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A more realistic chart of intelligence in the U.S.

Discussion in 'Alley of Lingering Sighs' started by Rednik, Nov 11, 2004.

  1. Rednik Gems: 21/31
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    [​IMG] Here it is

    After the one in the other thread had been thoroughly debunked, I found a more realistic one. But the basics fact of the matter remains, the blue states are typically more intelligent. From this chart it can be determined that Blue states outperform the national average for intelligence by a ratio of 2 to 1 against the red states.
     
  2. Faraaz Gems: 26/31
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    You know what they say...Birds of a feather flock together... :spin:
     
  3. joacqin

    joacqin Confused Jerk Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    One trend that is clear in both the first supposedly bogus one and the two here is that Mississipi people are dumb as bricks. Do we have any Mississipians here to deny or confirm that? I really do not put much stock in things like this and it is pretty evident that the richer states have populations who perform better on tests and the like. In general the status of your parents is the main deciding factor of who well you do in life.
     
  4. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    *sigh* You have got to be kidding me. My argument stands from the last thead of similar topic. Average intelligence for a state means nothing, regardless of whether or not the charts are accurate.

    Did anyone look at those 21 factors? None of them have anything to do with the intelligence of the adult (read: voting age) population, and many of them have nothing to do with intelligence at all, but rather expenditures on education (which would be biased toward more affluent parts of the country) and other things (like how many teachers are attacked, and what percentage of staff is administration).

    I think this chart is even worse than the last one. :rolleyes:
     
  5. The Great Snook Gems: 31/31
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    And the never ending quest to find a reason that people don't agree with the elite liberal mentality continues....
     
  6. Rednik Gems: 21/31
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    This isn't a chart of intelligence per se, guys, this shows the quality of education in each states, taking into account 21 different things, such as dropout rates, graduations from schools and percent of school age populations currently in school. So, although it doesn't exactly show the average intelligence of the adult population, it shows to what degree education is funded and stressed in the states, which can be linked to the overall education and intelligence of a given state.
     
  7. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    [​IMG] So 48% of America has an "elite liberal mentality"? Wow. Those elites are getting out of hand, cap'n!
     
  8. AMaster Gems: 26/31
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    Yep, and 51% of America has an "uneducated redneck" mentality.
     
  9. Hacken Slash

    Hacken Slash OK... can you see me now?

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    I think we need to classify the intelligence of Kerry voters by the stupidity of the threads they start on internet bulletin boards.
     
  10. Rednik Gems: 21/31
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    :wave:


    Seriously, I believe the AoDA should be used for criticisms a bit more constructive and (gasp) logical than this.
     
  11. AMaster Gems: 26/31
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    Wait, didn't you start this thread?
     
  12. The Great Snook Gems: 31/31
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    Oh C'mon. You know that the elite liberals don't make up 48% of the country. You would need to back out the minority votes (they still haven't figured out that they are being used), the youth vote (still too naive to understand how the real world works), the union workers, and government employees (who know who butters their bread). After you back them out the percentage can't be more than 5-10%
     
  13. Rednik Gems: 21/31
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    @ AMaster

    Yes, but without any of this "Omg stoopid thread" nonsense. The fact of the matter stands, some states are more devoted to education than others, and this is shown in their ranking based upon 21 factors.
     
  14. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    That's the whole problem with this chart: It doesn't chart intelligence. It sort of charts education, but it doesn't really do a great job of that either.

    For example "Percent of 4th Graders Whose Parents Have Strict Rules about Getting Homework Done" and "Average Teacher Salary as a Percent of Average Annual Pay of All Workers" and "Percent of Public School Teachers Who Reported Being Physically Attacked in the Past 12 Months" and "Special Education Pupil-Teacher Ratio" are given equal weight to things like "Percent of Public School Eighth Graders Proficient or Better in Reading" and "Percent of Public School Eighth Graders Proficient or Better in Mathematics".

