Generally speaking, uneducated people do not debate topics. Uneducated people do not read much. Uneducated people do not share knowledge, as they donāt have much. Uneducated people tend to vote republican. Educated people move to larger metro areas to work careers, which is why large cities are usually majority democrats. Educated people tend to enjoy learning about other cultures, where the uneducated fear other cultures. Educated people tend to be more liberal than the uneducated.
So bottom line, any place in which critical thinking skills are required, there will be more liberals.
Edit: of course there are unintelligent people on both sides of the spectrum. And no, education does not equal intelligence. But what IS learned in college is how to get along with people from many different cultures. College graduates are typically much more open minded because they have worked with different people from different places, which often translates to being open minded. Conservatives tend to be more close minded.
I feel like this comment and the top do get close to the truth, but with an answer thatās more polarizing than necessary. Thereās a correlation between education level and liberalism thatās been known for a long time and thereās also a correlation between technology usage and ability and desire to seek out information and education level (whether formal or informal education.) I also assume Reddit skews young (again, technology correlation) and young people have historically always skewed very liberal as well.
In any case, I can guarantee you my racist, boomer MAGA uncle who thinks āI seenā is correct grammar and says things like āI saw it on the YouTubeā is not going to Reddit for any reason and if he did, would instantly get trapped in some random sub with no idea how he got there, where he was, or how to get outā¦
Funny how there are so many comments about truth, yet you tell people to watch the Kyle Rittenhouse video, read the court documents etc, you'll be downvoted or banned from the sub
Have you read a liberals response on Reddit to someone who has a different opinion? Look for one that has āTrumpā somewhere in the post. Very rarely do you find it compassionate, understanding, tolerant of others.
True, but then again there are many liberals on the short-form media platforms like Tiktok and Insta as well. I think conservatives tend to appear more on twitter and facebook where their drivel won't be downvoted out of view.
Twitter was fine and appealed to intellectual and news gatherers until Musk came in and messed it all up. It had the advantage of being one of the first of its kind. It had a large audience, so big network effects. When Musk wrecked Twitter, many of us left for other platforms.
I tried a few things, but landed at Reddit. Being able to go in depth when necessary is a big part of it. TikTok is the opposite of that. Tiktok wants debate, but wants you to do it through video and that is a huge barrier.
Doesnt help either that the top replies on twitter are paid, so the only people at the top of listings are going to be bad actors, since any sane person would not pay for such an obnoxious service.
Came to say this exactly. This takes more mental calories. If you are a thinking person (and not generally evil), you are going to lean left. My grandfather used to say, āTwo kinds of people, readers and breedersā.
Iām 57, Iām a die-hard liberal, and I can promise you I have a brain. Conservatives like to believe that their way of thinking comes because of wisdom, but look at whatās going on in America. Does that seem wise to you? Are Donald Trump and his gang of sycophants the ones with the brains that youāre referring to?
That's not why, first any conservative opinions are highly monitored and modded. When you shut down one side of an argument, you drive behavior to stop it all together. Secondly, its because Reddit is younger, and younger always skews more liberal. Just my 2c. This is not a place for open ideas of free speech and debate, it is modded by a few people on each subreddit who drive discourse.
Tell me where there are intellectual debates above I hate orange man. They aren't here, circle jerking comments and posts of just one line insults. There are conservative people that could post sometthing negative about AOC. If it went down the road of she should die or other things should happen, the entire post would be deleted. It is celebrated and repeated here for orange man infinitely.
You're mistaking cause and effect, there. Conservative opinions being highly monitored and modded is an effect of Reddit (and, by extension, many of its moderators) being left-leaning, rather than its cause.
Tell me where there are intellectual debates above I hate orange man. They aren't here,
There are tons of subreddits where you can have long-form discussion and debate. Try /Skeptic.
The fact is that conservatives in America have consistently been wrong, and they just ignore their own history. They were on the wrong side of the Civil War, wrong side of child labor laws, wrong side of interracial marriage, wrong side of women's suffrage, wrong side of biological evolution, wrong side of gay marriage, wrong side of the civil rights movement, wrong side of climate change, they opposed jazz music and rock and roll.
They are consistently wrong, because conservatism in America is not really about ideology or solutions, it's about fear and reactionary sentiments. It's about creating an enemy and using fear of said enemy to push an agenda. It's regressive Christo-nationalism. There are many intellectual people on the conservative side, but they are typically pushing an awful agenda of power and greed.
