<p>Is Brown as liberal as people make it out to be? I’m not a bible thumper or anything, but if the students and professors are 90% bleeding heart liberals I feel like it would really get on my nerves.</p>
<p>Professors are overwhelmingly liberal wherever you go. The students are certainly liberal too, but not a bunch of ragning hippies who sit naked on the fields during a spring night and sing "Kum bay yah"</p>
<p>Intelligent people are liberal. I'm sorry, but that is an indisputable fact. Conservatism is institutionalized outdated self-interest and ignorance. Therefore, professors who are intelligent enough to teach at elite universitities, and, to a lesser extent, the students who attend, are overwhelmingly liberal. It's like that at every good university.</p>
<p>well yes, but i don't think this is what smytty is getting at. it's one thing for a professor to be liberalized in the well-educated sense. so what, you'll have those everywhere (like you said) and there is obviously more to the story at Brownone of the most historically liberal universities in the country. if the students and professors were merely liberal by way of intellect then there wouldn't be such a predominating reputation of the school's climate.. which is one of strong liberalism, activism, and to a lesser degree, political correctness.</p>
<p>However, it has evolved since its early eras, and as so, is becoming more friendly to the less-radical, less-superleft, less-greenhaired crowd. Their school newspaper even wrote an article concerning the growing apathy of the student body:
<a href="http://www.browndailyherald.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticle&ustory_id=1a1250b6-3682-4871-88b0-a01b6f7e6d74%5B/url%5D">http://www.browndailyherald.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticle&ustory_id=1a1250b6-3682-4871-88b0-a01b6f7e6d74</a></p>
<p>So I guess, to help answer your question smytty, I think maybe 20-30 years ago Brown wouldve been a place that would, like you say, "get on your nerves." Nowadays, while you still have a nice chunk of students who will probably strike you as the super liberal type, you'll still be able to find a community that doesn't.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Intelligent people are liberal. I'm sorry, but that is an indisputable fact. Conservatism is institutionalized outdated self-interest and ignorance. Therefore, professors who are intelligent enough to teach at elite universitities, and, to a lesser extent, the students who attend, are overwhelmingly liberal. It's like that at every good university.
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<p>Liberalism is a mental disorder. hth.</p>
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[quote]
Intelligent people are liberal. I'm sorry, but that is an indisputable fact. Conservatism is institutionalized outdated self-interest and ignorance. Therefore, professors who are intelligent enough to teach at elite universitities, and, to a lesser extent, the students who attend, are overwhelmingly liberal. It's like that at every good university.
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<p>LOLOLOLOLOLOL. those who can, do. those who can't, teach. hth.</p>
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Intelligent people are liberal. I'm sorry, but that is an indisputable fact. Conservatism is institutionalized outdated self-interest and ignorance. Therefore, professors who are intelligent enough to teach at elite universitities, and, to a lesser extent, the students who attend, are overwhelmingly liberal. It's like that at every good university.
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<p>Fancy that - someone who feels so qualified to speak about intelligence has written one of the stupidest, most ignorant things I have ever seen on this website.</p>
<p>Are we speaking about politics here? Maybe this is just my northeastern elitist upbringing, but what iwasatypo is saying is in my experience largely true. Educated people tend to be more liberal. And you can't really debate about the liberalism of elite universities. Most ivy-league schools and other colleges of that caliber have student bodies that at least lean to the left, if they're not overwhelmingly liberal.</p>
<p>I like the fact that no one who has criticized my comment has actually made a substantive attack on it. Instead, they have just made unsubstantiated, cliched responses.</p>
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Intelligent people are liberal.
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<p>There is no correlation between IQ and political affiliation.</p>
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I'm sorry, but that is an indisputable fact.
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<p>This is not a fact and can be easily disputed. </p>
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Conservatism is institutionalized outdated self-interest and ignorance.
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<p>Why is it "outdated" and "ignorant"? You are not specific in your claims.</p>
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It's like that at every good university.
