I know some scary smart people who never graduated from high school, and I know some real doofuses with graduate degrees, so I understand that the number of years of formal education that someone has racked up is no guarantee of intelligence. But every once in a while, I see some poll numbers that pretty convincingly correlate believing idiotic things with having less education, and not believing idiotic things with having more education.
A recent example is a Harris poll that asked whether each of 15 statements about Barack Obama is true or false. In every single case, the less schooling people had, the more likely they were to believe that false things are true.
For example, 18 percent of Americans with high school or less education think that the president may be the Anti-Christ. That's right, nearly one out of five Americans whose education went no farther than secondary school -- who are eligible to vote, same as you and me -- believe Obama is the bad guy in The Omen.* But only 13 percent of people with some college believe that; and 9 percent of college graduates; and down to 4 percent of people who've had some post-graduate education.
It's the same descending scale with "He is doing many of the things that Hitler did." Twenty-four percent of high-school-or-less say yes; 20 percent of some-college; 18 percent of college grads; but only 10 percent of post-grads. "He was not born in the United States and so is not eligible to be president": 32, then 22, then 21, then 7. "He is a Muslim": 43, 30, 24, 9. "He wants to turn over the sovereignty of the United States to a one world government": 37, 28, 21, 12. You get the idea.
I can think of three explanations for this pattern.
One is that it's not a pattern. Correlation isn't causation. It's just a fluke that educated people believe fewer bubbe meises.
Or, taking a different perspective, the explanation of those numbers is that liberals run America's schools and colleges, and the longer you stay there, the more chance they have to brainwash you.
A third possibility is that the more education you have, the more you understand that there is a difference between an opinion and a fact, and that there actually is a way to test assertions of fact against reality. No matter how hard you clap to save Tinkerbell, really-really believing in fairies doesn't make them real.
Again, I recognize that some people with advanced degrees think it is a fact that "He wants to use an economic collapse or terrorist attack as an excuse to take dictatorial powers," and that some other people -- kids in middle school, say -- have already had enough education to know that "He wants the terrorists to win" is not a fact, it's an opinion, and that as opinions go, it's nuts.
I don't think anything I'm saying here depends on partisanship. "He does what Wall Street and the bankers tell him to do" may well ring false to some Republicans, like bankers. And some Democrats, despite the fate of single-payer health care and the public option, may cling to "He is a socialist" the way that some of Joe Lieberman's fans cling to "He is a Democrat."
But when you look at the political affiliation of people who believe things like "He is a racist" and "He is anti-American," the correlation with being a Republican is even stronger than the correlation with fewer years of formal education. About a quarter of Republicans say that Obama is the Anti-Christ; more than a third agree that "He is doing many of the things that Hitler did"; 45 percent of Republicans say he wasn't born in the U.S.; a majority of them say yes, he wants to turn over our sovereignty to a one-world government; and 57 percent say he's a Muslim.
During the final hours of the Senate's vote on the reconciliation bill, Republicans offered dozens of amendments, most of them intended as traps for mid-term election ads. Knowing that Democrats were going to vote against every amendment -- for procedural reasons, no matter what the amendment said -- the Republicans had a jolly time coming up with moms, apple pies and American flags for the Democrats to oppose. The most notorious was the I-dare-you-to-vote-against-this from Senator Tom Coburn (R-Ok.) making rapists and sex offenders ineligible for erectile dysfunction drugs.
I have no doubt that, come the fall, Senate Democrats up for re-election will be accused of giving child molesters access to government-paid Viagra. The charge will no doubt be documented with Congressional Record excerpts and video clips. See? It's true. It's a fact. Can't deny it. Red-handed. Voted against it.
I would like to think that Americans are too smart to fall for this, and that the news media will expose the charge as the cynical ploy it is. But it's naïve of me to believe that, faced with fabrications of Orwellian proportions, the media will be capable of more than on-the-one-hand, on-the-other, and I'm afraid that the answer to "How dumb do they think we are?" turns out to be not much of an insult.
*UPDATE: Fixed to correct an error.
This is my column from The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. You can read more of my columns here, and e-mail me there if you'd like.
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(1) The less education you have the more likely you are to be out of a job and listen to Talk Radio.
(2) Or be a tradesman driving a truck and listening to talk Radio.
(3) 99% of Talk Radio (same people as Fox) claims things like that Democrats want to take worker's
jobs and give them to illegal alians.
(4) Hitler's Goebbles discrovered that if repeat lies enough over media that people begin to believe that it is true.
This is how Germans were persuaded to turn in their nieghbors to be carted away to their death.
Unfortunately other Republican lies are daily repeated on every other station and I am sure if you
look at the same set of statistics applied to people who call themselves Republican, the numbers
are way higher.