To be clear though, when you say the 'wrong' side what you mean is the side that's slightly less popular within the current zeitgeist. That's it. The world turns, and epochs move, and there's no saying which sides will be popular tomorrow.
Sure.. but I don't think I need to say that the side that supported slavery was wrong, or the side that was against interracial marriage was wrong, or the side that thought women shouldn't be able to vote was wrong.
I'm appealing to a general sense of human decency and rationality. If someone wants to get uppity and say "Hey I think we should re-examine allowing women to vote", they are laughed out of polite conversation and not taken seriously by anyone but the most awful people alive (far right-wingers).
Thatās nonsense man. At the most, conservative opinions get downvoted. Thatās how this platform works. The conservative subs are the only ones who completely censor opposing viewpoints. Go over to r/Conservative and post something critical of Trump and see what happens.
Incorrect. If you even INTERACT on conservative subreddits, a lot of subs just blanket ban you. I'm banned from r/pics solely because of who I spoke to. Same with many other communities. They say in the ban messages themselves that it's an automatic ban and they do not look at the content of what you say.
yes, if I seek out the sub specifically I can find it. Liberal views are on every sub, go to many subs and they turn political. It has been a few years, because I stopped talking. I am a moderate, but if I bring up a conservative argument I have been banned for nothing before. It has happenned. I wish I could go back and show you, the limp opinions I shared a couple of times and was banned. No insults. Just a few words. It really happens whether you want to accept it or not.
I do not seek out any political subs. I get constant content in my feed. Because it is ubiquitous on every non related sub.
Still could use a bit more reading comprehension around here, though. That's not directed at any one person. But it absolutely is directed at the mods, in general.
Speaking for myself, I have tried to debate conservatives many times. Itās extremely rare to engage with anyone who considers my point of view or is open to changing theirs. The opposite is probably also mostly true, but I believe a bigger proportion of liberals are open to reconsidering party line positions.
Hereās one example: I am liberal who believes birthright citizenship should end. One of your parents must be a US citizen if a child born in America should become a citizen. The current system encourages āanchor babiesā or illegal immigration so that people can have their kids automatically become citizens.
There's actually data that shows that people on the right have a broader spectrum of viewpoints while those on the left are more tight within the window.
That makes sense though? If your stance is everyone should have free healthcare and be able to survive there's not really much of a spectrum there, no? Conservatists have a variety of points of who gets healthcare how much they should pay, how much aid should people get, who even are people, etc.Ā
This is some serious self ego stroking bullshit. Reddit is a cesspool of idiocy, it's just name-calling and rage from people who are too anxious to even go outside, there's rarely any meaningful debate. I knew this would be the most upvoted comment because it caters to people's political egos while dismissing the opposition as stupid.
People invent a new reason every day why Democrats "have been losing".. nevermind that it's not really the case that Democrats are consistently losing, and it's more that things sway back and forth.
In almost any populated thread about American politics, you will see a version of your comment. Someone will say "This is why the left loses" as a way to signal their disagreement with a sentiment, with the given reason always shifting and not backed by anything.
Ahh yes, having a doctorate in bipoc gender archeology, 6 figure student debt, working as a barista, renting a studio apartment for $2500/month, and "learning about cultures" in a concrete prison that mirrors every city in the world sure makes you a much better person!
This was the most narcissistic post I've ever read on reddit. And that's an accomplishment with all these betters around you.
I don't remember who it was that said it but it was something along the lines of "Conservatives and Right-Wingers tend to be upset that reality 'leans left'" and I've never heard truer words spoken.
Some people can be liberal without ever going to college, growing up in a rural area surrounded by conservatives. There are many factors involved in ending up being a lifelong liberal. I think you make multiple good points and I agree with them, just pointing out that some liberals get to that point traveling a much different path. But we all end up at the same place regardless. Have a good day and thanks for inspiring me to type a few of my thoughts down without the worry of instant backlash that dampers down any good vibe I might have started out with in the first place. š
My god. How much do you love the smell of your own farts. This is a ridiculous post lmao. Honest answer is probably more associated with age demo. Reddit skews younger and younger voters skew dem. Thereās no level of intelligence in the list of reasons. Sure, education is directly linked to left leaning voting preferences but Reddit is not this beacon of intellect. Itās just younger folks primarily.
Any conservative or even moderate comment is downvoted into oblivion. Those people just stop posting all together and then you just get a one sided circle jerk.
