Tom Kando
This is a game: I take 3
variables, I cross-tab them, and I formulate some hypotheses about their
correlation (or lack thereof).
The
variables are:
1.
Conservatism vs. Liberalism
2.
Kindness or not
3.
Being well-informed or not
In other words, an individual
can be conservative or liberal; he/she can be a by and large nice person or what we could call an a...hole;
and she/he can be well-educated and intelligently informed or not.
For the sake of simplicity, the
three variables are dichotomous. Also, let’s not quibble about the true meaning
and nature of being ”nice” as opposed to being an “a...hole” This is just an experiment, maybe a fun one, and most of us know an a...hole
when we meet one... Also, for the purposes of this
experiment, I use a total sample of 200.
Liberal or conservative?
|
frequencies
|
|||
ignorant or well-informed
|
liberal
|
conservative
|
null hyp.
|
hypotheses
|
ignorant
|
Mean
|
25
|
25
|
|
well-informed
|
Mean
|
25
|
15
|
|
ignorant
|
mean
|
25
|
45
|
|
well-informed
|
mean
|
25
|
15
|
|
ignorant
|
nice
|
25
|
25
|
|
well-informed
|
nice
|
25
|
15
|
|
ignorant
|
nice
|
25
|
45
|
|
well-informed
|
nice
|
25
|
15
|
|
total
|
100
|
100
|
200
|
200
|
My assumptions:
Half the people are not nice, half
are nice:100
vs. 100
There are more ignorant people
than well-informed people: 140 vs. 60
There are more conservatives than liberals (in America):120 vs 80
The frequencies in the
4th column of table #1 (25 in each cell) represent the null
hypothesis, i.e. a zero correlation between these three variables.
Predictions/Hypotheses:
Column #5 shows my hypothetical
set of frequencies:
1. Ignorant mean liberals:
2. Well-informed mean liberals:15
3. Ignorant mean conservatives:
4. Well-informed mean
conservatives: 15
Total mean people: half the population: 100
5. Ignorant nice liberals:
6. Well-informed nice liberals: 15
7. Ignorant nice conservatives:
8. Well-informed nice
conservatives15
Total nice people: half the
population:
Or, ranked:
1. 45 ignorant mean conservatives: E.g. Donald Trump(22.5% of total
population)
2. 45 ignorant nice conservatives: E.g. Some of my neighbors (22.5% )
3. 25 ignorant mean liberals: E.g. Some of my former students (12.5% “ )
4. 25 ignorant nice liberals: E.g. some of my former students (12.5% “ )
5. 15 well-informed mean liberals:
E.g. Some of my former colleagues (7.5% " )
6. 15 well-informed mean conservatives: E.g. Rush Limbaugh (7.5% " )
7. 15 well-informed nice liberals:
E.g. Most of my former colleagues (7.5% " )
8. 15 well-informed nice conservatives. E.g.: A few of my former
colleagues - some religious people(7.5%)
Analysis:
As
I said, I’m starting with the assumption that half the people are not so very
nice, and half are pretty nice.
Also,
a majority of the population is still
not college educated. Do I equate
erudition and a college education with being well-informed? Again, let’s not nitpick. What I am taking
into consideration here is that there are more people with a relatively low
level of education and information than the obverse. Hence I give these two categories
70% and 30% respectively, rather than 50-50.
On
this basis, the two largest groups are (1) ignorant mean conservatives and (2)
ignorant nice conservatives. Together, they make up 45% of the total
population. This is in part because there are more conservatives than liberals
among the population. And it is partly due to the fact that conservatives are
often ignorant of facts. The best examples of such people are our current
President and his fervid supporters.
At the same time, there are many very nice conservatives. Note that I predict equal proportions of mean and nice people among liberals and conservatives (half, in each case): My experience has been (both in the US and overseas) that the proportions of mean-spirited and kind people are the same among progressives and conservatives. Nowhere have I experienced a hospitality as fabulous as in the Deep South. Many religious, white, conservatives are very kind and generous. I have many nice Republican friends among my neighbors and among the members of my health club.
Next
largest are the two contingents of ignorant liberals. These contingents are
relatively large because there are so
many ignorant people. Note that the proportion of well-informed liberals is
37.5%, whereas that of well-informed conservatives is only 25%. In other words,
while a majority of the total population is mis-informed (due to lack of
education), there is a larger proportion of well-informed liberals than
well-informed conservatives.
I
spent fifty years of my life at the university - as a student and as a
professor. It is convenient for me to get some of my examples from that environment. Academe is a liberal subculture of course.
Most of my students and colleagues were
liberal. Some of my liberal students were nice, and some were mean. During the
turbulent sixties and their aftermath, some
students were exceptionally hostile, sometimes verging on physical
violence. Some students combined their mean disposition with great ignorance,
and some were well informed.
Among the faculty, the proportions were somewhat different: a vast majority of my colleagues were liberal, and only some among them were mean-spirited (for example, attempting to deny tenure to a faculty member with whose political views they disagreed). Most of the liberal professors were true gentlemen.
Two
of the smallest groups (in proportion)
are well-informed mean and
well-informed nice conservatives:
Together, they make up merely 15 % of the total population, even though
conservatives make up 60% of the population. This is because conservatives are so often ill-informed. leave comment here
© Tom Kando 2020;All Rights Reserved.
