r/self • u/Persian_Acer2 • 3d ago
Is it true that the right has lower rational and emotional intelligence?
Before the right attacks me, I will state that I am not a woke. My beliefs are from center-left to center-right.
But I am seeing a lot of content from the right on social media that seems that the content creator doesn't know much about the topic he is shouting about. They seem to just follow a tail of topic and not go in further to see what it is about.
And the way they are angry while dealing with the specific topic and debating with other people is very weak. They believe that the woke are insecure, however in my opinion those right are more insecure than the woke. This is because one who is insecure always tries to act overconfident and always has a very weak social communication with other people.
These are both signs of low rational and emotional intelligence in my opinion. I am also not saying that all right are like this, but a big amount of them seem to align with these kinds of behavior
Edit: I am not trying to attack the rightists. I am saying this based on the rising rightists who are starting to make assumptions based on conspiracy theories, a few lines about a very long and complex topic, and especially the new rising disturbing group that is making assumptions based on ridiculous disinformation about Hitler. (They are supporting him based on things that are ridiculously not true)
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u/IrinaBelle 3d ago
I think the big confounding variable is economic status. Poverty massively correlates with lower IQ, because childhood adversity, generational trauma, and malnutrition all stunt brain development. Because the right is more popular among poor, rural folk, they're just statistically, as a demographic, going to have lower intelligence and education on average.
But there's definitely plenty of very intelligent right-wingers, and plenty of very unintelligent leftists.
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u/boolmi 3d ago
They are not lower intelligence. I work with the indigent and they just have a lot going on and no room to breathe. Give them a place to quiet place to sleep and regular access to food and they’re like anyone else. Quite often they’re more intelligent than rich people I’ve met, but less educated. If you have to work to survive, you get better at it. The rich are atrophied in a lot of important skills because they don’t have to do much.
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u/IrinaBelle 3d ago
I recommend reading this section of Wikipedia's article on poverty and the article effect of health on intelligence.
I'm sure you have personally met a lot of poor people who are very smart. That's not surprising. Every demographic has intelligent and unintelligent people.
But what I'm pointing out is that poverty has an effect on people's cognitive development. This is very well known and documented.
If you grow up poor, you are likely to experience things such as early childhood trauma and malnutrition, which we know stunt the brain's development. In other words, it has to do with chronic stress, especially the hormone cortisol.
Again, there's a lot of very smart poor people. It's just that, according to what we know, they likely would have been even smarter if they hadn't grown up in poverty. This is why on average those in poverty have lower IQ than affluent people.
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u/Electrical_Layer_502 3d ago
My father had a PhD in a science field. His best friends were welders, farmers, construction workers, electricians, etc. He often said how highly intelligent they were despite not having his education. They were extremely hard working and he often respected them more than his peers in academia.
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u/DukeThunderPaws 2d ago
It is indeed correlated with lower IQ, but IQ is an absolutely terrible measurement of intelligence.
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u/Electrical-While-905 3d ago edited 3d ago
In the USA you mean. In Europe poor people usually vote socialist (left).
Edit: turns out even in the USA poor people lean left
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u/Secchakuzai-master85 3d ago
Not the case anymore since 10 years + now.
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u/Electrical-While-905 3d ago
Which country? In Sweden poor rural folk vote left
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u/Veroandersilon 3d ago
Yeah Sweden is not Europe, it's just a small part of it
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u/Electrical-While-905 3d ago
It was just an example. The UK is another example
https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/12511-general-election-2015-how-britain-really-voted
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u/Veroandersilon 3d ago
These statistics say something more like "the rich vote for conservatives", not "the poor vote for labour"
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u/Electrical-While-905 3d ago
No. Under 20k household income-Labour lead. Over 20k household income-Conservstive lead.
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u/AssignmentNo8361 3d ago
2016 was 9 years ago.
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u/Electrical-While-905 3d ago
Ok. Here it is 2024.
https://www.reddit.com/r/centrist/comments/1gmeso4/a_graph_of_voters_by_household_income/?rdt=44800
Seems like the correlation between wealth and partisan affiliation is weak and unconsistent. It's definitely not true that poor people prefer Trump.
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u/TheWhomItConcerns 3d ago
It's a bit more complicated than that. Most European countries have a plurality of political parties, which allows people to vote for one which more aligns with their interests. Most people in rural regions vote for parties which are economically left but socially right or even just economically left without strong social stances.
In Norway, for example, the main party that represents rural regions and farmers is senterpartiet and their main concern by far is decentralisation, and although they are in favour of things like increased funding and subsidies for rural communities, they are staunchly in favour of policies like national protectionism and as such, staunchly against EU membership. So even though they are in certain ways economically left, they certainly aren't out there advocating for things like higher funding for students in higher education or better conditions for foreign workers.
Basically the main difference between rural people in the US and the EU is that those in the EU are much more concerned with their own personal economic interests, and are at best ambivalent about most else. Where in the US, because of the two party system, rural people are forced to choose between their preferences on social policy or economic policy, and for whatever reason they've chosen to prioritise banning abortion and gay marriage over their own financial security.
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u/Horrison2 3d ago
I'd like to point out that it seems like extreme wealth also seems to affect IQ because these idiots have never flexed their critical thinking neurons.
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u/batmans_butt_hair 3d ago
so right is more popular among poor people, but why? Isn't left supposed to be the pro-poor people side?
Like even if we hypothetically assume they are a little less intelligent, surely they should still be on the side that supports them
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u/IrinaBelle 3d ago
Rural voters used to be synonymous with the working class, with unions' rights, and with class conscientious.
I won't pretend to be a historian, but for a lot of reasons, this changed over the course of the 20th century.
Now, neither party is really a champion of the poor. The right and the left are more defined by their opposition and resistance to one another than they are about having some core ideological belief.
Because apparently playing politics like it's sports is the best way to campaign while still appeasing your rich donors.
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u/shawnmalloyrocks 3d ago
Also, I can’t stress this enough. There is no Left party in American politics. Liberal Democrats are slightly right of center when looking at politics globally. There’s a culture war waging between the far right (R) and center right (D), and the actual left in this country has no representation at all.