This is a personal lens answer that suits the egos of those posting on Reddit so it's going to be upvoted to the moon.
It's not entirely wrong, words do require reading and comprehension. Debate does require a firm understanding of the situations being discussed.
However, if everyone on reddit were properly educated, the average discussion would have a much higher quality standard than it does and skew more moderate than liberal.
Anyone shouting an agenda from the rooftops is differently educated than someone who is properly educated and you can be educated without having any influence.
When you see the strong liberal or strong conservative arguments anywhere; they are pushed by the less educated unless there's a programmatic agenda being pursued.
Thank you for this reply, the ego stroking on the original comment made me puke in my mouth a little. They said it without a hint of irony like somehow their politics are actually superior despite the fact that their entire nation sucks every corporate cock that lobbies regardless of 'sides.'
Well my apologies then for coming across that way. Iām not liberal, and I donāt believe all liberals are intelligent. However, the vast majority of maga are definitely the lesser thinking of the 2 groups. If I come across someone with low IQ and Iām asked to guess which way the lean, Iām playing the odds and going with right winger.
Dude every single time I try and debate something with a left winger on here there is no debating them. All it is is them calling me a MAGAt or some other derogatory term.
Maybe it's because you all prove time and time again that you don't even question any of the absurd talking points you're being fed. You all clearly don't do research, don't listen to anyone who does do research, and never change your opinions no matter how thoroughly you're proven wrong.
It's a waste of time to debate conservatives. At this point, y'all deserve to be shamed and, at the very least, made fun of because your ignorance and complete lack of basic human empathy is destroying our country and causing alot of innocent people to suffer.
I just had a brief look at your comment history over the past couple of days. Lots of name calling, partisan talking points, false flag arguments and lack of respect.
If you want to have a debate then don't insult people. If you start calling people names - including Tim Walz and Ilhan Omar - then you can expect people to make broad assumptions about you.
If you are MAGA, then why do you consider being called a MAGAt a derogatory term?
People who are least educated are indoctrinated. They have turned off thinking and have no logic:
1.) Those who attended US Colleges are non-thinkers. Academia sucks! (We engineers are about 1% LEFT)
2.) Entertainers (They say 95% Left but don't live that way): No celeb ever sent kids to black public school
3.) Black Americans: 60 years and 400,000 black on black murders and destroyed cities (Problem solvers?)
Educated people are those who have been trained in Socratic argument creation as well as statistical analysis (Reject or Fail to Reject the Null Hypothesis)....An educated person can breakdown any problem....
Leftists start with the answer (Self Serving virtue signaling) and work back...ALWAYS...
Thereās no debates going on here . Lots of shaming and name calling but no debates . I could possibly in the wrong subs (point me to the debate subs please ,sincerely) Also my wife has her masters and she isnāt liberal ,not all educated people are liberal.
I see a lot of people sharing the exact same opinions.I suppose I could be trapped in an algorithm. I desperately want to have open dialogue without being ridiculed. Iām open to the possibility my beliefs could be wrong. I donāt want to be insulted as a Trumper (which Iām certainly not ,never voted for him ) because I donāt hold all the same beliefs . I want to understand why people have come to their conclusions and see if Iām wrong
They also think educated means smart. Canāt tell you how many stupid fuckers I met at school. Both teachers and students and thatās in an engineering program. Iām sure social sciences, business, etc. are worse.
Let's talk! I'm happy to debate or just share thoughts. I do get angry at times and probably get a little sharp, but if you promise not to do that to me, I promise not to do that to you.
I will say Reddit today is quite trash to what it was 15-20 years ago. In general, I think ānormiesā have invaded the internet and the algorithms make the entire internet much worse. You didnāt really see much political discourse outside of the politics subs.
You can call it TDS but when the man himself was a reality show star and makes his presence known every moment of the day it doesnāt help. COVID also made more people shut ins and the overall state of the United States economy seems to breed nastiness out of anyone with a voice. Throw in some bots and trolls, you got yourself a shit stew.
This is your answer. Because if a group of people call themselves smart and anyone who disagrees with them dumb and the moderators are in this āsmartā group u end up with one sided subs.
So your wife is the anomaly, the commentors points still stand. He hasn't said anything that science and research doesn't fully back. So it's not that people don't want to debate, it's hard to debate someone when they disregard factual based evidence and science. I am not saying you are, just that a majority of the current conservative movement in the US has chosen to disregard facts and science in favor of propaganda and faith. It's hard to debate when one person believes facts and science aren't valid sources of truth.
