Intelligence differences and Leftism?

[The Old Man from Scene 24]

I have Aspergers syndrome, and a lot of my friends have it as well. I have also studied about others with it, and have noticed that pretty much all of them have very left-wing views. I have read before that that people who are more to the left than right tend to have a higher IQ. Aspergers is a type of autism, and unlike most people on the autistic spectrum, aspies tend to have above average IQs. Some scientists think that Aspergers syndrome is a current event in human evolution (and the percentage of people with it is increasing each year). This makes me think that leftism is possibly a more advanced type of civilization, and humans are evolving to adapt to it. I'm not a scientist though, so don't take my word 100%.

I can't provide any links at the moment, because this is info that I have gathered up over the years.

Just thought that might be interesting to some.

[Leonid Brozhnev]

I knew a guy with aspergers who was a raging Libertarian, although I would say he had a high IQ. My brother-in-law also has quite bad aspergers and is completely apolitical, he doesn't have a particularly high IQ but he knows pretty much everything about Formula 1. IQ may become higher but I personally don't think the political spectrum would change, people will always have their beliefs and convictions aspergers or not.

[Ostrinski]

I have Aspergers as well, though I'm not sure what Aspergers characteristics are inherently compatible with left-wing views.

[electro_fan]

no, it's got nothing to do with it at all, ive met people with aspergers who were extremely right wing, because of a sense of being superior to others who didnt understand them. and others who aren't interested in politics at all but more interested in dungeons and dragons or whatever.

also, it's complete nonsense to say that because someone's left wing it means they're going to be more intelligent. to say so, imo, buys into a dangerous form of social darwinism, assuming that because someone has views you agree with it means that they're going to be more intelligent than everyone else. and that kind of elitism is not what socialism is about.

[electro_fan]

i cant stand all of this nonsense about conservative views are predisposed or a sign of being abused as a child or of lesser intelligence or whatever. it comes very dangerously close to ideas that we do NOT want to be supporting

socialism is for everyone, not just people that society deems as being intelligent.

[Rafiq]

Moralistic Right Wingers usually tend to be less intelligent.

However, Right Wingers who are Right Wing to protect their class interest, and lie via politicians, corporations, etc (sociopaths I suppose) can be very intelligent people.

[electro_fan]

that's not true. some of them are extremely intelligent, even the ones that believe their own nonsense (and alot do).

anders breivik was very intelligent indeed, and he wasn't lying to protect his class. he was bourgeois, but that had very little to do with why he murdered eighty people. he did so, because he utterly and truthfully believed that what he was doing was right, he believed that islam was so much of a threat that terrorist acts had to be committed to stop the spread of islam.

deluded certainly. stupid? no. he planned it over 9 years and during that time managed not to attract suspicion, to keep himself living as and appearing to be to all intents and purposes a respectable member of society, running his own businesses etc, which would have been far from easy. and yet all the time he was planning to commit his terrible crime, but whereas most people would find living a dual life like this extremely difficult, he managed it easily, even managing to convince his colleagues that he was a good friend and perfectly normal.

he certainly wasn't fucking stupid.

[electro_fan]

there's also very little evidence to show that hitler was stupid either, and he's another one who fanatically believed he was right, he believed that germany had a special purpose, he was smart as fuck, very cunning, but fanatically believed in romantic nationalistic nonsense about the volk and, of course, about "the jew". there's nothing to suggest those beliefs weren't sincerely held, despite the fact that his actions were immensely beneficial to german capitalism, and acted as a bulwark against the left and all that stuff. he still believed it. he believed it absolutely, as did many members of his entourage.

[thesadmafioso]

These sorts of generalizations really don't have much substance to them.

I am presuming you live in America, which means that you live in a nation currently experiencing a trend of reaction so far as revolutionary activity goes. This means that those of us in America who maintain leftist thought are almost certainly going to be in a higher state of political consciousness, leading to some false conclusions of this sort if you rely too heavily upon individual empirical analysis.