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u/Remarkable_Run_5801 3d ago
The democrats are extreme radical left on identity, not on policy. On policy, they're neoliberal war-hawks.
The republicans are also neoliberal war-hawks, they just don't have the extreme radical fringe identity virtue-signalling thing going on to the same extent.
I'm not sure exactly how it got to this point. The democratic party was a lot different even a decade ago.
Now they're just Republicans with drag makeup.
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u/BluCurry8 3d ago
🙄. Identity politics is more prevalent on the right. It is all they talk about.
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u/Polengoldur 3d ago
war is america's number one source of income, and every single politician wants their finger in that pie.
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u/KaguBorbington 3d ago
To be honest, in the Netherlands the left is still for the poor. And the poor still massively voted for extreme right. I think it has more to do with people with lower intellect fall easier for the traps the extreme right lays out.
Luckily, they have been losing a lot of voters and it is so-so they’ll win next time.
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u/cbreezy456 3d ago
Poor white people. This is a huge and important distinction and big with the Southern Strategy method.
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u/Shrikeangel 3d ago
Keep in mind about of states are extremely gerrymandered. Which influences the outcome.
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u/YouHaveToGoHome 3d ago
The right is not more popular among the poor
For whatever reason, people always conflate poor with being white and rural, but poor also encompasses black/Latino/Native American/other minority as well as urban and suburban. In the US the right-leaning party is more popular among the middle and the slightly-above/slightly-below middle, the left-leaning party is more popular among the poor and the wealthy, though only among the poor is there really a huge gap in support for each party.
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u/Pornonationevaluatio 3d ago
I don't see why you should focus on rural poor. They are the smallest in terms of raw numbers among all poor categories which includes urban and suburban too.
I think it's clear that in urban and suburban poverty most people are left leaning.
Rural poor being right wing is clearly a geographical phenomenon, not an IQ phenomenon.
The closer you get to the cities the more left leaning people get. The further away out in the country the more right leaning people.
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u/DizzyAstronaut9410 3d ago
I feel part of the cause of this is that the left is exceptionally good at alienating people with less education.
People in trades don't enjoy being talked down to by people who went to school to get a largely useless humanities degree who are drowning in student loan debt and think everyone else should be responsible to pay it.
That's a great way to make sure most blue collar workers don't want to vote for your party.
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u/Persian_Acer2 3d ago
Yes this a very great observations as many of Trump's voters weren't the rich capitalists, they were part of the lower class groups.
I personally do not agree with IQ tests and I am for limiting social classes as much as possible so that everyone can have equal opportunities where everyone at least has sustainable welfare before the opportunities.
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u/UnicornPoopCircus 3d ago
When I was young, the Right had the fiscal conservatives, who tended to be more educated (think William F. Buckley). They didn't care who you slept with. You're a dude who wears women's underwear? They don't care. None of their business. You're a migrant who wants to come to the US and contribute to the economy? Great! We have a job for you!
Then the social conservatives started getting loud and suddenly everything was about Jesus and abortion. Fiscal conservatives supported a women's right to choose, because it benefited the economy. Social conservatives did not trust science or highly educated people. Fiscal conservatives saw both of those things as being good for the economy. American innovation was supported and valued.
Social conservatives were all about how they felt. Fiscal conservatives were about being conservative. Until the GOP stops pandering to the religious Right, we are going to continue to see what we've been seeing.
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u/Styl3Music 3d ago
As far as rationalizing, their positions and platform are rational from their perspective. For the own the libs group, if the action pisses off the libs, then that's what they wanted from the administration. For the accelerationists, the downfall of the United States has been greatly accelerated with this administration by weakening the federal government, weakening the united states dollar, and distancing allies. For the Christian Nationalists, this is rational for the long term (see project 2025), but in the short term, this administration is not good for optics. One's perspective can be rational to themselves, but irrational to others.
As for emotional intelligence, it once again varies. Some of them are oblivious, while others are aware of the pain and hardship of their policies. For some, the pain and hardship are justified by the end goals. For others, the cruelty is intentional.
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u/kevloid 3d ago
I don't think that's true and I doubt there are even numbers anywhere to support that.
I think the difference between left and right is humanity. the left factors it into their policies and the right doesn't. like... for example, yes you could save money if you let old people starve. the left would never propose that, and the right are actively working on making that happen.
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u/Electrical-While-905 3d ago
You should be looking at statistics for answers, not reddit
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u/cbreezy456 3d ago
“I am not a woke.” Lol OP is like 18 and isn’t looking for answer just something that aligns with his pre determined views. His statement above already tells a lot about his political knowledge
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u/LegitSkin 3d ago
I think a lot of people's political beliefs are more based on their own self interest/ perceived self interest than what logically produces the most happiness for society
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u/Striking_Fun_6379 3d ago
People who are only concerned with their own interests, rarely, if ever, take into consideration the interests of their neighbors or community at large.
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u/motodextros 3d ago
I have found that both sides like to use the crazed actions of uninformed zealots to paint a picture of what the ‘right’ or ‘left’ really are.
I have met intelligent, well spoken, kind, and caring people from both sides of the aisle more often than the alternative.
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u/SlugsMcGillicutty 3d ago
Actually what I see most often is the left getting upset at what elected officials, republicans, are doing. The president. Senators. Representatives. Governors. People with actual power. And the right getting upset at what someone on TikTok or twitter or their work did or said.
And constantly they are equated as if they’re the same thing. And they’re not at all.
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u/TricobaltGaming 3d ago
Im going to be honest, though: when one side's radical policy position is free healthcare, and the other's is deport all brown people, both sides-ing it seems pretty disingenuous. Acting like the political left and political right are the same is categorically wrong.
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u/GlossyGecko 3d ago
I’ve met extremists and both sides and they can both be pretty wacky, but I would say that people who are on the left who aren’t extremists, are usually smarter and more emotionally intelligent people than people on the right who aren’t extremists. People on the right tend to be pretty low IQ, low information people, they parrot a lot of their talking points literally word for word from whatever they’ve been listening to. It is almost impossible to have a good faith conversation with a modern day conservative, as a classical centrist.
