Yo! Comrad [sic] U R not so bright...

I love reading ignorant people's political opinions. I love looking at the spelling errors, the generalized references to historical events, and the mixing of ideologies.

I saw a blog in late March, when the U.S. "Healthcare Reform" bill was passed. It continually referred to Comrad [sic] Obama (a reference to Communism), while claiming that "his" socialistic reform has singlehandedly brought down Democracy.

Sadly, this individual is part of the fundamentalist right-wing conservative movement largely associated with the Republican party. And as such, this individual and a large cadre of others just like him are allowed to vote and decide the futures of as many children as they are able to produce (missionary style only, of course).

This individual's blog post, and others like it, remind me of an article out of London which points to a correlation between IQ, party affiliation and religious beliefs.

According to the article, Conservatives tend toward fundamentalism in their (typically monotheistic) religion of choice (typically Christian). They also tend to have an IQ almost a full standard deviation below that of atheistic Liberals. The article goes on to describe a possible evolutionary reason why Liberal atheists have higher IQs, in that they tend to be more open-minded and are largely concerned about the welfare of all. On the other hand, Conservative fundamentalists with lower IQs tend to be more close-minded and concerned with the protection of their family unit and those just like them. (Kanazawa, S., March 2010, Social Psychology Quarterly)

Although many Christian religions speak to the world as "your mission field", many fundamentalist Christians prefer to protect themselves and their families from the influence of the secular world. This, however, minimizes their impact on others through association and modeling. It is a selfish viewpoint, that only you and others like you are "clean" enough in the eyes of God to interact with one another. I see this behavior as confirmation of Jesus' question in Luke 6:41 - Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? It is highly judgmental, but also protective of the belief systems.

My summary of the London article is jokingly this: As a liberal atheist, you may be smarter, more open-minded and more caring of society at large, but you will go to Hell. However, if you are a fundamentalist conservative, you will likely be protective of your own kind, ignorant and bigoted, but you will go to Heaven.

Introducing "the Brain"

In High School, I was noted as such a ginormous nerd, that I was assigned a new title "Brain". My younger sister was mortified to be seen in public with me and my classmates knew that if they needed help with schoolwork, I likely would have the answer. Oh, did I mention I also wore a backbrace for scoliosis?

Being known as the biggest nerd in school is not the best way to make friends, but it certainly impacts one's sense of self. Not surprisingly, some of my favorite movies are Revenge of the Nerds, Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, and Napoleon Dynamite.

Thankfully, as one ages, the Nerd lifestyle becomes more accepted. Some even aspire to join the ranks. Although IRL I am somewhat successful (I have not invented anything as exciting as Post-It notes, although these are a passion of mine), I am still noted as a Nerd. And, I am of the firm mind that the Nerds do, indeed, rule the world!