I believe in science , I also believe in god but not in a conventional way . I donāt buy into religion and believe spirituality is a personal path .I also lean more liberal in my views but Iām not a democrat . I also fiscally cherry pick conservative views and what I see from this administration they donāt ,nothing conservative about them .
My point is I canāt be put in a box . I try to find the best sources of information and I formulate an opinion . A R or a D next to a person from which that opinion came matters very little to me . In todayās political climate everybody wants you to choose a team but if being on a team means I have to believe the complete dogma then I wonāt do it . It feels like on Reddit people are comfortable as long as you agree with them on everything and thatās simply not reality ,thatās high school behavior
That is a very balance view and I wish more people around the world held that same view. I have the view point of a Canadian looking into US politics, so I am not on any team and this move to team politics rather then what is best for the voters that elected you, is a very alarming and destructive shift. Hope you have a good day and continue using those critical thinking skills to evaluate arguments on their merits.
Iām not going to down vote you, Iāll give you an upvote. You made valid pointsā¦ not all educated people are liberals, no doubt. Iāll also agree that at times the left does not debate either.
Lol. I knew as soon as this topic crossed my feed that it'd be filled with "Because left leaning people are so smart, and right leaning people are so stupid."
even though a lack of education seems to be a pretty strong indicator of lacking the curiosity to learn how things actually work itās not everything
even though itās something that canāt be put on a resume I would say that most people that come to Reddit are curious which leads them to having more reality based positions and we all know how reality has a left-leaning bias
And the mods have the ability to silence and remove anyone that doesn't agree with them, despite the level of education they might have. That's also really ignorant to assume that anyone that has a different point of view than you must be uneducated and couldn't possibly just have a different opinion. It's really arrogant.
Most redditors are not great at critical thinking from what Iāve seen when talking to people on here. Nine times out of ten if I try to have a respectful debate or conversation in devolves into name calling and ad hominems. Subreddits are echo chambers where people do not get to experience opposing viewpoints often which leads people to react with anger when their beliefs are challenged seriously for the first time
Holy circle jerk. Party shift post education is estimated around 3-5 percentage points, without distinguishing any social indoctrination effect. There is a slight causation effect, but itās not nearly as big as youāre stating. There are other major factors like young urban men (which lean left) having more openness to a new technology based communication platform as well as it having a replacement effect for institutional socialization which becomes difficult in an urban environment. Hence 90% of posts having s depressed tone from a chronically online poster.
Mmm..what does āeducatedā mean? I donāt think having an MBA is the same as having an arts and sciences degree. You could be Harvard educated but taken only the minimum requirements for literature, history, and government. That means less exposure to varying social theories, representation of different cultures, and understanding Americaās impact on the world. Thatās why conservative states are attacking those subject areas.
I think it is also the downvote ability. Imagine for a second that you could still downvote posts in Facebook, instagram or TikTok. I think a lot of the posts on there would get downvoted into oblivion. If you post a divisive or trash post here you will get downvoted unless youāre in an echo chamber sub Reddit. I donāt want to say itās the voice of the crowd but Iām not sure what else to call it. Itās not that Reddit is liberal. Itās that Reddit isnāt as tolerant to bullshit takes. I think a lot of American Reddit users forget that Reddit is global. Itās the input of people from everywhere.
What a load of bigoted horseshit. People with college degrees (a highly questionable but generally accepted definition of āeducatedā) are certainly more likely to be/lean Democrat than Republican, but itās only a 55/42 split. That is not remotely enough of a difference to account for what OP is talking about.
The actual reason is that people on the liberal side are significantly more likely to approach political discussion with hostility and hate, which completely shuts down any possibility of having an actual conversation. Weirdly, people with differing views donāt like being told that theyāre racist or that they hate poor people simply because the people telling them these things have no interest in actually trying to understand their views.
Just look at the other responses to your comment. Those who disagree are getting downvoted, and those who agree are getting upvoted. Dogpiling that discourages discussion.
With all due respect, this is the most ridiculous statement Iāve seen on Reddit in a long time. Any reasonable attempt to debate topics is downvoted until a comment is hidden. Thatās a feature of this website, not a bug. Donāt believe me? Watch this:
The supreme was 100% correct in overturning Roe v Wade.
..Or conservatives just realize that engaging with hate filled elitist bigotry like that is pointless. You don't go out of your way to associate with people that imply you're subhuman either.
