Glenn Beck is a fucking moron.

[DJ FC]

Originally Posted by Fruitacious B

I think Anarchy is a ridiculous, impossible concept. Socialism, on the other hand, if done correctly seems great to me. When I look at the stability of certain European countries, although not definitively Socialist, but mostly, I am really disheartened by the stubbornness of our country's society towards improvement (i.e. National Healthcare, War on Drugs, hesitance toward war, openness to moral issues [gay marriage, abortion, what have you] etc).

As for the future of humanity, it would be understandable to not care about it if you're not going to have kids. If you are, then it's even more important to see to it that changes start happening now, so that there is at least a slight hope of your 'legacy' being carried out to its fullest.

Too many Americans envision Europe as this magical land of prosperity. Socialism doesn't get you life saving drugs, the best video games, gourmet food from all over the world, or a well-oiled financial system which fosters investment and rewards creativity - capitalism does.

[heurisdick]

Isn't Europe kinda going to shit right now and turning away from some of those socialist concepts we seem to be adopting?

[Beebs]

Originally Posted by heurisdick

Isn't Europe kinda going to shit right now and turning away from some of those socialist concepts we seem to be adopting?

Exactly, the countries with the most socialist policies, Greece, Spain, and Portugal are the ones doing the worst.

[Fruitacious B]

I don't envision Europe as some magic land where dreams come true, nor was I trying to imply that straight up Socialism is the answer. I do, however, think that it couldn't hurt to be open to certain ideas rather than disregarding them immediately just because they don't fit perfectly under the banner of capitalism.

[Mr. Blonde]

Originally Posted by Beebs

Sites down.

Hm, can't find a mirror off hand. Basically it was Glenn ranting about that study done earlier this year and totally going overboard ignoring what the study actually suggested. It was extremely comical, especially the first minute or so that doesn't have anything do with the study but rather him intentionally making a show by not being able to pronounce a relatively easy Japanese surname. The whole video was ridiculous, the site was just simply explaining the study and how badly Glenn fucked up his understanding of it.

[Mr. Blonde]

Was able to find it:

Glenn Beck - Videos

copied from cached site, no image though (cause site is down...Reddit probably used up all his allotted bandwidth)

In the above video Glenn Beck discovers the year old study by Satoshi Kanazawa (whose name Beck couldn’t even begin to pronounce) in which he theorizes that more intelligent people tend to be atheists, and less intelligent people tend to be very religious. Beck not only couldn’t counter Kanazawa’s claims, but didn’t really even seem to understand what he was reading.

For those without the time let me break down the study for you.

First we have the statistics above. Young adults who answered “Not at all” to how much they believe in god have an average IQ of 103.9. The average IQ for a young adult who is very religious is 97.14. Certainly suggesting a direct relation to intelligence and religiosity. Kanazawa reasons that belief in god is natural for humans as it served our ancestors to fear an overseer of our daily lives and trust that our dead were in the hands of a benevolent caretaker. However, this default setting for the human mind requires no intelligence. What does require intelligence is to question the natural predisposition to believe in religion. A less-than-average IQ does not seem conducive to questioning the existence of god.

The relationship between liberalism/conservatism and intelligence is very similar, but I don’t want to get too into left/right politics on this blog.

Beck seems to believe that this is as black and white as “Atheists are smart, the religious are stupid.” I’m sure to him, an obvious idiot, that must be what this study looks like. However, he is completely ignoring that an intelligent person could question faith, god, and religion and decide that they do believe it. All Kanazawa is suggesting is that intelligent people are more likely to question the status quo.

[Saint DH]

America has opened it's mind to many-a-socialist concept. See: welfare, unemployment, medicare, medicade, social security, minimum wage, etc.

[Beebs]

He is especially stupid on there; he doesn't really make any point, other than "well maybe they're right, but fuck them"