Conservatives are stupid, right?

How exactly did Conservatives become associated with unintelligent red necks?  And on the other side of the coin how did Liberals get the reputation for being smart and educated?

All the wealthy and successful people I know are conservatives.  They own fine homes and businesses, play the stock market, their kids go the private schools.  These are people who go to college and expect that same of their children and such.

Conversely I've known a number of liberals who really weren't so bright.  People who are well into their 40s who have no savings for retirement, people who exercise no authority over their children.  People who run out to the car dealership every year to lease some new car they can barely make payments on.  Burnt out dead heads who still think it's cool to get high, et cetera.

I know both sides have their fair share of each kind, but from my experiences it looks like conservatives have a reputation they don't really deserve.  They tend to be unwilling to look through another culture's point of view, and unfortunately take to religion, but so far as I know most conservative people are educated and good with money.

Strawman argument, mah boiiiii

What do you exactly mean by "conservative"? The modern definition which has the highly religious influences on social aspects and racism? Or the classic definition simply meaning favoring less government(libertarian is a better word for it these days)?

You're going to find idiots on either side. The only thing that truly matters are the politicians. The idiots become irrelevant except for when voting. So the option in the end is to ultimately ignore these idiots and only focus on people who actually hold a chance in gaining power. Would a modern conservative do better things for America than a liberal politician would? I think the answer is clear (I'm referring to the new conservatism)

Conservatives = Both slaves and masters
Liberals = Everyone else.

yes virginia, there are stupid people everywhere

and a lot of them happen to listen to Bill O'reilly and watch Nascar

seriously though, the stereotype is substantiated by how rural states vote red while "urban" states vote blue (talking about the united states of course but it's similar here with the conservatives winning a lot of votes in the canadian prairies)

True conservatives are smart and powerful but at their core they're greedy businessmen.  By themselves they make up a very small percentage of the total electorate.  So they needed a couple of red herrings to attract the slovenly masses.  Even though they really don't give a fuck, pretty much every conservative gets elected on the three G's - guns, gays and God.

American Conservatives are shite. They are all gun nuts and inbred farmers. British conservatives are the best in the world. Look up Jeremy Clarkson on google, or anywhere for that matter, and be amazed.

>>6

Oh yes, the people who wear top hats and monocles in the UK are much better than the people who wear top hats and monocles in the US.

You are confusing Republican voters (gun nuts and inbred farmers) with Republican politicians and financers (rich people who run the world).

>>1

Academia is my profession, and I've encountered almost no Conservative in Grad School and this is including teachers and students. My coursework is not humanities related and my University is not positioned in a progressive area but instead is in the "Bible Belt."

Almost everyone I've spoken with about the American political situation across the board in academia is overwhelmingly "Leftist" as you would say, but they're not the type of Leftist I don't think is heard as much as they should. These Leftists are for virtuous pursuits such as increasing literacy rates, lobbying for increased public funding toward museums and art galleries and trying to emphasize that there's more to life than  work and that creativity is the hallmark of humanity, and it is through creativity that we devise new ways to think about problems and solve them.

I've also perused some statistics and Liberals swamp the Ivory Tower Scene and there is little to no Republican or Conservative perspective present. The trend showed that as someone spends more time in University the less likely they are to consider themselves as Conservatives.

To answer your question OP, I think it's two fold. The first reason Republicans are considered as "stupid/ignorant" is because of the types of legislation the Socially Conservative minded people pass, such as obscenity laws, making abortion tougher to combat Roe v. Wade 73', and associating with Fundamentalist Christians in terms of the goals they want to achieve through legislation.

The second part of the answer is that American politics is dualist. You're either black or your white, Right or Left. There's no room for any distinctions, although the Libertarians try, they come across as Neo-Con Economists anyways because that's what they can be branded as, although they may hold socially liberal views.

Because of this dualism, I suspect that people tend to gravitate toward the extremes if they feel passionately about politics, and most of the time (generalization) they don't check into the issues or here's the key word -------------- CRITICALLY THINK (as in critical thinking) about why the particular policy is good for them, instead of good for their dogma.

The answer to your question is that those on the extreme left and right are *all* retarded. Unfortunatley, they make up the majority of the voting public, with the reasonable middle an unwillingly hostage on the slide into the abyss.