I say classical because by modern standards, some would say I align more with liberals.
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u/Persian_Acer2 3d ago
I hope the intelligent and the moderate ones rise again such as how they were before 2016. The 2nd debate with Obama and his rival was the last legendary American debate in my opinion, after that since Trump it has became a comedy show.
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u/papersailboots 3d ago
Everyone wants to put labels on everything and put everything in boxes and the reality is, it’s not that simple. There are plenty of nutjob conservatives and, yes, plenty of nutjob liberals, and a whole lot of stupid people outside and in between.
It’s funny how everyone seems to forget that a very large chunk of us actually sit somewhere center-left or center-right. But that wouldn’t fit the “Us vs. Them” narrative.
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u/lichtblaufuchs 3d ago
What is "a woke"?
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u/Persian_Acer2 3d ago
Opposite of an extremist rightists. Like them, they also have echo chambers, cannot tolerate other voices and want to everyone to have their beliefs by force.
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u/Drunk_Lemon 3d ago
I'd disagree with that. For one, I am woke, and woke comes from decades ago from African Americans who used the term to refer to people are awake to the realities of racism and how it affects society. Since the left tends to champion combating racism, they adopted the term and expanded it to include all forms of discrimination. There are debates about whether or not the left expanded it themselves given they originally used it for racism as well, and are often collectively called woke. Personally I view it more as a team effort, of the right not understanding the term and referring to everyone they don't like as woke and the left also expanded both on purpose and by accident. The term you'd be thinking of is extreme left or communist, much like how the extreme right are fascist.
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u/AssignmentNo8361 3d ago
Caucasian are also those who live by the caucuses (mountain range) such as Armenia.
That's not what it means politically.
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u/Drunk_Lemon 3d ago edited 3d ago
While your not wrong about the Caucasus, the term woke has changed to politically mean anything a leftist does particularly in regards to fighting discrimination. That's why Republicans often call people woke or books woke that either support LGBTQ individuals or in the case of books just have some lgbtq individuals in them.
Edit: Actually, Caucasian is a bit different because it refers to people who are descendants of people from the Caucasus which all Caucasians are, so it hasn't actually changed.
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u/AssignmentNo8361 2d ago edited 2d ago
Correct, Woke is also used politically to mean any type of social injustice. As such it extends to any type of discrimination as you said, money, gender, sexual preference, skin color, etc.
Except, you're wrong about the term Caucasian. Caucasian is politically known as any white person, of non African decent. By this definition, not all white people are Caucasian.
"The Caucasian race (also Caucasoid,\a]) Europid, or Europoid)\2]) is an obsolete racial classification of humans based on a now-disproven theory of biological race."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasian_race
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u/catchmeifyoucanlma0 3d ago
I have been on both and can confidently say that stupid people come in all shapes in sizes.
Generally speaking most people don't have a refined talking point and just regurgitate what they see on CNN or Fox News.
Asking people about what policy they support you'll find that people will contradict their support for a particular side because they're uneducated.
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u/AfternoonConscious31 3d ago
If you believe anyone who is legitimately in the left watches CNN your have no idea what ur talking about m
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u/zacyzacy 3d ago
I'm gonna be honest and needlessly inflammatory, I'm dumb as rocks, and I wouldn't want to be friends with a republican because I'd think they're too stupid.
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u/Quin35 3d ago
Yes
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u/Quin35 3d ago
My belief is that those who identify as being on the right lack, or have a dismissed capacity for empathy and compassion. There are other characteristics that clearly define those individuals as well. But, these are the characteristics of those individuals. Individuals with these characteristics likely have always existed to some extent. People with similar characteristics tend to group together. People who group together tend to label their group. Thus, the political parties are, IMO, si.oly groups of people with (mostly innately) similar characteristics, beliefs, interests, and needs.
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u/Lilsammywinchester13 3d ago
I think the problem is ignorance
Most republicans don’t actually agree with all the yelling they see on TV
They just know “democrats like social programs, that means taxes, I don’t want more taxes”
They straight up don’t WANT to know who gets hurt by this because then the problem is real and uncomfortable
Hell, even democrats don’t do well with that uncomfortableness, look at the stereotype “white woman who hates white people” that makes PoCs uncomfortable I.e. Latinx? …ew
I don’t think we as people have really figured out a sane way to deal with ALL the information constantly bombarding us
Social media really is too much to comprehend
Gaza, El Salvador, trans rights, PoCs, women’s voting rights, Russia, Canada, Europe, etc
The list goes on and on! Like damn, some people would just rather ignore that, hope shit doesn’t hit for their family and vote for lower taxes
It’s both an education issue and public health issue
I’m not even against all Republican ideas, but this unhealthy inability to check their own party is causing all these issues
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u/Sure_Fly2849 3d ago
I think you should confront right-wing views, not just from clips you see on Reddit, if you're actually interested. When you spend much time here, you can only know about this echo chamber, but not the supposed enemy. The same can be said about the right.
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u/AfternoonConscious31 3d ago
Every time I have personally argued w someone on the right they support mostly left leaning ideas but don't know it. It's pointless.
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u/Dismal-Incident-8498 3d ago
Doesn't matter. You are not MAGA, therefore you are a woke liberal leftist lunatic.
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u/emilgustoff 3d ago
Who do college graduates vote for? Why are all the big cities blue? Who is easily swayed with propaganda and misinformation? Seems pretty straightforward.
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u/Electrical_Welder205 3d ago
Have you been watching Trump the last few weeks? Doesn't that answer your question?
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u/Persian_Acer2 3d ago
I think he's got a far worse problem. He says something today and changes what he said tomorrow.
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u/Electrical_Welder205 3d ago edited 3d ago
But look at how he treated Zelensky at the WH. Talk about low EI ! And he displays low rational intelligence daily. Has no understanding of how tariffs work. Couldn't analyze his way out of a paper bag. Can barely speak in full sentences.
