Over the years of working at a university, one thing I've noticed about the vast majority of professors is that they're disproportionately obsessed with intelligence (and IQ). Dubya is "stupid" or the "dumbest president we've had," while (to one Iranian friend) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is "really, really stupid." This should not be surprising, I guess, since professors are rewarded according to their individual traits and efforts (however unworthy they may be), while intelligence is seen as an individual characteristic. My late father was also obsessed with this subject, since he wanted to be a professor but never made it despite his high IQ. His major achievement was supporting and raising our family, which is no small feat, but he interpreted it as a genetic matter, i.e., passing his IQ down to future generations. He also fell for the fallacy that Tom pointed to, i.e., comparing races using average IQ scores.
Because of this background, I agree totally with Carrol on this issue: the word "stupid" and the like should not be used as a weapon against political opponents. Usually what sounds or looks like stupidity reflects crass self-interest or demagogic strategy or the "madness of crowds" or something like that. And Dubya's not stupid: he's a spoiled frat-brat who feels entitled because he's never been forced to seriously work for a living (always being saved by his father's friends and Skull & Bones colleagues). On Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 6:55 PM, Carrol Cox <[email protected]> wrote: > And any Tea Party rally is another Exhibit against your thesis. > -raghu. > > --------- > > This seems willfully ignorant to me. There is not an iota of evidence that > Teaparty people are "intellectually challenged." They are racists and, like > you, they ground their politics in a radical individualism, but it is wrong > to identify "being wrong" with being "stupid." I was irritated on lbo-talk > at threads in which the likes of Pegler and Buckley were admired for their > intelligence and prose style -- that reflected ignorance I thought or a sort > of left self-hatred, but they were correct that both thos pricks were highly > intelligent. > > Perhaps you've never sat and listened to "stupid people" discuss baseball or > basketball: I couldn't care less about the substance, but they OBVIOUSLY > exhibit high intelligence in their discussion of those topics. They show > immense knowledge of the facts and that quality so mooned over on lbo and > pen-l, "critical thought." > > Carrol > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l -- Jim Devine / If you're going to support the lesser of two evils, you should at least know the nature of that evil. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