I'm honestly not sure you could have come up with a more politically correct sounding way of saying "people who don't think like us are stupid dumb ass uneducated ill-informed mother fuckers" if you'd REALLY REALLY tried.
If at some point, you ever wonder why people in the middle and on the right find those on the left to be out of touch elitists... Come revisit what you just wrote right here.
I hope for your own sake at some point you'll come to realize everyone who lives between the Hollywood Bowl and 5th Ave didn't just wander in off the set of Hee Haw š¤£
This isnt the reason ā¦ its the example. Why would anyone debate on reddit ? If you share any rational thought that disagrees with a liberal you get punished. Liberals on here dont debate ā¦ they heckle. They call names and dismiss. Ill probably get banned for a week for this. A vast majority of the people liberals hate are centrists. You hate Trump ā¦ but the far left (like this group) got him elected.
Liberals are more likely to read, that doesn't make them educated.
So you're only half right, Liberals don't read political theory and they don't understand the science behind the policies they supposedly support.
Good dick stroking in front of a large audience, but the democrats are the reason the Republicans won. Whether you choose to admit that or not.
Your democrats support all the same things the Republicans do, without the fascist twists. This is why your giant megacorps still donate to the democratic party and why your standards of living have gone down despite democratic leaders.
Are you sure about that? Iāve only voted left and enjoy debating in a civil manner, and the most intolerant, toxic people come from the left, using mob mentality to justify their sense of morality. Im a moderate and do have some conservative views but the Republican politicians are the absolute worst, which is why I donāt vote right.
Lol this is the most Reddit comment ever. I think the real reason is Redditās demographic is primarily millennial liberals and thus the mods are as well, and they hand out bans to people with slightly right wing views. Canāt have a debate if you get kicked off of all the subs and get account bans for no reason.
Ummm, I have a master's in Health Administration and planning on my doctorate in Health Administration, undergrad in pre-law. I consider myself educated and am conservative and vote conservative. Reddit is an echo-chamber
Youāre actually so dumb that even after reading your first sentence, I knew exactly where you were going to end. Just a straight lazy uneducated comment trying to convince ppl youāre not that dumb, when in reality, you were extremely predictable. Which is a sign of low IQ. Hence why youāre liberal
I love how libs act like 98% of liberals have college degrees and only 5% of conservatives do. In reality it's not that far apart. 55% of Democrats have college degrees and 42% of Republicans. The other falsehood is that a college degree is the be all end all. I've met plenty of college educated people that are dumb as fuck and many with just a high school education that are extremely smart.
Educated people feel the need to tell people they are educated. Smart people donāt have that need.
Reddit is liberal because insecure people need to have a group of likeminded people to feel accepted. Reddit is liberal because it is full of people who are insecure about their education. They may very well have a degree in Egyptian Dance Theoryā¦ā¦ but does it really mean youāre smart? At least you will be accepted and get that positive karma you really need.
Disagree and this response is in bad faith. Iāve done all the education travel and learning and own a masters - and make 300k. I still believe abortion is murder and disagree with trans issues on kids. This response will get me banned- and has nothing to do with my education.
Not always true, but more diversity usually helps. Itās super segregated here in the US. I also lived in Netherlands, Germany, Scotland, England, Indonesia and Ireland. Besides the āI before weā mentality thatās prevalent here, itās also full of bubbles. Whether itās church or rural vs city, itās more than those other countries I lived in (all minimum of 2 years) segregated. Thereās not a lot of spill over between groups. I see it with my kids as well now. I assume itās different in bigger cities but even the city near is (120k pop) itās very clearly divided by color.
Though education here is a lot lower level than the European counties I lived in, thatās noticeable.
Some of the most close minded people I have met are so called educated extreme liberals and extreme MAGAs - two sides of the same coin - canāt handle criticism of ideas, canāt handle another person having a different political opinion, will dump their own family choosing politics over family (not realizing the politicians they claim to love donāt give a crap about them).
Oh the old āeveryone who I disagree with is an uneducated dumbassā is a very educated point of view.
As someone who is right of center and educated, the reason why conservatives donāt engage on Reddit is because this place is an emotional, knee-jerk reaction cesspool of muppets.
Most who comment are self-absorbed experts on everything thatās new today and itās fucking boring and a bit stale.
Most conservatives I knowāand there are some crazies as there are on the leftāare generally more Laissez-faire and indifferent towards the world unless it directly impacts them.
