It's always fun to play "Which jackass on my ignore list is this guy responding to?" I take a guess, then I look and find out.
High education attainment is strongly correlated to voting Dem, and low education attainment is strongly correlated to voting Republican.
Not gonna lie, I don't really know what they say. I mean correlation doesn't imply brainpower is an okay statement I suppose, but does educational attainment not imply brainpower? All bullshit aside here, do you believe that those with high educational attainment have "less of a brain" than those low educational attainment?
i believe their brains are no better and no worse. and they are certainly no better informed about the issues of the day, and the solutions to them. this is the essential (smug) conceit of the democratic party. that the less well educated, less well off, should just STFU and let the better educated make decisions for them. it's the condescension stupid.
The irony here is kind of stunning though. I replied to a meme calling Dem voters brainless, to that no problem, smugness or conceit was found by you or Os lol. What you guy put effort in to taking the time to combat is very telling. I called bullshit to the meme, referencing that educational attainment is one of the strongest voting pattern indicators in the US, and pointing out that the party voters being called brainless have on average higher educational attainment. And THAT'S the point where offense is taken, from plain statistics with no remarks attached. I never made the argument - "that the less well educated, less well off, should just STFU and let the better educated make decisions for them". That was all you.
i took no offense; just pointed out the problem with the democratic party thinking it's smarter. do with that what you will.
Nick, on the correlation question, here's the basic monarch notes version: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_does_not_imply_causation On educational/academic attainment implying brainpower: you know what I used to do for a living, I've met dozens if not hundreds of over-educated idiots in my day. I've also had a front-row seat to basically every case of "professors acting badly" our institution has experienced for the past 35+ years. Educational attainment can sometimes imply a breath-taking lack of brainpower. I also think that there's potentially WAY more brainpower embodied in skilled practitioners of many occupations: the ability of a skilled auto mechanic to figure out what's wrong with a modern car probably equals or surpasses the brainpower of many supposedly "better educated" degree-holding white collar workers, in or out of academia. The "Democrats are educated, Republicans are white trash hicks from the sticks" conceit is simply a liberal shibboleth. I think that's something Democrats in their current state of decline like to console themselves with as a kind of participation trophy. We may not be able to run government or our own party at the moment, but we sure look smart not doing it. academic credentials don't guarantee anything. And if critical theory/Marxism/Adorno etc has taught us anything, educational attainment is probably more likely correlated with class and high economic standing than it is with "brainpower"--at least historically. If you're looking for a metaphor or a meme here, you could do worse than the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz
This isn't anything I came close to claiming. These are arguments that higher educational attainment is indicative of low mental capability in comparison to those with lower educational attainment. To be certain, I wasn't trying to ask you these questions on an individual level, there are certainly many cases for that, but rather in general. I'd agree in that I think on average educational attainment is significantly effected by economic class, but I wouldn't agree that (again, I stress *on average*) that it doesn't "guarantee anything". I think it does take a certain level of of mental capability to obtain a college degree, and by that, I do mean just that.
