Is Bocephus Right? - Commentary by Frank Gillispie

Is Bocephus Right? – Commentary by Frank Gillispie 4/02/10

Many of us on the conservative side of life often accuse our liberal friends of being arrogant elitist. They believe that they are somehow superior to the rest of us and thus have a responsibility to run our inept lives for us. Well, now we have a college professor who claims to have scientific evidence to back them up. Professor Satoshi Kanazawa, an evolutionary psychologist at the London School of Economics and Political Science, has published a paper in which he proclaims that liberals and atheists are more highly evolved than the rest of us.

Kanazawa argues that intelligence arose to help us deal with unexpected events. And that those people who most likely to find new answers to these sudden problems are the more advanced. In other words, those of us who believe in sticking with what we know works, are somehow dimwits who are falling behind the elites. Kanazawa published his theory entitled "Why Liberals and Atheists Are More Intelligent" in the March 2010 issue of Social Psychology Quarterly.

Now a couple of thoughts entered my mind when I read this. First, I have an inherent suspicion of many academics. It appears to me that they are more interested in promoting a social and political agenda than finding and teaching the truth. One of the reasons I dropped out of UGA and devoted myself to self-education was my encounter with certain professors who had that attitude. That was particularly true in the study of history and cultural events.

"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but inform their discretion."
--Thomas Jefferson, 1820

Second, this attitude is in total opposition to the idea of government by the people. It suggests that only government by the liberal elite can solve our problems and give us a better life. I find that idea to be a major insult to the majority of people.

Kanazawa used a questionable intelligence test to judge the abilities of a group of teenagers. Then he followed them through their social and political development. All those he deemed to be superior in intelligence became left wing liberals. That causes me to think he may have used left leaning tendencies as the basis of his original intelligence ratings.

And he is not revealing anything new. The left wing elitists have deemed themselves to be superior and thus deserving of power over the rest of us for a long part of our history. You can find their arrogance in newspaper editorials, famous quotes, and various academic publications going back to the beginning of this nation. For example, here is a quote from General Sherman justifying his vicious attacks on women and children in Georgia and South Carolina:

“There will soon come an armed contest between capital and labor. They will oppose each other, not with words and arguments, but with shot and shell, gun-powder and cannon. The better classes are tired of the insane howling of the lower strata and they mean to stop them.” --General William T. Sherman

Hundreds of thousands of women, old men and children had their homes and livelihoods destroyed to satisfy Sherman’s arrogance.

Finally I wondered what would happen if our present economy were to collapse and we were forced to fall back on our ability to grow our own food, sew our own clothes, and build our own homes. Which would most likely survive, we dimwitted rednecks, or the educated elites? I go with Bocephus- A Country Boy Can Survive.

"...I can plow a field all day long
I can catch catfish from dusk till dawn
We make our own whiskey and our own smoke too
Ain’t too many things these ole boys can’t do
We grow good ole tomatoes and homemade wine
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive..."
---Hank Williams, Jr., Country Boy Can Survive

The American Ideal of 1776: The Twelve Basic American Principles

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