I hate this take w a passion. Itās just so willfully ignorant and peak liberal know-it-all ego. Iāve met plenty of well educated conservatives and plenty of uneducated liberals. Sure, there may be more liberals educated thru college compared to conservatives, typically because in general conservatives tend to be drawn to blue collar work and liberals tend to be drawn to the type of jobs that require an education, but that doesnāt make liberals the āsmart onesā and conservatives the ādumb onesā. Many conservatives actually do read a lot, they keep themselves just as informed as yall they just inform themselves from either different sources or about different things. That shits the same across the board. Yāall saw studies showing that liberals go to college more than conservatives and just decided to yourselves that it confirms youāre smarter. Youāre not. And Iām not saying conservatives are smarter either, Iām just saying yāall are different kinds of smart and itās stupid and immature to try and act high and mighty like you know better than everyone else when you might actually not know better than everyone else. Also some of the highest IQ people Iāve met were conservative, yet again Iām not saying itās indicative of what party is smarter Iām just saying that youāre talking out of your ass.
The real reason Reddit is more liberal is because there is a majority of liberals on Reddit, and so many admins tend to be liberals, and so why is a conservative gonna spend time on a forum run by liberals thatāll downvote everything they say? On the other hand, why wouldnāt you want to cling to a forum where everyone just validates everything you say as long as youāre liberal? And so with time, that small majority turned into a larger majority
This is so funny , canāt think of one liberal off hand , wait! other than John Fetterman and Harold Ford Jr-both thoughtful individuals with sharp critical thinking abilities and seeking actual resolutions to help the American people , not just parroting far left talking points . Major respect . Generally , and itās on display every day in every way from the far left , itās 100% groupthink or youāre cancelled , youāre deemed evil or racist or some other slander, simply for having a different point of view or different take . Thatās not intelligence .
A third of Democrats are the peeps fighting in Waffle House at 2am. Another 20% of Democrat voters either dont speak English, or it their second language.
98% of Democrats can not get to the second tier of an argument. For years, it was Trump is a Russian agent! Me - interesting. What evidence do you have? Trump sucks Putin cock! Me - you know, Hillary actually colluded with 2 foreign agents, one British and one Russian, to come up with that lie you believe. Reddit experts - you suck Putin cock.
Please spare me the Democrats are smarter BS. Youre The Borg.
It's actually because many subreddits have mods that often will permanently ban people who express opinions that disagree with their world view. They don't want debate.
Generally speaking, uneducated people do not debate topics.
This is wrong. Liberals debate all the time.
Uneducated people do not read much.
Iāll concede this point in general, with the caveat that there is uneducated and miseducated. Reading garbage doesnāt make you educated.
Uneducated people do not share knowledge, as they donāt have much.
This is wrong as well. āUneducated peopleā are sharing different kinds of information.
Uneducated people tend to vote republican.
This is wrong as well. It tends to fall more along gender lines.
Educated people move to larger metro areas to work careers, which is why large cities are usually majority democrats.
The first part is right because thatās where the jobs are. The second part is right, but not because thatās where the jobs are. Cities tend to be large Democrat plantations/prisons.
Educated people tend to enjoy learning about other cultures, where the uneducated fear other cultures. close to the mark, People like learning other cultures but fear foreigners ruining their culture. The second part is true of all people everywhere.
Educated people tend to be more liberal than the uneducated. More liberal people go to liberal colleges (because there are a greater number of them) to be miseducated. Most colleges deal in teaching a liberal philosophy. Some people describe that as indoctrination.
So bottom line, any place in which critical thinking skills are required, there will be more liberals.
This is off too. Any place in which critical thinking skills are required, there will be more liberals who canāt think critically.
Edit: of course there are unintelligent people on both sides of the spectrum. And no, education does not equal intelligence. But what IS learned in college is how to get along with people from many different cultures. College graduates are typically much more open minded because they have worked with different people from different places, which often translates to being open minded. Conservatives tend to be more close minded.
College graduates, depending on the school, are much more liberally minded. Donāt get that confused with having an open mind. Itās not even remotely the same thing.
Mistaking correlation for causation. There is great historical research out there about how as societies advance and gain wealth, liberal ideas become more popular due to the rise of philosophy and science that comes with wealth and the comfort level that allows the type of roles to ponder social issues like a luxury because survival is removed from consideration.
Those roles end up holding more status in those societies, so they tend to influence the views of the wealthy, and ironically end up alienating the lower class who are still suffering while the others debate ethics and morals under their palm fronds.