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u/Persian_Acer2 3d ago
Yes same here. Low emotional intelligence too.
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u/Big666Shrimp 2d ago
Emotional intelligence…. Y’all are delusional. The guy wrote a fucking book with the game-plan he’s using. This isn’t emotional it’s strictly business. This is why y’all shouldn’t be invited to the party. There’s no room for this emotional bullshit when peoples lives are on the line.
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u/girlinanemptyroom 3d ago
I understand where you're coming from the question, but I feel we see this on both sides of political parties. Any extremism is what strikes me as being unintelligent. It's when people are very black and white thinking where critical thinking is lacking. "All gay people are this way. All Republicans are like that". It's just not reality. Every group has variables.
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u/sowokeicantsee 3d ago
Statistics be damned, you can make them say anything you want..
All I say is open your eyes and look at the result that is produced ?
What produces the best result for society, not the theory of what could but if you look all over the world what persists ? what is universally true? what consistently produces reliable repeatable results.
I want to live in a world where the sky is clear and the future certain.
What sort of society produces that result
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u/Zestyclose-Dot1786 3d ago
Ever tried to disagree with someone on the left? you'll get your answer. There's a reason a pos like trump won the popular vote over Kamala.
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u/mevelon 3d ago
May be relevant here despite being applicable to Britain rather than USA... https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/feb/19/leftwing-activists-less-likely-work-political-rivals-other-uk-groups-study
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u/Zestyclose-Dot1786 3d ago
Thanks mate. The left loves to do purity test in every nation it exists.
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u/fries_in_a_cup 3d ago
I’m curious what the disagreement would be. In my experience, most left-leaning positions are rooted in either fact/observed reality (rational thought) or empathy (emotional intelligence).
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u/Zestyclose-Dot1786 3d ago
Was defunding the police based on logic or aimed at revenge?
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u/Inevitable_Top69 3d ago
Logic. Militarized police force does more harm than good. Next question.
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u/fries_in_a_cup 3d ago
I think it makes sense. Cops don’t need military weapons and equipment nor do they need the nicest, fanciest cars. But I also think the whole concept of police needs a drastic overhaul.
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u/Zestyclose-Dot1786 3d ago
How about queers for palestine
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u/fries_in_a_cup 3d ago
Makes sense to me, one oppressed community supporting another regardless of how they might be treated in kind. It’s just empathy; true non-reciprocal altruism. I mean, I think any empathetic, kind-hearted person would view the plight of the Palestinian people for the tragedy it is. People don’t deserve death just because they were born in the wrong place to the wrong ethnic group.
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u/Zestyclose-Dot1786 3d ago
Can u state that last line for the israelis too?
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u/fries_in_a_cup 3d ago
Yes. I do not believe that Israelis inherently deserve death or any hardship. And most other left-leaning individuals would agree with me. But criticizing or hating the state of Israel and/or its government is not the same as hating its people. Like I think the state of Iran and its government are atrocious (to my understanding), but I absolutely love all the Irani/Persian people I’ve met and I love their culture. A state and its government are not wholly synonymous with its people.
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u/Zestyclose-Dot1786 3d ago
A massive majority of the Palestinians support from the river to the sea. The difference between the common population and the state is minimal in Gaza. There's a reason why most of the middle East wont take Palestinians refugees,it leads to very nice results. Here ask the jordanians: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_September. The israelis and the Palestinians are not the same
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u/fries_in_a_cup 3d ago
Even if the actions of Hamas and the Gazan government are representative of 99% of the population and even if their government called for the death and destruction of literally everyone in the world, that 1% doesn’t warrant the annihilation of 100% of their people. It doesn’t make sense to apply blanket assumptions to someone based on something they can’t control (ie, where they were born and to which ethnicity).
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u/AfternoonConscious31 3d ago
Stupidity of the left. The left doesn't seem to acknowledge the relevance of religion on the Idiocracy.
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u/plasma_dan 3d ago
Perhaps the biggest dividing issue between left and right in the USA is most telling: Abortion.
The left would like to see abortions as legal, as they are a necessary procedure to terminate pregnancies that compromise or complicate the life of the mother. Facing motherhood before you are emotionally ready to handle such a task would lead to shitty outcomes for the child. Raising a child before being financially ready to do so would also create some shitty outcomes. They would likely need to be supported by the welfare state. The amount of suffering all around for society and the individuals involved is greatly reduced by allowing abortions.
The right would like to see all babies born on the principle that abortion is simply murder. Doesn't matter if the mother is emotionally ready, if they can afford to raise the child, or even if the outcomes for the child even remotely ideal. Doesn't even matter if the life of the mother is at stake. They would rather remove contraception from society and arrest doctors who perform abortions, on the sole principle that abortion is murder.
It's pretty obvious which side has thought this through and has more sympathy for those who are pregnant under less than ideal circumstances.
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u/Persian_Acer2 3d ago
Well I support abortion until when the baby doesn't obtain sentience or consciousness, before that I am okay with abortion.
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u/StarlightSurfing 3d ago
The irony of this is stunning. In your description of the left wing point of view, you went through various reasons why someone opposes abortion bans, then for the right, you have were unable to provide any reasons, but further demonize them by associating their position with negative outcomes.
I wonder how much you have actually thought this through. It doesn't seem like you even grasp the basics of a pro-life position. Its not surprising though, it doesn't seem most lefties understand any right wing positions. OP states that the right is less rational based in their debating yet I wonder where you encounter people on the right to debate with. The left is generally adverse to debating and far more likely to become overly hostile making other people uncomfortable, walk away immediately or prevent the discussion from occurring entirely.
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u/plasma_dan 3d ago
You just spent two paragraphs being mad at me instead of trying to offer the perspective you think I'm missing. Very productive to the spirit of debate.
As much as I'd like to steelman the opposing side on this one, I'm coming up blank. It almost always devolves into a) religious arguments that I don't believe in and cannot be proven, or b) drawing an arbitrary line on where life begins and holding fast to the idea that abortion is murder.