[Apoi_Viitor]

IQ of Nazi leaders, cited from: Gilbert, G. M.: Nuremberg Diary. New York: Signet Book 1947, p. 34; Wechsler-Bellevue

Hjalmar Schacht, Reich Minister of Economics: IQ 143
Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Foreign Minister of Germany: IQ 141
Hermann Göring, President of the Reichstag and Reich Minister of Aviation: IQ 138
Karl Dönitz, Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine: IQ 138
Albert Speer, Minister of Armaments and War Production: IQ 128
Alfred Jodl, Chief of the Operations Staff of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht: IQ 127
Alfred Rosenberg, Commissar for Supervision of Intellectual and Ideological Education of the German National Socialist Workers Party: IQ 127
Rudolf Hess, Deputy Führer: IQ 120

[electro_fan]

exactly. they had intelligence in spades. what they did not have is compassion. valuing intelligence above all else, where the value of your life corresponds to whether you can write some polemic or do some maths, not whether you are a kind and good person, or anything you've done in life, leads down a very, very dangerous path.

[Rafiq]

that's not true. some of them are extremely intelligent, even the ones that believe their own nonsense (and alot do).

anders breivik was very intelligent indeed, and he wasn't lying to protect his class. he was bourgeois, but that had very little to do with why he murdered eighty people. he did so, because he utterly and truthfully believed that what he was doing was right, he believed that islam was so much of a threat that terrorist acts had to be committed to stop the spread of islam.

deluded certainly. stupid? no. he planned it over 9 years and during that time managed not to attract suspicion, to keep himself living as and appearing to be to all intents and purposes a respectable member of society, running his own businesses etc, which would have been far from easy. and yet all the time he was planning to commit his terrible crime, but whereas most people would find living a dual life like this extremely difficult, he managed it easily, even managing to convince his colleagues that he was a good friend and perfectly normal.

he certainly wasn't fucking stupid.

Actually, clearly he was fucking stupid.

[electro_fan]

well hitler believed some similar crazy stuff but he wasnt stupid

breivik was a fascist, and clearly believed something that was obviously completely delusional, but he wasn't stupid though. if he was stupid then he would have been completely obvious about it and would have been caught sooner. these people are really dangerous.

don't forget that these people have in many cases read extremely widely, they believe as much in fascism as we do in socialism, they have arguments to back it up (or have fabricated them). they're extremely dangerous and we must not underestimate them, thats all im saying

[Column No.4]

I dont know about intelligence wise but the one thing ive found lacking with right wingers is an ability to think abstractly or break things down. I debate right wingers constantly and ive yet to hear anything other than the standard arguing points.

[piet11111]

Critical thinking is something they avoid as much as they can they are incapable of judging communism on its ideological merits and instead discard it as "evil totalitarianism"

I do not know why because it seems more then them just being intellectually lazy to always resort to the same old "arguments"

[electro_fan]

there are left wing people who also don't resort to critical thinking and there are right wingers who understand socialism and communism VERY well (and that's why they're against it). i dont think that any political grouping has a monopoly on intelligence

what i can't stand is pseudo intellectual fash who believe that because they use some long words to make themselves seem "well spoken" it means that everyone should bow down to them

intelligence doesn't mean a good person, stupid doesn't mean that you are bad either (i'm pretty stupid most of the time :D), and i hate this idea that only intelligent people can have the right views, because what is intelligence anyway

[#FF0000]

(IQ doesn't mean much of anything btw)

[Ocean Seal]

This isn't how leftism works. Okay, its not that when we evolve enough people will become smart enough to realize that revolution is the way forward. No, leftism becomes a popular force when the revolutionary situation approaches because of existing material conditions, not when the people have read enough Marx. Leftists tend to be more intelligent than average because it is an opinion generally dominated by intellectuals. The same could be said of libertarian capitalists, they on average tend to be more intelligent than liberals/conservatives. That doesn't make their opinion any more legitimate. "Fringe" opinions aren't explored by the majority and are generally restricted to the people who have enough time on their hands to learn the theory. Why? Because the theory isn't taught in mainstream circles (the media, schools, peer groups, etc.) and it generally doesn't have all that much use. Liberalism and conservatism are the opinions that dominate US politics and essentially all talk revolves around them with a smaller mention lie populists and libertarians (the Tea-Party esque type). So in conclusion fringe opinions tend to have more intelligent supporters (per capita) because they are more restrictive. Not because we should start laughing and saying "haha everyone else is stupid!!". If we're more intelligent than the majority that should be a bucket of cold water telling us that we're doing something wrong (we are pushing an ideology that requires almost everyone to work). Also one more point, IQ doesn't mean jack.