The Chronicle of Higher Education has an article discussing a study as to why there are so few conservative academics, in the light of the campaign by conservative activist David Horowitz to propose and "academic bill of rights". The answer? John Stuart Mill put it best:
What I stated was, that the Conservative Party was, by the law of its constitution, necessarily the stupidest party. Now, I do not retract that assertion; but I did not mean to say that the Conservatives are generally stupid. I meant to say that stupid people are generally Conservative. I believe that is so obviously and universally admitted a principle that I hardly think any gentleman will deny it. (Public and Parliamentary Speeches, 31 May 1866, pp. 85-86.)
It seems reality's well known liberal bias is censoring conservatives again. However, I am glad that Mill noted that not all conservatives are stupid. Some are quite erudite, such as Larry Arnhart.
Hat tip to William Grey, who also provided the Mill quote.
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"A conservative is a man who believes that nothing should be done for the first time."
-- Alfred E. Wiggam
"Conservative, n, A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal, who wishes to replace them with others."
--Ambrose Bierce
haha mill said that?? damn, i learn something cool about that guy every day...
I like reminding the Conservatives of this world here in Australia (conversly they ar members and supporters of the Liberal Party), and those in the USA, that they live ina Liberal Democracy.
One wag once tried to contradict me by talking about his great nation as a Republic. I can only say, Duh:)
John, this is off-topic but I couldn't resist. Over at PZ's place, our host is trying to make a completely valid point in response to another dilettante creo:
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/02/the_genome_is_not_a_computer…
This led me to respond with a question of how high school teachers like me should deal with these misconceptions, given that we use words like 'information' and 'code' in a very general sense to introduce things like transcription and translation. I suspect your response would be highly edifying and I'm hoping you'll post about it.
Cheers...SH
Unfortunately, the notion that conservatives could be less intelligent than liberals has not been proven, I really tried to find evidence, believe me. The reason is that conservatives have different VALUES - they value money above everything and everyone else, which in turn clouds their perceptions of the world - this thinking is very much locked in. But you do get a lot of conservatives in business schools, and you'd probably be surprised how many conservatives sit in the University Advisory Boards... Which in turn shows that it's all about values, not necessarily about ignorance, though the two are closely linked.
On a slightly different note, please do not forget what Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) wrote:
The most radical revolutionary will become a conservative the day after the revolution.
!!huge problem!!