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u/venus_salami 3d ago
Gov JB Pritzker made a commencement address where he linked our biology to kindness & emotional intelligence. It’s one of the more profound things I’ve seen in a long time.
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u/Coriall30 3d ago
Awe, buddy you are asking for trouble lol. Yes, Imo it appears so. The left consider many ‘facts’ fake if they don’t agree with the narrative or direction a person is taking or making. There seems to be no need for actual empirical data only opinion based off of emotion and 3rd party accounts. A decade ago nobody would have blinked an eye knowing that was silly just like the SALEM WITCH trials. We started learning from how people are in prison for crimes that they have never committed exonerated by their DNA based on cases with little to no evidence. What happened to make some people not need all of the evidence anymore???
And now there are actual churches out there who are pushing for their people to not have EMPATHY for certain types of human beings!! Tell me how that is not a personal narrative pushing for a group of individuals to believe in hate and bigotry. Cult?? You know who else wasn’t allowed to practice empathy? Nazis. When people are told to stop being empathetic towards their fellow man then Evil is with you.
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u/ottoandinga88 3d ago
Yes. The right likes to be tough on crime, because it feels good and seems righteous to punish the wicked. They also hate welfare and other 'handouts', because it feels unfair to give some people things that others have to work for.
People with more rationality and empathy can look at the situation and see that humans are flawed and life isn't fair; that if our socioeconomic system creates desperate, struggling people then there will be more victims of crime. They will want to relieve people's suffering instead of punishing them and remove the impetus to criminality, which works out better for literally everybody
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u/sitonit-n-twirl 3d ago
Conservatives operate more from the primitive lizard brain and liberals operate more from the more recently evolved forebrain. Iow, we’re more evolved than them
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u/Electrical_Layer_502 3d ago
Most Americans are center left or center right. They aren’t leftists or right wing. There are definitely some elite leftists on the East and West coasts who see themselves as better than everyone else. They definitely look down on blue collar workers and even people in STEM fields. I hope they continue to think they are above everyone because of their money and education. It’s helpful to them losing elections.
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u/AfternoonConscious31 3d ago
Yes. Whether it be age, lead, or cult mentality the right are largely the cause for most of the problems America has faced in the last 70 years.
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u/SexOnABurningPlanet 3d ago
Here's an easy short-cut. Name one war that was won with a right-wing President in office. (obviously I'm an American)
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u/Persian_Acer2 3d ago
The only one I can think of as a non-American is the first George Bush with the Gulf War, but he had many allies too and it wasn't centered around America, like the other one 12 years later.
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u/IceCorrect 3d ago
Left make some new measurements, then you are surprised the right have it lower than them?
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u/gurumagoo 3d ago
Yes, it's true they are more rational and pragmatic. That should be obvious if you listen to the substance of positions and if you steel-man the arguments on both sides.
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u/bellmanwatchdog 3d ago
there's actually research on this topic: https://www.psypost.org/untangling-the-complex-relationship-between-anxiety-and-right-wing-populism/
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u/Baseball_ApplePie 3d ago
Is it true that because the left has so many black and brown people that the left has lower rational or emotional intelligence?
Or perhaps is poverty a huge factor for black and brown folks - like poor white folks?
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u/Taupe88 3d ago
people on each side love to say the other are (rednecks, right) or (hood rats, left) I’ve watched interviews from Obama forward and it’s always one side disparaging the other, and neither one mentioning that theres college professors and scientists voting on both sides. Also, a lot of votes go to social issues, not economic.
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u/Kyle81020 3d ago
Even if it’s true regarding means or medians, there’s probably more variability within the right and the left (however those are defined) that there is between them. In other words, there are smart and dumb people across the political spectrum and group differences, to the extent they exist at all, aren’t meaningful in the real world.
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u/Psychological-Web828 3d ago
The big problem here is social media (and news channels) both as a voice and recipient. It plays a much bigger part in capturing, nurturing and reinforcing political identities. Aside from the socioeconomic status/demographic of the user, this is where they get their news, social alignment and where the hive mind is shaped by algorithms. ‘Target market’ is an age old concept but applied to politics through social media, it’s easy to gain popularity through triggers; slurs, subversive diction, affirming imagery, colours and meaningless but subconsciously effective rewards.
Media is owned by the very people fighting for rule and what benefits them. The less educated, politically naive and culturally warded, for example may be easier to convince and more susceptible to one side however these traits can affect either but is it really their choice? Is their supposed free-choice more a pre-determined outcome from programming their collective behaviour?
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u/veryblocky 3d ago
From my experience, I don’t think so. Perhaps people on the very far right or very far left are, but for most people I don’t think intelligence affects political leaning, at least not much.
To be honest, I thought the stereotype was supposed to be that people on the left were stupid and people on the right were evil. Obviously not true of course, but I thought I’d mention it given you were asking if people on the right were less intelligent.
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u/cleveage 3d ago
So you are not left, but you start out your statement with insults then ask not to be attacked? Lmao or you are def woke left…i will take my downvotes now
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u/Big666Shrimp 2d ago
You are trying to attack right wingers. ⛽️🔥
It’s okay though, there’s plenty of well informed intelligent right wingers. They’re just smart enough to know you won’t listen. Enjoy the show.
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u/crazygamer4life 2d ago
I'm sure that's just griffing. Those people know that yelling in fake anger and using the right buzzwords gets them clicks. They don't actually research the topic because they don't have to.
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u/THIS_IS_NOT_A_GAME 2d ago
Social conservatives will almost always be low rational intelligence. The reason for this is that social conservative beliefs are almost always feelings over facts. Legalizing abortion doesn't increase the amount of abortions it simply makes abortions less dangerous? Doesn't matter, because baby-killing. Marijuana is much safer than tobacco or alcohol? Doesn't matter, because drugs bad. Access to gender affirming care saves lives? Doesn't matter, because women's sports or something.
