Is we stoopid?



This whole thing with Rush and his drug problem has brought up something that always irks. From all the usual suspects we're hearing about how dumb his audience and how Rush fooled them with his shtick. I'm a Rush fan and I've listened to him on and off for years; I've got a PhD in astrophysics. Those of you from Rio Linda might be interested to know that they don't hand those out for being stupid. My wife is working on a PhD at a third rate institution called the University of California at Berkeley. Yep, she enjoys Rush too. Ditto for my mother in law--PhD in English (!). My dad was the one who introduced me to Rush. I'm not sure if he's still a listener, and he didn't agree all that much with Limbaugh, but he still enjoyed the show. He's a retired professor of greek history. Detecting a pattern here?

But here's the broader point: why is it that liberals believe that conservatives are all dimwits? This goes beyond the common feeling that people who disagree with us are stupid. Normal people realize this is just emotions talking. We all know someone who doesn't share our political views who we still recognize as intelligent, maybe even more intelligent than ourselves. Still, I think that liberals really believe they are smarter. And, I think that this belief is really a defense mechanism. If liberals thought that conservatives were their equals in intelligence, then they would be compelled to address conservative arguments foursquarely. They would have to prove their ideas with reason and evidence, which is really a losing proposition. Liberalism is fueled by imagination. It isn't about they way things are but the way things ought to be (my apologies Rush), looking at the world that might be and asking "why not?". Putting that vision to the test here in this world isn't likely to produce satisfactory results; utopia is elsewhere. Better to believe that conservatives are dumb than to address them seriously--that just drags you back into the unpleasant reality.

Posted: Wed - October 15, 2003 at 10:12 PM      

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