And the latters is why there is an expression that the average Waiter in Europe understand Politics better than the average College Educated American
I vote for this.The rghtwing has entered a fantasyland constructed out of rumors and innuendo, grounded in ignorance, and a frustration that comes with finding themselves inarticulate in a changing environment.
What is Pres. Obama doing that Hitler did?
Where do you think Pres. Obama was born, if not the US? (I'm guessing a lot of people will say "Hawaii")
What has Pres. Obama said that makes you believe he wants to turn over "the sovereignty of the United States to a one world government"? Or that he wants the terrorists to win?
Most of these people spout whatever sound bite crap they are fed by faux gnus and right-wing shock jocks. They don't question it and faux gnus isn't giving any in depth analysis. Their knowledge of the subject goes no deeper than the statements of which they are asked "true or false".
If it wasn't so scary, it would be laughable.
Maybe some people don't like him, but that's too darn bad. The Republicans had their 8 years with Bush, people wanted change, they voted for change, and, sure enough, got change. Maybe this will be some quality time for Republicans to reconsider the inner workings of brand GOP, reconnect with what values they didn't sell at a loss for a barrel of oil, and then when they're ready, go through the vetting process to prevent against conflicts of interest and other scandal-inducing problems, and then pick their best Candidate in 2012/2016. Americans need, and want, people with clean hands, with maybe some education, good people skills, and a healthy stance against public corruption problems, which have plagued this country, and other countries, for years. Integrity, and honesty. We can do that.
Our party has done a 180, and as soon as we can ditch a few more turncoats, we will again be the party of conservatives without the massive amounts of corruption present under Obama.
If you didn't want corruption and gangster tactics, why did you vote for Obama? Surely you knew
he was a Chicago political hit man surronded by union goons and "hate America" radicals, Sure, he speaks his lies clearly and with intelligence, but they are lies nonetheless. No lobbyists, c-span, no earmarks,,,any of those promises ring a bell. There are some GREAT candidates out there from both parties who are honest, intelligent, and love freedom and capitalism, so lets support them and get some new blood in there. Obama wasn't it. ,,,joe
Actions speak louder than words to me and it's the conservative ideology that has put America on its deathbed. The last 30 years of conservative ideology has left our middle class decimated, huge holes in the social safety net, infrastructure on the verge of collapse, an entrenched elite sucking up ever greater amounts of national income and wealth, a "service" economy instead of a manufacturing one, an educational system - from schools to libraries to parks and museums - that is beyond dysfunctional, a Defense Department that spends more money every year than the entire rest of the world, combined, spends but can't afford to fight a war without billions more, a Supreme Court bent on dismantling centuries of precedent and a Constitution shredded in the name of the never-ending, never won or lost, War on Terrorism.
Actually thinking and exploring the truth or the complexity of the problems requires effort and mental capability, and the vast majority of the mouth breathers that show up at Palin rallies, watch Beck and Limbaugh or vote for people like Bachmann are those very people who never learned to think critically. Many even manage to get through college and post-graduate education without the most basic abilities oof reasoned thought. It is a damning statement of our educational system, and one that will not soon be resolved given the latest assault on education we have seen in Texas.
And where is it that you think you rank?
And you speak for the smart ones?
I'm not sure who you speak for . . . the Blah Blahs?
Fast forward to the war on public education by the AEI and Heritage foundation, who are fighting all attempts at standards being set federally and want to use vouchers as a way to 'fix' education.
The enforced vapidity of the American public education system is no accident. I'm not a Marxist, but there's no way we can keep with the visions of the founding fathers while having an electorate that doesn't take it upon itself to do the hard work of thinking and accepting that there are uncomfortable facts.
There's a reason we're falling behind the rest of the world in many measures of health and well being. Education matters!
Health care now, health care tomorrow, and education forever!
Quality Public Schools.
We are now paying the price for the systematic, purposeful Dumbing Down of America.
Send your thank-you notes to the State of Texas.
Conservatism was founded to destroy democracy, republicanism, liberalism, and the Enlightenment of the people.
We need to return to the Liberal values of the founding fathers, both democrat, and republican.
"America, the first modern liberal state was founded, without a monarch or a hereditary aristocracy.[8"
"Liberalism first became a powerful force in the Age of Enlightenment, rejecting many foundational assumptions that dominated most earlier theories of government, "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberalism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservatism
Bush, Cheney, the GOP, the very flower of the conservative movement,
shredded the constitution, bankrupted the economy, abused the truth, tortured, war mongered, left the poor die.
Monarchist dark ages Conservatism is "conserved"
Wake up,
Please.
The is the conservative endgame. The WANT Chaos, ignorance, emotionalism, fear and war, to destroy the republic, and let the plutocrats rules.