March 3, 2010
Colleges Are Liberal Havens, Even When They're Catholic
It's interesting to see the political shifts of Catholic college students assessed on a scale of agreement with Catholic doctrine:
On pro-life issues, the results indicated a "mixed pattern," it said. A majority of Catholic students leave college disagreeing that abortion should be legal but they number fewer than those who entered with that opinion, it said. Overall 56 percent said they disagreed "strongly" or "somewhat" that "abortion should be legal." ...Like Catholic students at most public colleges, they moved toward agreeing with the church's position on the need to reduce the number of large and small weapons and its view that federal military spending should not be increased.
On the death penalty, 49 percent of Catholic students on Catholic campuses agreed "strongly" or "somewhat" with the church's opposition to the death penalty and were more likely than Catholic students at public colleges to agree with the church's social justice teaching on the need to reduce suffering in the world and "improve the human condition."
In brief, college moves kids to the left. Since the Church crosses the center line of Western politics, the students move toward the Church in some instances and away from it in others.
Study finds Liberals are smarter than Conservatives
www.drudge.com
http://www.drudge.com/news/130634/liberals-smarter-than
Posted by: Jeff at March 3, 2010 9:02 PMJeff,
I followed your link to the Drudge Retort. Since no information was provided, I cannot comment on the veracity of the results reported.
I have to say I was not impressed by the wit and repartee that appeared in the comments to that report.
Posted by: Warrington Faust at March 3, 2010 9:26 PMAnd libertarians are smarter than everyone!
Er, sorry, I just made that up.
Posted by: Dan at March 3, 2010 9:37 PMMaybe it's just that more liberals spend their lives immersed in academia learning a lot of material that has little practical application.
And Jeff,why do you bother with a bunch of dummies like us?
You could be posting at RIF or kmareka where great minds like Pat Crowley,Nancy Green,Jesse from Cranston,and "Klaus" hold forth.
Trust me, you do not want the "intellectual elite" running the government. My law professors were objectively brilliant, most from Harvard and Yale, and they were the whackiest bunch of loons I ever met. One of them thought that homeless people had a fundamental right to break into your home for warmth if it was snowing outside. Can you imagine the ramifications of that?
When it came to their area of expertise, they were authorities, no question. When it came to the everyday real world, they were totally out to lunch, which they fully recognized and which is why they hid in academia their whole lives.
This is why the "elite ruling class" tenet of progressivism is fatally flawed - just because somebody is intelligent doesn't mean they know what is best for everyone. In fact, nobody does.
Posted by: Dan at March 3, 2010 11:57 PMI'll bet the same professor would go insane if a homeless mental patient or drug adict broke into his little hutch on such a night.
And it's a safe bet he was a "collective right"a##wipe when it came to gun rights,so you couldn't stop a break in with a firearm.
"Intellectuals"like those profs are really a waste of humanity.
I have the greatest respect for intelligent people who actually do something useful,like doctors,inventors,business founders,and legitimate(non-politicized )scientists.
"I would rather be governed by the first 5000 people in the Boston phonebook, than the Harvard faculty"
W.F. Buckley
Didn't Prof. Gates teach us something about the Harvard faculty?
Posted by: Warrington Faust at March 4, 2010 10:54 AM