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The article itself says white supremacist beliefs and education level are positively correlated. It's a mistake to think that someone who is intelligent is natu

by tinco 12y ago

The article itself says white supremacist beliefs and education level are positively correlated. It's a mistake to think that someone who is intelligent is naturally capable of making good or even ethical decisions. Deriving good decisions from our surroundings is much too complex for our rational thought to be working on constantly. This is why we derive most of our decisions not from careful consideration but from experience, upbringing, instinct and our peers.

jqm 12y ago
Read comment below. A paper showing supremacists in the 1920's were more likely to be educated (not intelligent, educated, which makes sense... the KKK was a prominent social organization in some parts of the country at that time and the locally wealthy and movers and shakers who could afford education belonged.) This doesn't tell us much about the intelligence of supremacists today. I am still guessing supremacists today are less intelligent than average.... because, supremacy is a stupid philosophy. That's my gut feeling. Edit: Response to the below... I guess I should clarify... There are probably a good number of intelligent people who hold racist views. The specific people I'm talking about though are people who would join a supremacist organization or register on stormfront. I believe most of these are probably not particularly intelligent. What you say about feeling that people disagree with you are stupid makes sense. But I maintain most people who overtly hold a supremacist philosophy enough to join a supremacist organization, in this day and age have not carefully considered the issue nor the reality of their situation and are thus probably more emotional, reactionary, and...... less intelligent. I've known people like this and I bet you have too.
- fennecfoxen 12y ago
  You know, I think there is an instinct to think of people in these sorts of groups not simply as members of a hate-group, but wholly monstrous, and stupid, and things like that. It seems to be comforting to think of them like that, or (as the article also posits) to think of them as inhabiting a different world from that of you and your friends. But it's far more likely that the world is more complicated. Besides which, it's generally problematic (and situationally ironic) to ascribe below-average intelligence to a group you disagree with, no matter how wrong or irrational they may be. :P
  - unclebucknasty 12y ago
    Well, I don't know that it's merely all ascribing negative traits to a group with whom people disagree. With racism/other prejudice, in particular, it is somewhat intuitive to see a link with below-average intelligence. Much prejudice is based on ignorance, fear, and unquestioned learned behavior, all of which less-intelligent people would seem to be more susceptible. In other words, more intelligent people would seem more likely to question dogma and better able to reason through answers. Beyond intuition, there has been at least one study which shows a correlation between low-intelligence and racism: [1] http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/millennial-media/201304/do-racism-conservatism-and-low-iq-go-hand-in-hand http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/millennial-media/201304/... EDIT: None of this is to say that there are no intelligent racists; simply that there may well be a correlation and acknowledging that possible correlation might be viewed as somewhat intuitive vs. simply a knee-jerk reaction to ascribe negative traits to those one finds disagreeable.

by tinco 12y ago

jqm 12y ago

Read comment below. A paper showing supremacists in the 1920's were more likely to be educated (not intelligent, educated, which makes sense... the KKK was a prominent social organization in some parts of the country at that time and the locally wealthy and movers and shakers who could afford education belonged.) This doesn't tell us much about the intelligence of supremacists today. I am still guessing supremacists today are less intelligent than average.... because, supremacy is a stupid philosophy. That's my gut feeling. Edit: Response to the below... I guess I should clarify... There are probably a good number of intelligent people who hold racist views. The specific people I'm talking about though are people who would join a supremacist organization or register on stormfront. I believe most of these are probably not particularly intelligent. What you say about feeling that people disagree with you are stupid makes sense. But I maintain most people who overtly hold a supremacist philosophy enough to join a supremacist organization, in this day and age have not carefully considered the issue nor the reality of their situation and are thus probably more emotional, reactionary, and...... less intelligent. I've known people like this and I bet you have too.

fennecfoxen 12y ago
You know, I think there is an instinct to think of people in these sorts of groups not simply as members of a hate-group, but wholly monstrous, and stupid, and things like that. It seems to be comforting to think of them like that, or (as the article also posits) to think of them as inhabiting a different world from that of you and your friends. But it's far more likely that the world is more complicated. Besides which, it's generally problematic (and situationally ironic) to ascribe below-average intelligence to a group you disagree with, no matter how wrong or irrational they may be. :P
- unclebucknasty 12y ago
  Well, I don't know that it's merely all ascribing negative traits to a group with whom people disagree. With racism/other prejudice, in particular, it is somewhat intuitive to see a link with below-average intelligence. Much prejudice is based on ignorance, fear, and unquestioned learned behavior, all of which less-intelligent people would seem to be more susceptible. In other words, more intelligent people would seem more likely to question dogma and better able to reason through answers. Beyond intuition, there has been at least one study which shows a correlation between low-intelligence and racism: [1] http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/millennial-media/201304/do-racism-conservatism-and-low-iq-go-hand-in-hand http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/millennial-media/201304/... EDIT: None of this is to say that there are no intelligent racists; simply that there may well be a correlation and acknowledging that possible correlation might be viewed as somewhat intuitive vs. simply a knee-jerk reaction to ascribe negative traits to those one finds disagreeable.