Supporters of conservative firebrand Rick Santorum listen to

the candidate at a Rally for Rick in Effingham, Illinois, Mar. 17.

Is there a scientific basis for asserting that right-wing voters

in the U.S. are science and fact averse?

News, Switzerland

Study Reveals that Facts Don't Matter to U.S. Conservatives

The amazing result is that facts on specific scientific topics play no role when it comes to the more conservative segments of American society. It is intriguing that self-proclaimed conservative individualists appear most prone to group think and dependence on collectively-formulated truths, while those discredited as left-wing and authority-worshipping appear more influenced by independently-acquired knowledge.

By Patrik Etschmayer



Translated By Ulf Behncke

March 17, 2012

Switzerland - News - Original Article (German)

Children of Mitt Romney supporters at a rally for the Republican frontrunner in Vernon Hills, Illinois, Mar. 19. RUSSIA TODAY VIDEO: Mitt Romney and the Republican 'death march,' Mar. 9, 00:24:20

Whenever climate change is on the agenda ... or whenever conservative politicians talk about it, all it takes is a look at the forums. It doesnt matter how many facts are enumerated, the contradiction remains - and these are conclusions that education won't alter. Quite the contrary.

This was the result of a study out of Yale University. Chief investigator Dan Kahan interviewed some 1,540 randomly selected U.S. citizens. The amazing result is that facts on specific scientific topics play no role when it comes to the more conservative segments of American society.

Those who show such resistance to the facts, interestingly enough, are not with low educational and social status. No - the more educated a person is, the stronger and more irrational is their rejection of scientifically-proven and peer-reviewed facts (conspiracy theories involving thousands of scientists are frequently mentioned). One cheerleader of the trend is ultra-conservative presidential candidate Rick Santorum.

One commentator described the phenomenon highlighted in the study as smart idiots - and this involves topics other than just climate change. Technological risk, when reducing it would require restricting individual freedom, is denied whenever it applies to conservative elites - even if those risks are proven. And while it flies in the face of intuition, this is true the higher and more comprehensive a persons education is. The survey results are unambiguous.

These so-called top-down individualists in America are served almost exclusively by the pseudo-news channel FOX News, which acts as a kind of religious preaching channel, amplifying amplifying and reinforcing the ideologically-correct views of conservatives. That the study failed to include the fact that religious values are more-or-less generally held in high regard is unfortunate. But U.S. resistance to facts about evolution, geology, astronomy, etc. by religiously-influenced people is indeed legendary. So it is perhaps no coincidence that political conservatism and religiosity often go hand-in-hand. But I digress.

Naturally then, the question is whether "smart idiots" are to be found on the liberal-left. Naturally enough there is such a group, which the study calls "egalitarian communitarians." This left-wing group raises as many questions as conservatives do about climate change  but about nuclear energy.

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

Here as well, there is a gulf between perceived risk and a close reading of the facts, and delving a little deeper into new technologies and opportunities should rightfully have an impact on these perceptions. But if communitarians had the same mental tick as conservatives, then facts would play no role and rejection of nuclear energy would be just as closely associated with higher educations. But it is not: the more scientifically-literate members of this group were, the lower their assessment of the risk (although they maintained their rejection of nuclear power).

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The study of course goes into more detail about methodologies and conclusions. But it is intriguing that of these groups, the self-proclaimed individualists appear most prone to "group think" and dependence on collectively-formulated "truths," while those discredited as left-wing and authority-worshipping appear more influenced by independently-acquired knowledge.

This study was conducted in the U.S. and it would be very interesting to find something similar to run in Europe by around out here, too, whether the irrationality can displace facts equally effective as in America .... currently there is no reason to think otherwise.

This study was conducted in the U.S., and it would be very interesting to hold a similar one in Europe, so we could find out whether irrationality could displace facts as effectively as is happening in America. Right now, there is no reason to believe otherwise.

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