I can't wait for the next pandemic to thin the herd a bit.

>>8
You're in ACADEMIA. OF COURSE, they're all leftists. The conservatives never went to grad school. They got a 4 year degree and ran off to make money. And even if they were leftist when they were in college, people gradually become conservative as they age.

>>10
Learning about the world makes you a leftist, ignoring the facts and worshipping the almighty dollar (and the bankers which print the currency) makes you a conservative.

This explains a lot.

>>8
Suppose you're right about the upper portions of society being mostly liberal.  You still haven't explained why there are so many low class degenerates who identify with liberal values.  Talk with any pot head, junkie, or high school drop out and you'll find they have a raging hard on for liberal values, even if they aren't politically inclined. 

Everyone should be doing what makes economical sense and then worry about art. America can't even kick a bunch of stick waving panzies because liberals piss and whine too much.

The "stupid conservative" label is partially their own fault. In an effort to appeal to a population of largely uneducated voters, they labeled the liberals as elitist and went for the "plain ol' small-town" image. Liberals responded by casting conservatives as idiots. Now liberals lose because they're seen as out of touch with everyday life, and conservatives lose because they're seen as rednecks.

Gotta love the partisan spin machine.

well OP where do you live? I live in New York(upstate). Most of the rich and educated people I know are Liberal, most "poor" and uneducated(as in not going to collage, not dumb or retarded) people I Know are conservatives.

Oddly enough, I've lived in both upsate New York, neary Syracuse, and parts of the extremely conservative south.  And in both cases it still appears as I explained in my first post.

Though I think >>14 made a good point.

>>11
More like learning about theories about how the world is and not actually being in it am i rite?

>>17

they don't even get the theory right
young people are extremists out of ignorance and misinformation
their view of our world is superficial thus they create phrases like "bombing for peace is like fucking for virginity"

>>18

But does their sophistry hold any merit? Why create an industry of war when you can create an industry of peace instead?

Totalitarianism doesn't just come out of nowhere and is supported by its nature, it has a "justification" and reason to it.

>Why create an industry of war when you can create an industry of peace instead?

Because then the muslims will come in and blow up your industry of peace

>>20
Yeah, like everytime we have wanted peace some shit kicking nation have stirred shit up and have forced us to drop copious amounts of bombs on their villages. Why do they hate freedom?

>>21

Not to mention The United States supporting and forcing the legitimacy of Israel on the entire Muslim world.

Israel disobeys International Law - See examples UN Security Council Resolutions 424 and 465 for more information.

>Why create an industry of war when you can create an industry of peace instead?

>Yeah, like everytime we have wanted peace some shit kicking nation have stirred shit up and have forced us to drop copious amounts of bombs on their villages. Why do they hate freedom?

>Not to mention The United States supporting and forcing the legitimacy of Israel on the entire Muslim world.

>Israel disobeys International Law - See examples UN Security Council Resolutions 424 and 465 for more information

perfect examples for the shallow way of thinking which I was talking about
well, our world functions perfectly so I guess this mindset has it's raison d'être

>>23
I really dont understand what the fuck you are trying to say. Yous argument are a perfect example of a armchair politician whos homemade societal cures needs to be put forth in the most fuzziest way possible, else the illumination will crush both cures and armchair politician. See what i did there?

>>24

i was saying that you lack of insight in politics and there's no way you didn't understand that

>>21
They hate freedom because freedom means no one has to pay attention to their 7th century durka durka rantings about cutting off people's heads

>>24
How can he be an armchair politician when he's saying "our world functions perfectly." Politicians are all about the world 'NOT' functioning perfectly and you need THEM to fix it for you.

>>25

Listen, what good does it do for you to lord your so-called knowledge over anonymous? He is you. And frankly, he has a point. Isolationism has worked for America and if you actually took the time out to understand why and who ended that policy, you might understand where >>24 is coming from.

War doesn't "just happen". If at any point you cite 9/11 or start ranting about sand niggers, you are just proving this point. Be honest: Before any of this shit starting happening, you didn't even know what the fuck was going in the middle east. How long have you even known about the six-day war?

There's an information problem here and most of what you have said sounds a lot of regurgitated propaganda.

