, the center-right and the christian-conservatives have ~70-80% of the brains of the country. The least educated and the hopelessly idealistic individuals usually vote for the comunists or socialists.

[Aria88]

Alex, that may be in Europe, but Americans, except for self-righteous, far-left hippies, vagitarians and ultra-liberal intellectuals, would never vote for anything that smacks of Communism.

[izabet]

Perhaps it appears that way, galvez, particularly in the US, because the Right there seem to be highly anti-intellectual not to mention out for shock. The Left do seem more mild-mannered, but I don't think the US has a true left representing the people in DC anyway

In Canada everything is far more towards the Left. Our Right wing parties are still quite progressive socially, but it varies from province to province.

All this to say that living under socialism isn't all it's cracked up to be. Quebec is very socialist. The red tape needed to do *anything* there is astounding, as are the web of social agencies that are so interconnected. If a man is found to have mental health problems and goes to a state health clinic, his children could have reports opened at children's aid and his file will be closed. It's sick really. There is NO privacy in that province. They keep tabs on everything. If someone buys a boat and only reports X income (not enough to buy a boat) the government will find out.

[captainusa1]

izabet said:

Perhaps it appears that way, galvez, particularly in the US, because the Right there seem to be highly anti-intellectual not to mention out for shock. The Left do seem more mild-mannered, but I don't think the US has a true left representing the people in DC anyway

I don't think that's the case. There are intellectuals among both the Left and the Right. There also are *many* anti-intellectual leftists who have replaced honest discourse with cheap talk, and these people are anything *but* mild-mannered when someone disagrees with them. The brainwashed fans of Michael Moore come to mind.