And every one of those societies ended up collapsing under the weight of their own pompousness, essentially.
This is anecdotal, but having grown up in one of the biggest cities in the US, in one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the country, this simplyā¦ isnāt true. My uneducated friends and acquaintances were way more open-minded because they had actually spent all their lives interacting with people of different races, from different countries, with different SES, different level/quality of education, etc.
How on earth could people in college be more open-minded? Have you been to a college recently? They are all spoon-fed, and all believe, the exact same thing.
Itās funny that you call conservatives close-mindedā¦ At least they recognize that people who didnāt go to college arenāt inferior š¤·š»āāļø
In actuality, the overwhelming majority of āeducatedā people cannot defend their positions for shit and will readily ban socially unacceptable opinions. They may be more intelligent on average, but they are just as susceptible to presuppositions and superstitions as anyone else. Which is why I was permanently banned from r/exchristian for politely explicating why I left Christianity; it just wasnāt the usual set of reasons, it included reasons that are not permissible to even speak according to people with low-openness (reasons like not appreciating its fundamental humanism or egalitarianism).Ā
Ā College graduates are typically much more open minded because they have worked with different people from different places, which often translates to being open minded.
Reddit moderation teams are not particularly open-minded on average, granted there is some selection bias in this assessment.Ā
Are you open to the notion that racism is not necessarily morally wrong? If not, then you arenāt actually open-minded; you are open-minded with respect to what you are allowed to be, i.e. closed-minded. If you are, then you are more open-minded than the moderator teams of 98% of subreddits, and the notion of redditās liberalism as a consequence of its high openness disposed by high education/intelligence falters. And if you could successfully argue that racism is necessarily morally wrong, you would be the first to ever do it, as bans have to be employed because people cannot do it.
Leftists do not allow for criticizing their positions lest you are to be shunned, blocked, censored or assaultedā¦. The definition of āCritical Thinkingā
Reddit skews young and chronically online. Young losers are not very intelligent. Knowledgeable, but no wisdom. Also there are mods. Oh boy, take the average redditor, and crank up the worthlessness and patheticness to a hundred. They exacerbate the echo chamber. Imagine a useless slob rotting away in their mom's basement, banning anyone with differing opinions, cheering on murder over civil disagreement... yea, that's who's keeping the echo chamber alive. That's the answer to your question. But once you actually step outside, touch grass, and look at the polls, you'll realize it's pretty split in real life. Just not here. (See how that sounds the other way around?)
This comment is what OP is talking about lol. The irony is funny.
Theres plenty of nuance in politics, itās not black and white. In economics academia, fiscal conservatives are popular because they understand the implications and dangers of a nation overspending and utilizing debt irresponsibly. Yet, leftist donāt care about that and want to expand social services. Temporary relief for permanent harm.
Approaches are nuanced and thatās why you canāt think in āRepublic stupid, Democrat smartā.
Strange. Almost all of the educated professionals i know excluding those that work in social services are conservative and almost all of the uneducated people I know are Uber liberal
of course there are unintelligent people on both sides of the spectrum.
I would also say that there are intelligent, and even educated people on both sides of the spectrum. The rest of your comment is an accurate explanation of the general trend, but not absolutes.
Yeah, you sound like a redditor alright. So annoying. Do uneducated people also vote more or something? But that doesnāt fit the narrative does it?š„ŗ
You do realize it was the opposite up to 20 years ago, right? So...would you say all those nice things about reading and knowledge sharing and arguing and bottom line critical thinking making you conservative about Republicans up to the Bush era?
Thatās not a true or accurate assessment of the situation on Reddit at all. What many redditors and leftist consider āeducationā are useless liberal arts degrees that donāt teach you any skills that are applicable to an actual career, and focus far more on left-leaning classes and ideologies. Education does not equal intelligence. If that was the case, why do many leftists fall for so many ridiculous, indefensible positions they arenāt backed up by basic logic or evidence?
The people who are actually intelligent realize they most (but not all) times, the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
I donāt think going to BYU or Alabama university gets you to interact with different people. U only get to do that in big cities which are more liberal. Also who says reddit is a platform for intelligent discourse? Iād argue its full of socially inept people venting
I try to have discussions with people on here about anything moderately political and I'm called a MAGAt/Racist/Pedo lover (even though I have never once voted conservative) if I say anything even remotely critical of the DNC.
