Study: Low IQ Correlates With Prejudice and Bigotry

I've often wondered how Christianists and the Tea Party crowd can cling to beliefs that defy logic and scientific fact. Now, we may have the answer: they're simply stupid. I mean literally dumb from an intelligence perspective. A new study done by researcher Gordon Hodson, a psychologist at Brock University in Ontario, Canada, finds that those with low intelligence gravitate towards conservatism and are prone to embrace prejudice of things they don't understand or that are different. I can already hear Tony Perkins and the anti-gay professional Christian set howling and bellowing that Hodson's work is biased or slanted. When you think of about, however, the correlation tracks with a great deal of everyday experience in dealing with people. If you can't think for yourself, you're an easy target for demagogues who like to blame problems and failings on "the other." Here are some highlights from Yahoo News on the study findings:

There's no gentle way to put it: People who give in to racism and prejudice may simply be dumb, according to a new study that is bound to stir public controversy.

The research finds that children with low intelligence are more likely to hold prejudiced attitudes as adults. These findings point to a vicious cycle, according to lead researcher Gordon Hodson, a psychologist at Brock University in Ontario. Low-intelligence adults tend to gravitate toward socially conservative ideologies, the study found. Those ideologies, in turn, stress hierarchy and resistance to change, attitudes that can contribute to prejudice . . .

The findings combine three hot-button topics. "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."

Polling data and social and political science research do show that prejudice is more common in those who hold right-wing ideals that those of other political persuasions . . .

Earlier studies have found links between low levels of education and higher levels of prejudice, Hodson said, so studying intelligence seemed a logical next step. . . . 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. People with lower cognitive abilities also had less contact with people of other races.

Hodson was quick to note that the despite the link found between low intelligence and social conservatism, the researchers aren't implying that all liberals are brilliant and all conservatives stupid. The research is a study of averages over large groups, he said.

Nonetheless, there is reason to believe that strict right-wing ideology might appeal to those who have trouble grasping the complexity of the world. "Socially conservative ideologies tend to offer structure and order," Hodson said, explaining why these beliefs might draw those with low intelligence. "Unfortunately, many of these features can also contribute to prejudice."

They found that what applies to racism may also apply to homophobia. People who were poorer at abstract reasoning were more likely to exhibit prejudice against gays. As in the U.K. citizens, a lack of contact with gays and more acceptance of right-wing authoritarianism explained the link.

Interestingly, this study would seem to affirms some prior reports that found that evangelical Christians had lower IQ's and lower levels of education than denominations such as Episcopalians and Lutherans.

Brazilian Tourists and American Idiocy.

A new Time magazine article looks at the USA's ass backwards approach to would be tourists from major South American nations - nations like Brazil, Argentina and Chile which are modern by any definition and which are now more progressive in many ways than the USA itself (e.g., equality afforded to LGBT citizens, lower levels of surveillance of their own citizens and a lower wealth disparity than the USA). Tourists from these nations have money to burn in the USA - where, if no one has noticed, the economy is in the toilet and tourism is down except for in the LGBT tourism segment - yet USA visa policies make it a nightmare for these tourists to gain admittance to the USA. It's unfortunate that the USA continues to treat these nations as two bit banana republics when it's the USA itself that id headed to banana republic status in part because of its idiotic and prejudiced policies. Here are some brief story highlights:
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Everyone should love Brazilian tourists. They spend more per capita than any other nationality. Worldwide, Brazilian tourists shell out an average of $43.3 million a day, dropping a gigantesco $1.4 billion last April alone, up 83% from the same period last year, according to the Brazil's Central Bank. In 2010, 1.2 million Brazilians visited the United States, injecting $5.9 billion into the U.S. economy.
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Not that the U.S. has made it particularly easy for os turistas brasileiros to visit. Instead of rolling out the red carpet for the travelers from the increasingly wealthy South American nations, the U.S. makes Brazilians — and every other Latin American nationality — undergo a lengthy and expensive visa-application process that takes months of planning and can cost thousands of dollars in travel, lodging, food and other expenses — all before leaving the country.
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In all of Brazil, a country larger than the continental United States, the U.S. has only four consular offices: in the capital Brasilia, Recife, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. . . . While the State Department claims the average international wait time for a visa interview is 30 days, in Brazil it can be as high as 141 days,
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Tourist industry officials say Brazil should be on the list of countries whose citizens do not need a visa to enter the U.S. There are currently 36 countries on Washington's visa waiver list, but none of them are in Latin America. Some argue it's hampering the U.S.' economic growth and global competitiveness. For example, Chilean tourism to the United States is down more than 30% from 10 years ago, while globally the number of Chileans traveling overseas to other countries is up 50%.
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Indeed, the visa hurdles are at odds with a $200 million PR blitz led by the Corporation for Travel Promotion, a public-private partnership created by congressional law in 2010.
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The most lucrative target is Brazil, Latin America's largest economy. In the past, most Brazilians used to come to the United States looking for work; now they come to spend money and create jobs. The spending would help the U.S. economy tremendously. The American tourism market has recovered slowly since 9-11, but it missed out on a decade of growth,
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By just extending the visa-waiver program to Brazil and Chile, he says, the United States could double visits from those countries in one year and quickly generate $10.3 billion in new tourism revenue while creating 95,100 new American jobs.
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[B]y not doing more to welcome them, it might just be Uncle Sam who is denying more Americans a better shot at living the dream themselves.
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There are many things that could be done to improve the economy. Sadly, Washington insiders from both parties seem to be doing nothing.