>>27
>Isolationism has worked for America

I loled hard

>>27

i'm pretty sure that you've no idea which posts are mine nor did you understand the message

no, actually i think your reply is some kind of copypasta as it doesn't fit at all

>>25
Yeah, i got that, but what i didnt get was what the fuck you wanted to say with that. Is the biggest problem right now that kids have a shallow understanding of politics? Were you being ironic about the world functioned perfectly? But as i said, you are not interested in debating, only to spill your gems of insight to the populace in a random and limited order. Thank you most illustrious massa!

>>31

extra easy mode

i say: bitches don't know about my politics
you and another guy: zomg usa is terrorist
i say: thanks for providing examples and don't worry as such a behavior is part growing up

>>32
secret subtlety-comprehension-goggles engaged

i say: your politics suxz, since its not clear what they are, and only an shamus ignoramus has need of hiding his politics on an anonymous board
you say: zomg u sai amerikkka its america lol! and its teh muselmen who are terrarist, u got has not FOX?
i say: waz dat, examples of amerikkan terrorism? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaragua_v._United_States

>>32
And no, your penis will not as your nose become any larger with age.

I think you guys forget that conservative-ness and liberal-ness changes with the times.  The conservatives of today were actually liberals in the past.  If the liberals of today get their way and legislation changes, then some years in the future all of todays liberals will become conservatives.

By definition, a conservative is a person that wants the status-quo to stay the same - so of course you know a lot of successful, rich conservatives because they're making good with the status-quo.  They don't want things to change or else their piggy bank will start to slim.

On the other hand, liberals are by definition seeking change - and what's a better incentive to want change than being in poor living conditions?

>>35
actually that's a pretty good perspective on the matter.  thank you.

>>32

Oh! I get it! You're a fucking moron!

What I think you don't get is that:

(A) This isn't a matter of survival or "growing up" and frankly I don't think you even know what the fuck you mean.

(B) As it stands if with don't start working WITH the world instead of AGAINST it...we're the ones who are going to come up losers in the end. There are too many parallels being drawn between present-day USA and pre-Nazi Germany and pre-fall of rome right now for you to offering up such lame and childish statements.

So we're disenfranchising the middle class, accepting an illegal income tax, destroying the middle east, and systematically killing the environment because "that's all apart of growing up"? Why don't YOU grow the fuck up?

The status quo will NEVER serve YOU even if you serve IT. You are NOT on the winning team. You're a nigger to the rich, no matter what you say.

Reagan did it!
No really. He was the one who got the rural types (the ones who would generally be in unions) to start voting for people who empathized with them (Reagan/Republicans/conservatives) instead of people who served their economic needs (Democrats/liberals). It just happens to be that the rural conservatives are a lot louder than their rich, educated conservative brethren.

>>37

why did you think you had to make another example for my point?
there're already more than enough

its a simple system. the conservatives control the tiny minority with all the money, which they use to keep a leg up on democratic funding. however, while this gets them all the money they need, they dont have a large share of the votes.

so they turn to idiots, like rednecks and fundamentalist christians, appeal to their racist, homophobic, intolerant nature and get their votes. so the conservatives have most of the money and most of the people (because, lets face it, most americans are idiots) and use their power to ensure that A) they continue to have the money and B) americans continue to be idiots. in so doing, they establish the groundwork for continued control of America forever.

the idiot voting base is too stupid to recognize a lie and too loyal to recognize the truth, so that will never change.

the buisness elite is too selfish and too concerned with their own money to change. the wealthy and successful people you know are conservatives because republicans ease up on their taxes, and your friends are more concerned with their yachts than the wellbeing of the average american citizen.

GTFO of 4chan and go to the fuckin fox forums or somethin you stupid hillbilly

Too bad conservatives have lost their way, because what they should ( and used to) preach was less national more regional gov't laws. Now with conservatives in charge all I see is every little fucking thing going to the supreme court.

>>42

The reason everything goes to the supreme court is more along the lines of what was stated by >>40. People are not educated to the degree where we can even sort out our own social problems. The truly wealthy do not have the same kind of problems the rest of us do. Do you hear them, the truly powerful, quibbling about abortions or homosexuals? I find it very hard to believe that John Kerry or Al Core or Bush or Clinton or any of these politicians give a fuck. They know that America was fucked the moment we sold our country in the early nineteen hundreds.

Why do libertarians either own a hedge fund or more than 3 rifles?