We're (with) stupid

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Brooke Gladstone amuses me and annoys me. On one side she is quite witty, sarcastic and acerbic. At the same time as a commentator on all things media and demanding that mainstream media be impartial, she bends the very rules of impartiality as far as they'll go.

We has met the enemy and broke our hand punching the glass he was in.

That's also what annoys me. And her NYC accent.

Just a short while ago, I heard an update to a story I wrote about some time back. Brooke, as she prefers to be called, narrated and interviewed. She referred to liberals, conservatives and libertarians as "equally stupid." That comment which both delighted and torqued me (it is accurate and a quote from the person being interviewed, but also an editorial observation) led to this rare second Saturday blog.

Here's the On The Media bit - http://www.onthemedia.org/2011/nov/25/everyone-rejects-inconvenient-facts/

Here's the first article I held forth on. http://econjwatch.org/articles/economic-enlightenment-in-relation-to-college-going-ideology-and-other-variables-a-zogby-survey-of-americans And Here is a less obfuscatory write up of the same research piece by one of the authors - http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703561604575282190930932412.html

A telling comment from the WSJ journal "But the left has trouble squaring economic thinking with their political psychology, morals and aesthetics."

Close enough

AR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR (and continue).

I knew that. Liberals can't square their idiotology with reality.

Mr. Daniel Klein got body slammed by liberals who objected to the way the survey was framed. They said the questions showed a political bias. Mr. Klein describes himself as libertarian.

Here are the questions:

1. Restrictions on housing development make housing less affordable.
2. Mandatory licensing of professional services increases the prices of those
services.
3. Overall, the standard of living is higher today than it was 30 years ago.
4. Rent control leads to housing shortages.
5. A company with the largest market share is a monopoly.
6. Third-world workers working for American companies overseas are being
exploited.
7. Free trade leads to unemployment.
8. Minimum wage laws raise unemployment.

Shall We Play A Game?

Are there correct answers to these statements? They can be empirically answered. Others not. Regardless, I'm not smart enough to be a liberal (a loaded statement to be sure).

So, Daniel et all did ANOTHER study and this time posed matters "...that would balance the first one by including questions that would challenge conservative and/or libertarian positions." http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/12/i-was-wrong-and-so-are-you/8713/#

The additional issue statements put forth are:

1) Mandatory licensing of professional services increases the prices of those services
2) Overall, the standard of living is higher today than it was 30 years ago
3) Rent control leads to housing shortages
4) A company with the largest market share is a monopoly
5) Third World workers working for American companies overseas are being exploited
6) Free trade leads to unemployment
7) Minimum-wage laws raise unemployment

So what'd he find? "The new results invalidated our original result: under the right circumstances, conservatives and libertarians were as likely as anyone on the left to give wrong answers to economic questions." and "A full tabulation of all 17 questions showed that no group clearly out-stupids the others. They appear about equally stupid when faced with proper challenges to their position."

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAAAAAAA

Conservatives and libertarians cannot square their idiotology with reality. I state here for the record I'm not smart enough to be a libertarian or a conservative (a loaded statement to be sure).

In other words when presented with facts which contradict one's idiotological beliefs, all too many people side with belief. Reality doesn't fit and so must be discarded.

Many Americans wonder why Congress appears to be paralyzed, I suggest they look in the mirror. Cognitive dissonance begins at home.

"A double minded man is unstable in all his ways." James 2:8