    But even if you buy that the chart is accurate with respect to education, so what?

    Let's take the voting results of the two extreme cases on either end: Massachusettes 62/37 split; Conneticut 54/44 split; New Mexico 50/49 split; Nevada 50/48 split.

    So, lots of people in the "smartest" blue states voted for Bush, and lots of people in the "stupidest" red states voted for Kerry.

    The whole idea of charting Red/Blue states together with averages of education/intelligence is completely meaningless IMO.
     
  15. Ankiseth Vanir Gems: 3/31
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    I agree these charts are meaningless. This new chart is far worse than the first. The mish-mash of variables is completely random, and the variables used are laughable.

    However, it is safe to say that Bush voters are more susceptible to misinformation than Kerry voters. The number of Bush voters who believe Saddam Hussien is responsible for the 9/11 attacks is astonishing.

    Forget "intelligence." Instead, ask who's informed? Who isn't? Clearly, the dems were better informed. And if the entire nation knew the basic facts (such as who attacked the U.S. on 9-11), Kerry would of won handily.
     
  16. Hacken Slash

    Hacken Slash OK... can you see me now?

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    And my criticisms are always constructive and dead on, even if a bit harsh.

    And no, Ankiseth...you are wrong. What you mean to say is that the majority of Bush voters don't share your opinion! Get over the Iraq / 9-11 thing...I don't know anyone who actually believes that. You can not possible support the statement that Bush voters believe more disinformation.

    This entire subject is stupid...and that is a very "logical" criticism :rolleyes:
     
  17. Aldeth the Foppish Idiot

    Aldeth the Foppish Idiot Armed with My Mallet O' Thinking Veteran

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    This hits the nail on the head - and underlies the problem with any intelligence test. Specifically, we haven't found a very accurate way to measure intelligence. Even IQ tests, in general, are more a measure of education than intelligence. If Einstein was raised in the backwoods of Idaho (no offense to Idahoians intended), never attended school, never went to college, etc., chances are he would have scored very poorly on intelligence tests. The issue at hand is we still haven't found a way to separate means of measuring intelligence without measuring education. Until we can do that, all grandiose statements we make about intelligence - whether we're talking about politics, religion or what you eat for dinner - is going to be seriously flawed.
     
  18. Sprite Gems: 15/31
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    It's amazing, it's like the Democrats are resolved to never win an election again. "Hmmm..." they say. "The majority of the population doesn't like us. We need to come up with a way to make them vote for us next time. I have it! We'll call them stupid in a thousand newspaper articles and commentaries! Once they realise they're just dumb rednecks, they'll be grateful to vote for those of us who can outwit them!"
     
  19. Cúchulainn Gems: 28/31
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    Make them aware of their limitations!
     
  20. T2Bruno

    T2Bruno The only source of knowledge is experience Distinguished Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    I'm new here but this seems to be a bit of the bashing that is specifically discouraged in the initial message and forum guidelines. It's so easy to bash the opposite party -- whether you are red or blue -- but making it so personal is a bit overboard.

    Statistics is such an amazing tool. Used properly it can give good trends and help determine a correct course of action (I use it in research all the time). Abused and statistics can mislead -- as we found out from the exit polls.

    The ACT's and SAT's were long known to bias towards affluent, white males but still intelligence was based on such biased scores (siting statistics as the holy grail) -- such policies boosted the egos of the white male in society (I am a white male by the way). The link at the top of the page is a similar example of abusing statistics to put forth a biased point of view.

    In the end intelligence of the voter, religious convictions, party affiliation, and minor policy differences between the two candidates (overall, both men wanted a safer, stronger, and more econically stable America that takes care of its own citizens -- they just disagreed on the course to get there) did not decide the outcome. The final tally came down to Kerry not carrying the retired vote in Florida -- he lost ground compared to the previous election. I guess the retired military just couldn't forgive Kerry for many of the things he said thirtysome years ago (that group alone was at least a hundred thousand votes).
     
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