LIBERALS ARE SMARTER

Maybe you've already heard about this study, but I need to post it. I came across it in the Huffington Post. Research at Brock University in Ontario suggests that conservatives are less intelligent than liberals--and that racists are downright dumb. I'm paraphrasing, but in the study, people who scored low on I.Q. tests in childhood proved more likely to develop prejudiced beliefs and socially conservative politics in adulthood. This corroborates earlier studies that have suggested the same thing, and it makes sense.

Dr. Gordon Hodson, the study's lead author, says people of low intelligence tend to gravitate toward socially conservative ideologies which stress resistance to change and, in turn, prejudice. If you are liberal, you probably already knew that. If you are conservative, I'll have to explain it again, only much slower. Dr. Brian Nosek, a University of Virginia psychologist, agrees.

"Reality is complicated and messy," Nosek is quoted in The Huffington Post. "Ideologies get rid of the messiness and impose a simpler solution. So, it may not be surprising that people with less cognitive capacity will be attracted to simplifying ideologies."

But you knew that.