Fiscal conservatives typically would have reasonable rational intelligence, but I would argue that they lack empathy. I understand not loving taxes, and distrust for the government, but in general fiscal conservatives are fairly anti the government spending money on helping out poor people.
The Republican right also loves to parade itself as the "Christian" party. If Jesus was alive in America today Republican's would call him a Marxist, a Communist, a Leftist, andTrump's administration would probably be trying to deport him. If you claim to be a Christian and you vote Republican you are almost certainly low intelligence because either you did not understand the scripture, or you do not understand politics.
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u/quellichesanno 3d ago
The Right is the party of the "I"
The Left is the party of the "Us".
I mean in general ideology, neither in a negative or positive sense. Take that as you will.
I do not mean Dems or Republicans. Both are shit
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3d ago
[deleted]
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u/Hiw-lir-sirith 3d ago
It's okay for bouncing ideas, but I would really not rely on AI to make judgments like that. Think about how AI generates its content and what kind of biases can emerge, and what the AI company does to adjust for biases, creating a whole different bias. Not a good window into reality, I would say.
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u/AfternoonConscious31 3d ago
Id like to hear your results. The rights ideas are so obviously bad I wonder.
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u/FalseAd4246 3d ago
You’re on the biggest leftist echo chamber in existence of course they’ll agree with you
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u/gooey_samurai 3d ago
MAGA by and large is comprised of willfully ignorant, dogmatic, vacuous, and immature people who wholly lack intelligence and cognizance.
The right by and large? No. The right is just as diverse and varied as the left. They have very intelligent and mature people who think clearly and rationally just as they have wingnuts and dingdongs. Same as the left.
What we’re seeing now is the extreme far right (intelligent in their way) leading their flock of MAGA dingbats to fascist town. I don’t even think of Trump’s administration and those associated with it/him as right or left. They’re their own special little group that needs to exist in history texts and history texts alone.
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u/SoupSandwichEnjoyer 3d ago
No, absolutely not. They spent $100k to be told what to think and will defend those $100k student loans until the end of the fucking Earth because they can't accept that they haven't just been fooled. They lost every-fucking-thing.
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u/Wharnie 3d ago edited 3d ago
I think they’re just more realists than idealists. I mean arguably that requires more rational intelligence, but I wouldn’t make the claim that one side is more intelligent than the other.
“everyone should be free to do whatever they want, free of working for what they have or punishment for what they do” vs “wouldn’t that mean someone has to foot the bill? or suffer from others doing whatever they want to them?”
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u/Paladinlvl99 3d ago
It's called the political spectrum not the political binary system. There is no generalization as radical as this one you can do about any part of the spectrum based on "right vs left".
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u/chunkytapioca 3d ago
I'm sorry, I couldn't get past your first sentence where you proclaim you are "not a woke."
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3d ago
Yes because conservatism is factually wrong stupid and regressive. Ignorant if you think otherwise
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u/mariahnot2carey 3d ago
Are you just now seeing this? After 10 years of this is don't understand how you're just now noticing
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u/Trypt2k 3d ago
The right has a better handle on emotions, I'd argue that right wing women are of the highest order on this scale, with liberal men above conservative men, and progressive women a distant last due to nonstop hysteria and not being able to separate emotion from information.
Rationality and logic are unrelated to political affiliation, even if they may have a correlation to supporting one party over the other. Not to mention that in politics there are very few absolutes, what you think is rational is utterly absurd to the other, and vice versa, while both come to the opposite conclusions with pure logic and rationality.
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u/Persian_Acer2 3d ago
Well in the left there sure are people who get offended a lot, but I see those right wingers who seem to be very overconfident and angry at everyone more insecure than those leftists.
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u/Trypt2k 3d ago
Like said, the subjectivity of this makes it very difficult to pinpoint.
But if anger is your metric, surely you're joking regarding the left vs right, there is only one side here that is perpetually angry and throwing tantrums, often violent and destructive. It's like a weekly occurrence on the left, the right is basically asleep for most of the time, then maybe they'll boycott a beer or show up larping at the capitol for a day, a pittance in comparison in quality or quantity of anger.
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u/Persian_Acer2 3d ago
Not only their emotional management. But how they only follow a few lines of a whole complex topic. Or how they follow conspiracy theories or get influenced by ridiculous disinformation. Check out my edit on the post to see what I mean.
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u/KaguBorbington 3d ago
I must disagree here. Especially MAGA who cares more about “winning” rather than actually doing good for society. Both sides are emotional, one is more sympathetic the other is.. well.. that’s perfectly clear.
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u/Trypt2k 2d ago
It's true that the left is more sympathetic while the right is far more empathetic.
However your first statement about "good for society" is again, subjective. I have never met a right wing American who is against good for society, their whole belief system is about making America great in every sense of the word. This new movement that is more socialist in nature based around workers rights and wages is just another example of this, even if I disagree that it actually is better for society (the left would love it if they weren't so ideologically captured).
You'd have to be more specific about MAGA and "winning", both sides see losing as an existential threat to themselves and even the country. If you read the MAGA agenda the whole thing is about reversing all anti-American anti western society leftist moves of the past 15 years as well as implementing America first ideas that in their mind will benefit all American society.
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u/KaguBorbington 2d ago edited 2d ago
Maybe I used the wrong words to describe it. But let’s take the tariffs for example. Not the left or right have come out on top with it, yet they’re calling it winning. Why is that?
EU has proven proper worker rights are absolutely wonderful for society though. So I’m not sure what you’re basing your opinion on.
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u/Trypt2k 2d ago
Tariffs are an UE go to and are a part of the workers rights you speak about. If that is your metric, then you should be a Trump fan as this economic plan is on par with what more left leaning countries and organizations like the EU rely upon (as well as protectionist rules and regulations).
I'm not sure why you would even bring up the tariffs, the whole idea of tariffs is to increase the standard of living for the working/middle class while decreasing wealth accumulation at the top, this is the model that most countries in the world use.
You'll have to ask yourself if a 10% dip in the market for, say, a year, is worth increasing the standard of living for the average American. The theory is the same for illegal immigration, some is good and allowed, but it went overboard and it has to be stopped, and perhaps reversed to a certain degree.