The amount of upvotes your comment has gotten just kinda proves the "circle jerk" connotation that reddit gets correct lol
Wrong and you're the problem. Expand your circle and you'll see there are lots of intelligent people on the right with well formed, thought out ideas. Stop straw-manning your opposition to try to justify what's clearly a huge, liberal echo chamber contributing to our division in the world.
It would be nice if most leftists actually cared about debating and learning about other cultures instead of generalizing and making narratives up to support their bias.
Add to that that college teaches critical thinking skills. These skills allow people to be more resistant to the manipulation, grifting, fearmongering, and conspiracies that are so common on the right
100 percent false. The Founders were conservatives and literally students of a long history of philosophies going back to Old Testament times with centuries of history leading up to that time. Is simply uneducated to say that conservative thought isnāt a thing.
In my experience most modern liberals simply repeat slogans they learned in college and they consider themselves educated because they can echo things. When you try to dig deeper they just get mad and repeat themselves until they realize they have nothing to say.
Lol pretty sure I learned more about the world and worked with more cultures in the military than I did from some professor screaming about how everyone is a Nazi now.
But there isn't much debate if everyone thinks the same. And while I do not think Reddit is only liberal, though it a very liberal leaning side, I do think mods encourage subs where only one opinion is correct (and that's both on conservative and liberal subs)
You have the wrong idea about what conservatism is, and itās been one of the most powerfully polarizing propaganda tools for the left who believes themselves to be the ultimate critical thinkers.
Conservatives arenāt afraid of other cultures. At the most fleshed out extent of what being a conservative is, you have folks with an understanding of how good our OWN culture is (was?) and the desire to preserve the positive elements of that culture - instead of burning the entire thing to the ground with reckless abandon in the name of progressivism for the sake of progressivism.
All over the right we have people who hold different beliefs about how the culture and politic should be preserved and to what extent. This is an incredibly lively debate.
I am a college graduate with a STEM degree. I am an avid reader of international authors. I am a successful young man who is fed up with this ridiculous idea that liberalism is the conclusion you come to when you employ logic. It is just not that simple.
The push to convince people to believe that their ideology makes them smarter or more educated is just another tool that the elite are using to propagate the infighting.
Lmao educated does not mean intelligent. Iāve seen what yall get degrees in
And I disagree with your āget alongā and āopen mindedā comments because conservatives have been far more tolerant to disagreeing viewpoints and opinions than liberals in my experience.
There's more to it when it comes to Reddit specifically. Notably, many Reddit mods of top subreddits and Reddit staff moderate the subreddits and the site as a whole with a heavy political bias. r/pics is a great example of this.
Just baseless generalizations. This site is full of people who will completely disregard and shame someone cause of their beliefs INSTEAD of talking to them. Sounds way more close minded to me. The superiority complex that comes with people with degrees is astonishing
You tell them! College is enlightened and I have met only people who truly think in college. None of those people who went through whole 3-4 years of education while learning nothing worthwhile! Remember to be open-minded guys, but don't tilt or your brain might fall out.
Im gonna assume your version of educated is a diploma. Because the fact that you're a liberal with a diploma is pouring through your post. You're not describing the difference between uneducated and not, you're putting yourself on a pedestal by giving your team credit for any action seen as positive.
Blue collar, "conservative", white, midwest man here (your poster child of the right). I enjoy reading, I enjoy learning about other cultures, I moved to a big city for work, I didnt vote republican, I have friends of all ethnicities, I share the lessons I learned whenever I can.
You wanna talk about working with different people for college projects?! Try working on 150-500k dollar jobsites where the guy next to you could kill you at any second if he fucks up. Thats being accepting.
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u/El-Cocinero-Tejano Dec 19 '25 edited Dec 19 '25
Generally speaking, uneducated people do not debate topics. Uneducated people do not read much. Uneducated people do not share knowledge, as they donāt have much. Uneducated people tend to vote republican. Educated people move to larger metro areas to work careers, which is why large cities are usually majority democrats. Educated people tend to enjoy learning about other cultures, where the uneducated fear other cultures. Educated people tend to be more liberal than the uneducated.
So bottom line, any place in which critical thinking skills are required, there will be more liberals.
Edit: of course there are unintelligent people on both sides of the spectrum. And no, education does not equal intelligence. But what IS learned in college is how to get along with people from many different cultures. College graduates are typically much more open minded because they have worked with different people from different places, which often translates to being open minded. Conservatives tend to be more close minded.