My Biggest Pet Peeve

So about that CNN clip that's lighting up Twitter...

I'm not surprised that Lemon and his guests thought it was appropriate to mock Trump supporters in the way that they did. I've been encountering that sort of arrogance from the left for years -- an arrogance that's thoroughly unjustified.

Leftists often point to the port-side tilt of folks with advanced degrees as proof - proof, I say! - that leftism in general is S-M-R-T. But of course, we all know that our post-secondary education system is profoundly biased -- that, in fact, there are whole departments at many schools that boast not a single conservative faculty member. Do you really think that much ideological uniformity ultimately leads to fair outcomes for right-leaning students who are thinking of pursuing graduate studies? Do you really think right-leaning students aren't, in fact, self-selecting out of academia precisely because of how hostile universities are for anyone who doesn't hew to a certain sort of leftist groupthink?

I have also had leftists swear to me that the better average test scores of blue states like Massachusetts are an indication that leftism is more intelligent. But of course, this only betrays their inability to understand how statistics and comparable populations work. Yes, the southern states have lower average scores -- but if you take into account the greater economic and ethnic diversity of those southern states, the picture completely flips. Years ago, I took a look at how Virginia was doing group-by-group on the NAEP compared to Wisconsin (because, at the time, the leftists I knew were all fired up and ready to defend the antics of Wisconsin's teachers union), and I discovered that Virginia outperformed Wisconsin when it came to educating black students, Hispanic students, students who spoke English as a second language, etc. -- but because we had more of those students, our overall average was lower. The upshot? Whole-state comparisons are utterly useless. But guys, guys: leftists are so smart!

But let's say we grant that, as a group, leftists have a higher mean IQ. That turns out not to mean much either if you look at the relevant research. In reality, our political opinions are generally influenced more by our personality profiles and our lizard brains than by our conscious minds. Jonathan Haidt, for instance, has accurately described human beings as little riders (our rational selves) who refuse to recognize that they're sitting on massive elephants (our irrational instincts) -- elephants that, in actuality, drive most of the decision-making. So if some humans have higher IQ's, that only means that they are better able to articulate persuasive rationalizations for their elephants' snap judgments -- not that their decisions are inherently better.

Additionally, a greater facility for book larnin' does not translate into greater wisdom -- the thing you really need in a country's leaders. In order to rule, you have to understand your fellow man at a fundamental level. What makes him healthy? What makes him happy? How do we maximize his flourishing? As clever as Lemon and his ilk think they are, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that they do not know the correct answers to any of these questions. They know lots of trivia, perhaps, but they simply don't grok how people really work. (If they did, would they have felt free to be dickheads on national television? Would they have failed to recognize that giggling at the supposedly ignorant commoners would give excellent ad fodder to the Trump campaign?)

Leftists' tendency to view their opponents as dummies is my biggest pet peeve. I went to two top-tier universities, I have a genius IQ, and I have mentored students who have gone on to top-tier universities themselves thanks in part to my instruction. I, however, do no believe my book smarts and credentials make me well-suited to control others. No: I think The Simpsons had it right many years ago in that episode in which all the brainy Springfield residents turn out to suck ass at being in charge.

So simmer the hell down, Mr. Lemon, and learn some freakin' humility. Otherwise, you'll make Trump's reelection just that much easier to achieve.