Liberals and Conservatives; Kind or not, Smart or Not?

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.

If we cross tab these 3 variables, we get 2 x 2 x 2 = 8 possibilities

	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  4^th 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.