Actually, I don’t think this is the right take. Some of the most die-hard leftists I’ve known were very smart, mentally sharp, educated people. They were not stupid. They were arrogant and certain they were always right. They were narrow-minded and didn’t want to legitimately consider contrary viewpoints and evidence. And they were often heavily indoctrinated in left-wing schools and watched and read left-wing media.
The problems weren’t that they were dumb, but that they were indoctrinated, closed-minded, and taught to see themselves as superior and always correct. I’ve certainly seen a lot of Dem voters who were dumb as a box of bricks, but they tended to be voters who barely paid any attention to politics, not the true believers on the left. These people can at least sometimes be reached by simply showing them evidence and arguments they’ve never heard before. The die-hards, on the other hand, often have to face something that shatters their entire worldview before considering other positions.
In 1978 I attended a commander’s briefing while working for the Division commander, to address a situation in Nicaragua to deal with Marxists. We were told by the Intel Officer that if a communist takeover is allowed to take hold for 6 years, those people educated will be us for 80 years into the future. Marxist thought is a powerful philosophy that is hostile to everything else. It literally rejects being challenged. The US military knew this 50 years ago. Today, we have become the Marxists.
First it was the Obama Marxist Ideological purges of the officer corps. Then Obama/Biden put Lloyd Austin, a former battalion commander from the 82d Abn Div into the SecDef position as the head of a Black Muslim Brotherhood friendly Akrica Corps....
Trump will have to revamp the Dept of Education, defund the colleges, and do all of this under the guise of a new depresssion.
You definitely have a point. I will modify my submission here. Generally, it is the younger people and the low-information types who can't move past their feelings. But you are correct in what you point out. I live in an 80% blue college city. These people are absolutely certain they are correct about everything and the local media, government, and university continue to tell them, in an iron clad loop, that they are smarter than anyone else and they are superior in almost every way. No one is as compassionate as they are. Everyone outside of their leftist view -and I mean everyone- is to either be pitied or bullied into submission because they simply cannot be wrong and there are no other possibilities. If you do not agree with them then there is something wrong with you. No other possibility. I see this every day.
I have several of these in my family. They all hold advanced degrees. These are not stupid people - far from it. But they were definitely indoctrinated by the culture and especially in school (one was a sociology major in college before going on to grad school. Another is a psychologist - the profession is riddled with leftists).
As you could have probably guessed, they get their info from the likes of NPR, the NY Times, etc and think anything that contradicts this propaganda is unreliable, or a “conspiracy theory” etc.
Agree with you. It’s more about lacking common sense.
Ever try to hold a conversation with someone in a cult? It’s the same way.
Docility is a virtue which they lack. It refers to a person's willingness and ability to be taught, or to be humble and receptive to the wisdom of others. It can be considered a key element of prudence, or practical wisdom. Docility can help people in many areas of life, including: