Reply #15: Who needs data when we have the strength of conviction? :-) [View All]

[Psephos]

I understand it's all in fun, so I won't go all furrowed-brow serious here...but it does raise some interesting points.

I'm saying this knowing I'll be up for some good-natured (I hope!) rib-poking, but here goes. I think that once humans identify an ingroup and an outgroup, members of the ingroup begin to really think the outgroup is made up of stupid, deranged, morally defective people. DU in this case is the ingroup, and freepers are the outgroup.

There's something inside me that dislikes stereotyping groups, whether they be racial, socioeconomic, religious, or political. Yet there's also something in me that makes me take it almost for granted that the typical freeper is, well, stupid, deranged, and morally defective. Yet, political affiliation does not have a high correlation with most psychological markers. In other words, IQ, personality distribution, prevalence of emotional disorders, etc., are apparently nearly identical among those of the left and those of the right. Among the "true believers" at the extreme left and the extreme right, there is a narrowing of the personality profile spread, but again, striking similarities. It seems that what you believe is less of a marker than how you believe. Shades of that famous Arthur Koestler essay, "The Yogi and the Commissar." (Which you should read if you haven't - it's brilliant.)

A thought experiment: change the word "freeper" in the original post to something like "blacks" or "gays," and tell me if the post seems any different from some of the racist or homophobic stuff you've seen.

OK, flame away. I can take it! :-)