Truth About Palin's Idiocy Begins to Come Out

Many of us realized early on that Sarah "Bible Spice" Palin was utterly unfit to be vice president - or perhaps even a dog catcher in states other than Alaska - and now the real stories of her stupidity are all starting to spill out. Personally, I continue to believe someone (or multiple people) from the Christian Right picked her and foisted her on McCain in exchange for Christianist support. Obama needs to find out who that was so he can send them a personal thank you note for likely losing the election for McCain. Should the GOP keep Paklin as its standard bearer, I think we will see many years of Democrat rule. Crooks and Liars as a sampling of Palin's idiocy (which shows why the anti-knowledge and anti-intelligence Christianists love her):

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Carl Cameron does one of those Now-it-can-be-told stories Fox likes to do. In this episode we learn that:

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1. Palin did NOT know Africa was a continent.
2. She did NOT know who the parties to NAFTA were. [Hint: U.S., Canada, Mexico]
3. She threw dramatic temper tantrums over bad press.
4. She refused to prepare for the Gibson or Couric interviews.

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None of this really came out during the Presidential campaign because of course it was told "off the record". There are a few ways to look at this, the most interesting being is why they felt the need to spill the beans the day after the election. Are the knives really out on Sarah Palin? Sure seems so. Time will tell.

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Smith: Now that the election is over, Carl, tell us more about those reports of infighting between Palin and McCain staffers.

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Cameron: I wish I could have told you more at the time but all of it was put off the record until after the election. There was great concern in the McCain campaign that Sarah Palin lack the degree of knowledgeability necessary to be a running mate, a vice president, and a heartbeat away from the presidency. We’re told by folks that she didn’t know what countries that were in NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, that being the Canada, the US, and Mexico. We’re told she didn’t understand that Africa was a continent rather than a country just in itself ... a whole host of questions that caused serious problems about her knowledgeability. She got very angry at staff, thought that she was mishandled.....was particularly angry about the way the Katie Couric interview went. She didn’t accept preparation for that interview when the aides say that that was part of the problem. And that there were times that she was hard to control emotionally there's talk of temper tantrums at bad news clippings......

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Notwithstanding that there is to be an avalanche that will continue for many days now we’re told of story upon story of the foibles of Sarah Palin.

American Ostriches and Bimbos

Andrew Sullivan has a post (http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/11/democrats-tortu.html#more) in which he quotes a reader's response and her view as to why so much of the American public is asleep when it comes to realizing the terrible things that have occurred under Bush/Cheney and which are continuing to occur. I recommend you read the full quote - it so accurately describes many people that I know or used to know in suburbia (especially the PTA soccer mom set). I cannot understand the mindset. Even my 80 year old mother gets what has happened under this evil administration. How do we wake them up?? It is important that we do so. Here are some highlights:

But both of us have to realize what they're [the Democrats] up against: a nation of voters just like...my mom. She's a lovely woman, Andrew. I love her to death. Sweet, kind, generous--she's got it all. But whenever I try to talk to her about torture, warrantless wiretapping, the Military Commissions Act, and the rest she just tunes out. Not only has she never heard of any of this stuff, but when I bring it to her attention it's as if she simply cannot believe any of it. She doesn't get angry or anything--she's not a "my country right or wrong" type. It's more of a "these go to eleven" sort of thing: she just can't get it into her head that these awful things are happening. There are millions and millions and millions of voters just like her in this respect.

They have no clue about the things that so rile you and me, and when these matters are brought to their attention they find it easier to believe that the person who's bringing them up is crazy than that they might actually be a problem. Yes, the Democrats need to grow balls. But the fault also lies with the media and, though it pains me to say it, with the moms--or the ones like mine, anyway.

It drives me crazy that people are blind to what is happening. Are they stupid, intellectually lazy or what? I just do not understand it. So much depends on waking these folks up.