Why do smart people believe stupid things???!!!

[driver8]

I am on another board that is always discussing politics. There are 2 liberals...I am one of them. One of the guys on the board I really like and he is very smart. He has a degree in nuclear engineering and runs his own business. However, he is very conservative and today he posted this:

"Politics: All I can say is if I were a Democrat (and I ain't--but
was, much to the displeasure of Mrs. KP, who finds that one deed of
my past most unforgivable) I'd be worried. Gone are the RFKs of the
party. Now the party is the party of bitching and moaning. What
good has come of continually bashing Bush over and over and over and
over? He wins everytime! He runs circles around them. He's stupid-
He's an idiot-he's this-he's a moron-he's an ass clown...yada yada
yada. Okay... meanwhile the blue states get fewer and the red
states grow stronger. In 1980 80% of Southern Sens, Reps and Govs
were Deomcrat...now it's the opposite. Hmmm. A Problem? Now, for
the first time in 50 yrs, the Supreme Court is about to swing
drastically to the right. And Bush is a moron? I think besides
destroying NO-LA, Katrina destroyed the last democratic stronghold
in the south. When all is looked at (and it will) the people of NO
will realize they were screwed not by the Fed Gov't; but by the
Dems, who could easily bus them around on election night but
couldn't when it really mattered. The democrats are no longer
problem solvers; they are cry babies, who are personally attacking
anyone and everyone without any message of anykind. You don't win
elections that way.

Now the war: Is Bush really fucking this thing up? I don't know.
All I know is everyone was saying we had to attack the root causes
of terrorism. There will be no peace until that is done. There IS
ONLY ONE WAY TO END TERRORISM and that is to introduce a better way
of life to a people willing to live a better life. This is a real
war..not a glorious air war, with few causulties, like most wars
fought by us in the last 20 years. Real troops have to be on the
ground fighting real bad guys. This is the real deal. WWIII. Why
did we go to war with Germany when Japan attacked us in '41? If
Gore was president he, too, following 9-11, would have had to deal
with Iraq given the intelligence available at the time that they had
WMD and were sponsoring the terrorists. I believe in 20yrs history
will show that Bush did many things right and that those that
weakened our country in the administration previous to his did many
things wrong. I have more faith that Republicans will protect us
from terrorists than Democrats."

--------

My head has exploded!! I give up!! Why do people believe that shrub is good for this country? He has fucked up everything he has had a hand in. We will be lucky if there is a country left when he and his cronies are finished.

I am speechless.

[goddess40]

1. because it makes them feel superior

Whites are better than blacks, christians are better then muslims, men are better then women the list goes on and on

[BlueEyedSon]

3. yeah, religion is the root of all evil!

no sarcasm intended

[LiberalVoice]

2. Fuck'em.

Its not a question of smart or stupid. Its a question of whether or not you will allow yourself to give up rational thinking in order to better serve your needs.

[driver8]

5. But why? Why do people give up rational thinking? How is that

possible? It seems to me that rational thinking is needed to survive...what makes these people give up on it? How can anyone believe that Bush is good for our country? He has done nothing to show that he is.

How can people be so fucking blind and so fucking stupid to completely ignore the damage that is being done?

[LiberalVoice]

9. Because they dont care what bad happens to anyone else.

So long as they, and the people like them are safe.

[Armstead]

28. I think it may be subconscious desire to protect their own identity

If one develops a self image and public iumage as an avid supporter of something to the extent that it becomes part of their self-image, it is extremely difficult to give that up. Especially when they also consistently attacked those who differ from their own position.

The people who decided to support the right wuing come hell or high water, and who have been his attack dogs, have so much ego invested in Bush that to acknowledge the truth would be humiliating, even when they have brought hell and high water.

[patrice]

4. He expects the Iraqi to forget who killed whom.

"There IS
ONLY ONE WAY TO END TERRORISM and that is to introduce a better way
of life to a people willing to live a better life."

