Conservapedia:Conservative Intellectualism
From RationalWiki
This essay is an original work by signed users. Please comment only on the talk page.
NOTE: The author of this essay does not endorse the views portrayed in it, or its method of argument. This work is intended to demonstrate the fallacy of the content at cp:Essay:Liberal Intellectualism
It is interesting to observe how the conservative ideology, and conservative arguments, appeal most to educated, informed persons who are short on intellectual achievements of their own. Put another way, the biggest advocates of conservative arguments are the intellectual wannabees or pseudo-intellectuals.
Examples of not-quite-intellectuals who promote conservative arguments include:
- privileged youth, weak student at Yale, no original work
- dropped out of SE Missouri State University after receiving many poor grades
- frequent low-brow attacks on Democrats
- obscure actor before entering politics
- privileged youth, graduate student at Harvard, has both a law and engineering degree, dispite all this teaches homeshooling and runs a poor encyclopedia
Please add other examples.
[edit] Motivation
There are three primary motivations for the conservative advocacy by pseudo-intellectuals:
- it is easier for them to obtain acclaim from the conservative press than from real intellectuals
- they genuinely fail to understand certain abstractions, such as:
- how cutting taxes often decreases government revenue
- how guns jeopardize more lives than they save
- how abortion can be a reasonable decision in some circumstances
- how diplomacy is often better than war
- how arms limitations treaties reduce the chances of a devastating nuclear exchange
- they expect superficial, flawed logic to persuade others, such as:
- claiming discrimination does not exist
- demanding that institutional discrimination against women be sustained
- claiming that homosexuals deserve fewer civil rights
- insisting government programs have no effect on poverty
Please add to these lists.