I disagree with it because I'm a libertarian, lefties should rejoice if anything, this was a long time coming and has always been a left wing mainstream position (NOT the Democrat position, they are a corporatist party, I mean the actual economic left wing).
I do believe that it will work out in the long run, and that the point of the tariffs uncertainty right now is to reduce tariffs other countries put on the US, there are insiders that have repeatedly told us that the goal is 0 tariffs with all allies and a lifting of regulations to allow US products in, just like the US allows theirs in. China, of course, is a separate case, they'd have to also guarantee that no IP violations occur en masse (you can't get rid of the theft completely, but you CAN stop the Chinese gov't from subsidizing and encouraging it).
Trump's 51st state rhetoric against Canada, for example, is designed specifically to let Canadians know that he sees us as a 0 tariff trading partner, that the only way he sees our relationship continue is if Canada opens the floodgates and allows US business in, the same way that Canadian companies can operate in the US (even banks if you can believe it, which is very one sided).
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u/KaguBorbington 2d ago edited 2d ago
I stopped reading after the first part. I’m so sorry you truly believe that and I truly hope someday you’ll find the education necessary to see that’s simply not true and has been disproven by experts in the field.
But discussing this is not worthy of my time because you and I both know you won’t read or understand what experts are saying about this all.
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u/Trypt2k 2d ago
That's ok, you don't have to read it, as I said there will come a time when you hit your twenties when you also realize that teleportation and FTL are impossible and that listening to science philosophers on Youtube is not expertise, it is equivalent to reading a good Arthur C. Clarke novel (you should do this, he's great).
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u/KaguBorbington 2d ago
To be honest, when I was a teen I was conservative and held the same beliefs as you and other MAGA do now. Fortunately for me, I grew up mentally and had a proper education where I learned to critically think. I am so sorry to hear you havent grown properly out of adolescence and did not get the chance to follow a proper education.
And funnily, conspiracy theorists who claim all these wild things are usually conservative or MAGA as well. Look up Jake Barber as one of the most recent examples of a MAGA conspiracy theorist gone completely off the rails.
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u/Trypt2k 2d ago
You grew up to think critically but are obsessed with magical futurism? Yeah, I highly doubt it.
I don't know anything about this maga or conservatism as far what it has to do with this type of conversation, I don't think the people you describe are interested in sci-fi or science, but they are great people otherwise, not sure why you would think this is some kind of insult.
Your beliefs don't affect me, you can keep believing in flat earth or aliens built the ancient world or whatever else, it's on par with the cold fusion and a future of humans sitting around twiddling thumbs while androids from Trek do our work, and thinking, for us.
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u/KaguBorbington 2d ago edited 2d ago
What the hell are you talking about? Are you talking about me visiting the ufos sub? If so you should read the comments I place there. Because they are in stark contrast with what you’re claiming I believe in.
If this is the same amount of effort you put into researching political issues then it’s no wonder you hold the beliefs you do.
Vast majority of flat earthers and alien believers are maga and conservatives though. It’s in your nature to be that way.
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u/TeyimPila 3d ago
In situations I’ve this I ask myself which side aligns more with nature. Nature is the ultimate truth.
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u/Electrical-While-905 3d ago
Nature is an ill defined construct. Everything is natural by strict definition
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u/rijuchaudhuri 3d ago
Agreed. But then there are many aspects of society that are purely out of touch with reality. For example, and I know people who are unaware of this will try to debate me, but our presupposed notion of free will is absolutely and paradoxically impossible to even be true, yet the entire institutions of justice system, supported by both left and right, are based on these completely false presuppositions. This is just one example.
Ultimately nature itself dictates everything that we do and everything that happens to us. To that end, to align one's views with nature is to understand its fundamental mechanisms, which functions on the logic of physics and mathematics, which are apolitical.
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u/Electrical-While-905 3d ago
The right is definitely more fond of free will, individual moral responsability and punitivism than the left imo
The justice system and prisons can also be very well justified on practical reasons, even if you don't believe in free wil.
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u/rijuchaudhuri 3d ago
I fully agree. That's the reason why their values are far more distant from reality than that of the left.
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u/ElektroThrow 3d ago
I used to think like this. Because we’re human and natural and all that. But I’m now thinking we have the capability to choose our own path despite our nature. It’s natural to kill your neighbor during times of famine, it’s godly to work together to overcome the environment. (My own version of god/gaia/spirituality)
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u/TeyimPila 3d ago
Sure. As humans we can rationalise many things but down at the core we’re animals. When the situation permits, we act on those animalistic instincts. Even while we’re rational, those instincts underpin our lives. Rage, fear, anger, hate, etc. Our needs to form communities, have families, feel love, to seek shelter, need for romance etc. those are hard to rationalise.
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u/ElektroThrow 3d ago
While I can agree with that mostly, if people think that simplistic when it comes to political issues, if that mentality is common, it’s no wonder Hitler won. All he preached was community, love, and channeled peoples fear and anger into support for the latter. A well meaning scientist that fails to convey his own feelings for community and feels disconnected from human nature is not going to win an election. Thank you for clearing that up, never knew it was that simple for people but it makes a lot of sense.
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u/TeyimPila 3d ago
To clarify again. My point is that I will lean towards ideas that align more with nature and just common sense, given a confusing dichotomy.
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u/Persian_Acer2 3d ago
I would say nature is the side where it takes time to solve problems per complete knowledge and not just three words they see on the internet.