This is a servant of Mammon who thinks people can be bought off with houses, and cars, and consumer credit.

[madeline_con]

10. Americans can. Maybe he thinks the whole world can.

:shrug:

[patrice]

27. Yep. We're a bunch of addicts.

[Rude Horner]

6. Typical RW'er. Twists facts to suit him

<snip>
If Gore was president he, too, following 9-11, would have had to deal
with Iraq given the intelligence available at the time that they had
WMD and were sponsoring the terrorists.
<snip>

Um..pardon me, but the intelligence available at the time was that there were NO WMD's. The UN said over and over again that there were no WMD's. It was only the * administration trying to grasp at any straws, and knowingly LYING about intelligence (ex: Iraq trying to buy uranium from Niger, when they knew that to be false) that led people to believe that they might have WMD's.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[driver8]

13. The intelligence on Niger uranium is true?? Sources, please.

Speaking of re-writing history...

Pot, meet kettle.

[Rageneau]

14. Not so fast .. Plenty of people knew that Iraq had no WMD...

Scott Ritter, for example, who was the darling of you Freepers until he went off his leash.

The UN inspectors, for example, who had not found any WMD but were still looking diligently.

Members of our own intelligence community, for example -- whose attempts to confront Powell and Rumsfeld and Cheney and Bush with the truth about Iraq's impotent WMD programs were met with deliberate derision and demotion.

The rest of the world, for example, which is why the US and its UK poodle are having to bear the burden and the guilt of this catastophic error in judgment alone.

Catch up with reality. There were no WMD found in Iraq -- just some pitiful artifacts of a long abandoned NBC warfare program that really never got any farther than the chemical weapons Reagan and Bush1 sold them.

[killbotfactory]

18. Bullshit

The Bush administration set up a special office to spin the case for WMD's, because the case was so weak. For one, look up the downing street memos. You have been lied to.

We have found no WMD, go ask David Kay.

[Rude Horner]

22. Oh my. An actual Freeper in action.

Yes. Twisted facts, you ignorant moran.

The intelligence on Niger proved to be true?! Give me a break. If you've come here trying to make the case for invading Iraq, you've come to the wrong place. Iraq has only become a haven for terrorists SINCE you've beloved president invaded. Meanwhile, Osama Bin Forgotten (Mr. Wanted Dead-or-Alive) is still free.

People like you are idiots. The case for whacking Iraq was a no-brainer, huh? Anybody else you wanna whack, just for the heck of it?

Joe Wilson told the truth. The administration didn't want the truth coming out, so you're pal Rove figured he'd fuck 'em over but good.

Wake up.

[bluedawg12]

7. Two things:

When the party in power has control of all three branches of government it is the duty of the opposition to carp and complain and by so doing raise the consciousness of those who are disposed to agree.

When the party not in power wants to win back power, they will have to provide sound policies, well packaged, that will appeal to the broadest segment of the population. We are not there yet. Things are moving fast, and presently Dems are still reactive, as events change day by day at a dizzying pace.

Having said that, there is some prudence in hanging back and letting the Repug's hang themselves.

As far as Iraq, hs statement was a non-sequitur.

The root causes of terrorism must be addressed, see UN Study on Middle East 2002. But invading Iraq did not address the root causes of terrorism, rather it intensified the root causes.

Invading a Marxist, secular dictatorship with no WMD's, and which the best intelligence at the time said needed to continue the, then, recently resumed inspections would have saved us billions of dollars, hundreds of lives and tens of thousands of casualties and left the middle east more stable and our resources intact. We should have, however, finished cleaning up Afghanistan, where even today the Taliban is poised for a return to power, election judges are murdered, and women help at voting stations wearing full face covered birka's.

[madeline_con]

8. First of all, unless you know this guy personally....

you only know that he SAYS he has a degree in "nucular engineering".
He could be feeding you a line.

(BTW, smart people don't believe stupid things. Stupid people do.)

