I usually don’t spend time responding to my liberal colleague’s articles, but I believe the last one merited my attention. I write to you all today as a victim of the prejudice expressed in Mr. Andrew Bloom’s latest piece about “conservative intelligence.”
I write with the hope that bleeding heart liberals will flock to my aid as the latest victim of discrimination in our unjust society. Hello? Jesse Jackson? President Obama? Gloria Steinem? You there?
Oh well. It was worth a try.
Obviously, I would never classify Mr. Bloom as a bigot. But to use skewed, manipulated research to degrade conservatives as “inferiors” (citing studies that appear to have popped out of the psych world’s loony bin) seems just a bit ridiculous. In fact, the studies Mr. Bloom mentions seem more fitting in the field of eugenics than psychology.
Mr. Bloom quoted a report by “Psychological Science” that suggests a correlation between “the bottom 50 percent of yesterday’s children” with “the ingrained dogmatism of today’s social conservatives,” and argues that “lack of effortful, deliberate thought” somehow causes an “endorsement of conservative ideology.”
Mr. Bloom goes on to suggest that having a “religious” or “economic” worldview is “artificial” in nature, and that the conservative endorsement of capitalism is “curious.”
Of course, the fate of many liberal college grads waiting in the unemployment lines could be due to the fact they reject the realities of capitalism (and hope for the next big socialist revolution). Anyone seen the photos and videos from Occupy protests?
It’s also “curious” that the same liberals who cry for social justice perform less charity than conservatives. Arthur Brooks, author of “Who Really Cares,” discovered conservative households give 30 percent more to charity than liberal households. They also do more volunteer work and donate more blood than liberals. This must be part of their feeble-minded nature.
As Mr. Bloom rightfully states, the world is complicated because it is constantly changing. Yet conservatives generally manage to stay on top (or at least, remain financially solvent). Why? Because they are able to adapt. While liberals often expect the world to conform to their idealistic views of economics, social justice and so on, conservatives confront reality and deal with it head-on. End of story.
To use a phrase such as “clinically misguided” to generalize the conservative world-view seems a bit much, even for someone who finds excessive comfort in his pocket thesaurus. By this logic, only psychopaths work hard, believe in God and live prosperous lives.
Really, Mr. Bloom?
Could it possibly be that certain Americans are financially successful because they work hard and are good at what they do? Or could it be that certain Americans don’t buy into the belief our world is based on “class struggle.” And could it possibly be certain Americans live more fulfilling lives because they have found comfort in their faith (and have not submitted to the increasing “moral relativism” around them)?
Studies from the Pew Research Center show that Republicans are happier than Democrats. And while financial success is one factor, it surely is not the only one. Marriage, family and religious activity are all major determinants of happiness.
Ultimately, Mr. Bloom deals with conservatism as if it were a disease — something to be despised along with those who advocate such views. Whether he means it or not, he clearly expresses a desire to shut out the “grating voice of conservatism” from today’s political dialogue. The only alternative he provides is that of childishly ignoring the conservative voice, as if it were some putrid bi-product of democracy.
Liberals such as Mr. Bloom pride themselves on being the “open-minded” ones, but cling to any ridiculous pseudo-scientific study that proves they are intellectually superior to others and discounts the credibility of their opponents. It seems to be pretty clear that Bloom “extrapolates to the extremist platitudes which breed prejudice” — not conservatives.
Treating those with opposing viewpoints as if they were intellectually inferior is tantamount to racism. Beyond all the “fluff,” Mr. Bloom’s article is a sad misconception of the truth and a rejection of Cal Poly’s core values.