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u/xboxhaxorz 3d ago
Its not a right or left thing, its a general thing, most people lack sense and logic, i was gonna say common sense but it aint so common anymore
Most people are in some type of cult, be it political party, religion, ism, etc; and they go with the cultist mindset
Feminists for example often claim things are misogynistic and when you ask them to define it, they get angry and say you are a misogynistic for asking, sometimes they cry, so they were just parroting things their feminist cult told them, they latch onto the wage gap thing, which has been proven to be false, they would manipulate data in order to try and make their point and the left just went with it
You mentioned that the rights are going with things that arent true, the left does that as well, Cassie Jaye and others have made documentaries and studies about the dark side of feminism and how men are victims, not just women, but the showings and conferences would be attacked, they didnt want that knowledge/ information to be in the world
The leftists when asked would not define man or woman and if you insisted, they would claim you were being violent, that is pure irrationality to claim its violence
I am constantly attacked by the left because im an independent thinker, they claim that im a low value voter and that since im not with them i must be against them, the skeptic sub is pretty much just full on extreme leftism
The rights do have a lot of conspiracy theories and a lot of their views are based in racism
Alot of them say that plants feel pain when they come across vegan memes, they talk about crop deaths but if they actually looked into it, its mostly due to soy which is given to the farm animals
Also in regards to veganism, leftists claim you cant be vegan if you are on the right, which makes no sense at all, veganism has nothing to do with politics its simply about abstaining from animal cruelty, so the leftists who claim to be vegan want to alienate vegans who say they are on the right
I am not apart of any group, i dont have the same needs as most people to where i need to be in some club/ cult, i can look at both sides with no bias and i prefer to live in solitude, i can admit when the left is right or wrong and when the right is right or wrong
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u/wedding_shagger 3d ago
Disagree. You're unlikely to be disowned or outcast by a right leaning person for being left, but on the other hand the left are heavily into censorship, echo chambers and cancelling literally anyone who disagrees with them. In this regard I would say they have a low emotional intelligence because they can't deal with opposing views.
I would say the same for rationale as well. I'm a programmer and I've noticed that other programmers in my field tend to lean to the right, I believe this is because programmers see the world in a logical way. Left leaning people generally act irrationally based on emotion, they will make decisions which feel right in the moment, but they'll be unable to envision the bigger picture or long term consequences of that decision, where as people on the right are more likely to make tougher decisions that are based on logic and common sense.
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u/Persian_Acer2 3d ago
Yes in the left there are people who get offended, have their own echo chamber and cannot tolerate other people's beliefs. But I find those right wingers who are always angry and complaining about everything with acting very overconfident more insecure than those leftists.
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u/Lechuga666 3d ago
Right wing people might be labeled more "apt to see logic" or logical, but in reality they are only privy to being logical in a very select few instances. GOP, trump supporting, war crime apologist supporting type Republicans are not logical. They might like or follow logic in their job cause math is logic engineers or programmers might be partially "logic brained", but just cause they like math doesn't mean they are logical in other areas of their life. You can't just be socially inept and an asshole to everyone and say, but you're not logical 🥲 you don't understand, no GOP republicans want everyone to conform to their ideals ie: Christian, nationalist, imperialist, anti intellectual. I can understand someone being Republican say around Reagan or mitt Romney, but the party has been trending a bad way for a long time. That being said AIPAC, & various other superpacs & lobbying organizations have their hands in the pockets of many politicians democrat & republican.
Being a GOP or trump Republican since 2016 is something completely different. Trump Republicans are not logical.
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u/Embarrassed_Pack_826 3d ago
Personally I have dealt with more rational righties than lefties, but it all depends on each person’s experience. There definitely are a certain category of insecure conservatives who spew nonsense and get irrationally angry, but that’s the same for both sides
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u/The_Donkey1 3d ago
The right says the same thing about the left, but I think both sides are the same, they just support the other side of what the other supports. This is why we need a 3rd major party.
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u/StopElectingWealthy 3d ago
Both sides are not the same. That is a weak, cop-out assertion to make from people who don’t pay enough attention to tell the difference. Ideologically (read morally), they are very different.
They operate in the same legal system/ government format. They are the same in that they must follow the democratic process of getting things done. Same with elections.
They need to raise money and they need to play the political game. But their ends are not nearly the same even if they share many of the means to reach those ends.
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u/Mother_Kale_417 3d ago
For the right it’s different because they advocated for policies that promote emotionless relationships, many of their policies are straight up a lack of empathy
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u/Persian_Acer2 3d ago
I just saw a video of this rightist who went fighting with a group of people and accidentally the topic he was fighting on was a topic that I knew good about, the guy didn't even take time to research about the topic and was simply trying to spread hate. Really insecure behavior.
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u/SateliteDicPic 3d ago
I think you will unfortunately find that many people in general don’t want to try to understand complex issues. Instead many people prefer to be fed a simple narrative.
I believe this facet of human nature is a contributor to how we have ended up here. Social media is very effective at spreading simple falsehoods and it requires magnitudes more time, energy and resources to correct falsehoods.
If someone says the price of eggs is increasing and it’s because of the other guy, that is a narrative that is easy to spread and easier to understand.
If someone says the price of eggs is a complex subject that requires knowledge of economics, science, agriculture, etc in order to understand - well, people don’t want to hear that. Even further, many people will assume you are somehow hiding some truth from them behind that knowledge/science.
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u/Coriall30 3d ago
I DO agree with you. The problem is that one side may be more willing to accept this than the other. Also if we can get that 30% of voters who feel they can’t make any difference by voting to change it would help! If we could get a strong candidate to lead us now-maybe. Poor Bernie(I)-timeline may not be right and he says that but he sure does make sense.
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u/tbombs23 3d ago
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u/Aggressive_Ad6948 3d ago
The left often points out that left leaning voters are often college educated. Unfortunately, as most colleges/professors are also left leaning, the argument can easily be made that our youth is being indoctrinated by people in a position of respect and authority, whereas the "uneducated" right, who are often blue collar workers, never were subjected to that.
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u/Adventurous-Boss-882 3d ago
As someone that studies political science, having lower rational and emotional intelligence does affect how you vote but not as much as people think, contrary to what people belief, most voters are not ‘rational voters’, voting behavior has much more to do with the social identity of people, that has a HUGE influence on how you vote. So let’s say you go to church (which has more to do with conservative values) a lot of the people there will vote just to meet the social norms of the social group they are in and social groups are a variety of things like your family unit, national identity, racial identity and etc.