[abluelady]

11. They are selfish and dishonest.

As a parent I can see bad kids who are soooo bright and think if only they would put their brains to positive use. These people are the same. They are smart but use their brains in nonproductive ways.

[nookiemonster]

15. "Why did we go to war with Germany when Japan attacked us in '41?"

Unfuckingbelievable. Fuckers constantly make shit up and never get held accountable.

1941
Germans launch attacks in Balkans. Yugoslavia surrenders—General Mihajlovic continues guerrilla warfare; Tito leads left-wing guerrillas (April 17). Nazi tanks enter Athens; remnants of British Army quit Greece (April 27). Hitler attacks Russia (June 22). Atlantic Charter—FDR and Churchill agree on war aims (Aug. 14). Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor, Philippines, Guam force U.S. into war; U.S. Pacific fleet crippled (Dec. 7). U.S. and Britain declare war on Japan. Germany and Italy declare war on U.S.; Congress declares war on those countries (Dec. 11).

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001288.html

[ladylibertee]

16. He said all that and you remembered? Hmmm Interesting.

[driver8]

23. What are you talking about???

It was posted on another forum as I mentioned in the first paragraph.

[XanaDUer]

17. I agree with him about ending terra-rism

by giving a better way of life to people, but how does dropping bombs on them do that or accomplish that?

The other stuff, I'm afraid, is just the usual mental masturbation intelligent people who are conservative tend to ruminate on.

If he is intelligent.

I have a relative who is liberal and has a Ph.D in science but knows very little about anything outside of that narrow field of science she studies.
(Although she is smart enough to intuit that libs are better) ;)

[killbotfactory]

19. We are not introducing them to a better way of life

We are stealing their oil and setting up a puppet government to give us the seal of approval.

[Tesha]

20. If you're a nuke eng, Shrub is *VERY* good for you.

If you're a nuke eng, Shrub is *VERY* good for you. Bush is
setting up a future where the *ONLY* solution to the energy
shortage facing us will be nuclear, excuse me, nukyular energy
via fission.

Plus, there may be a lot more work for bomb designers as well.

It's no wonder this guy supports Shrub.

Tesha

[raccoon]

21. Maybe it's his upbringing?

I had a co-worker once who was quite intelligent. He had several degrees in math & computer science and if he'd gone over to the dark side, probably could've been an effective hacker.

He was a Bush supporter, too.

He was a graduate of Bob Jones University & his family were fundies. That explains it.

Now that he's moved away from home, maybe he'll see the light.

[devinsgram]

24. First of all,

I have always heard it said that very intelligent people have absolutely no common sense, reasoning or logic. I have found this true in many cases, not all mind you, but in quite a few. Sounds like this person is one of those.

Second, we will never and I repeat never end terrorism. It is part of our species make-up. There will always be someone who wants to take over and be 'king of the hill' and will use force by any means necessary to accomplish it.

Third, from what I am hearing, looks like the repubs will take a hit in 2006, a lot of repubs are very worried about holding on to their jobs right now. And in twenty years, * will go down in the history books as having been the biggest failure of the century. That is if he hasn't gotten us all killed by then.

[zanne]

25. Political and social identity

I think one of the hardest things to do is to change your worldview, admit that the opposition might have a point, and realize that you no longer identify with your family, friends and neighbors politically. That 's such a huge change.. I mean, if I was somehow forced to become a conservative Republican, they might as well take away my name. Some people believe stupid things to hang onto their identity.

[leetrisck]

26. Having a degree & running a business doesn't

make one smart - businesses are run into the ground every day by so-called smart people. Ask bush.

[okieinpain]

29. it's a good post, but it's all based on what might happen 20 years

from now. he completely ignores the facts of now, hell taking his position I can suggest that the whole world will be in flames because of bush, and that half of the worlds population will be dead because of his policy's.

do you think he would accept that statement, no the first thing out of his mouth would be I'm crazy.

[GreenArrow]

30. why don't stupid people believe smart things?

Maybe it's a question of leadership, or lack thereof.