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<p>Washington & Lee is very conservative and is one of the best liberal art schools in the country. And while Duke & Vanderbilt are moderate politically, they have some very intelligent conservative students. Academic offerings and the excellence of a university have nothing to do with political affiliation.</p>
<p>As if "all intelligent people are liberal" isn't an ubstantiated cliche? Maybe it's just the nature of academia, and the fact that many subjects (psychology, sociology,* studies departments) have a decidedly liberal bent? Are you saying people at elite schools are getting <em>dumber</em> because the schools aren't as radically left wing as they were in the 70s? Plenty of renowned economists are hardly liberal; I don't see anybody claiming Milton Friedman is stupid. Yes it's true that people who are educated are less likely to be bible-thumping fundamentalists, but they aren't real conservatives. There are probably more liberals among people with a college education, granted, but once you get to the very top of intelligence if anything it starts to level out again; I don't think the folks at the CATO institute, for example, while you might not agree with them at all, are idiots. Of course, many real conservatives are angry at the Republicans, who keep pressing issues like gay marriage and abortion to appeal to the fundie base. However, the Democrats haven't exactly done a bang up job of shifting the debate away from these issues.</p>
<p>Brown is more liberal than it should be. As George Bush Sr. once said I have convictions. Strong convictions. I disagree with them. Okay my humor aside, I think a lot of students lean liberal because it is 'trendy'. The assumption that leftists are smarter than their conservative counterparts is one of the more laughable comments I've heard. Don't let yourself get too close to reality there. All this being said, there are some outlets for conservative thought. For example, Nate Lowry came and gave a lecture. I wouldn't say to expect to be openly embraced for your views but if you are comfortable with being challenged to question them and make others around you to do the same that you will enjoy Brown.</p>
<p>iwasatypo, I like the fact that you made a broad, unsubstantiated claim and then expected people to agree with it. I hope you enjoyed HS, because your college classes will tear you a new one with that kind of reasoning.</p>
<p>I never said "All intelligent people are liberal." Obviously, that is not true. I simply wrote "Intelligent people are liberal." It was a generalization which is true. Conservatism is not only correlated with stupidity, but also selfishness and ignorance. More than one thing contributes to political ideology. Conservative views are laughable and outdated. For example, prohibition of gay marriage is pathetically stupid. It's no different from racial segregation, which, by the way, conservatives decisively supported. Only a moron would actually have a problem with abortion, which intelligent people know is the termination of cells, not a person. Selfishness is to blame for tax cuts favoring the rich and slashing welfare program funding. Ignorance is the reason conservatives are opposed to more open attitudes about sex and sex education in school. The correlation between more extensive sex education and teen pregnancies in countries is almost -1. History shows that liberals have always been proven right: racial integration, peace, women's rights, abolitionism, welfare programs, the prohibition of child labor, and the availability of contraception were all undeniably liberal positions. To think that only at this exact moment in history, that will stop and conservatives will be proven correct by future generations is incredibly shortsighted. By the way, the Cato Institute is libertarian, which borrows ideas from both conservative and liberal ideologies. Socially, the Cato institute is still liberal. If you need more proof that intelligent people, specifically at top universities, are liberal, look at this: </p>
<p>I wasn't expecting to have to substantiate it. When I was asked to, I did to the best degree I could on an internet forum in one paragraph.</p>
<p>Iwasatypo, Careful for the real world. It just may provide too much of a shock for you to handle. Those ideas succeeded because they were considered mainstream at the time regardless of whether they were liberal or conservative. On abortion, many are motivated by religion. On taxes, many believe supply-side economics rather than selfishness to give two examples. For your own sake, open your mind. Or college will be a big waste of time, effort and money because you aren't actually open to new perspectives. Rather, you just want a confirmation that your beliefs are the right beliefs. You are not alone in that regard but one should aspire to more imho.</p>
<p>iwasatypo, I don't know what kind of upbringing you've had, but I hope college will open your eyes up a bit. To say the least, I don't think you have a clear outlook on the world.</p>
<p>The ideas are mainstream now. They were originally very liberal, then moderately liberal, and then they became mainstream and were adopted. It's the same thing for, say, gay marriage. Right now it's considered liberal, but eventually it will become a mainstream idea and gay marriage will be recognized. It's already happened in Spain and other countries. That was my point about liberals eventually being proven correct. And religion is not a good reason for flying in the face of common sense. Doing so is an example of ignorance, which was also my point. You just supported two of my contentions. As for supply-side economics, it is much more popular among politicians than economists. It is not a widely accepted idea among academia, only conservatives who want an excuse for cutting their own taxes.</p>
<p>Finally, to say that someone is close-minded because he/she has strongly held beliefs, or because he/she is very sure of those beliefs, or because the set of his/her beliefs happens to fall nicely into an ideology, isn't really a rational thing to do. Those things do not mean that a person is close-minded. For example, people thought William Lloyd Garrison was a close-minded, radical moron. He told them, "I am aware that many object to the severity of my language; but is there not cause for severity? I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject, I do not wish to think, or to speak, or write, with moderation . . . I am in earnest I will not equivocate I will not excuse I will not retreat a single inch AND I WILL BE HEARD." People probably thought he was a dangerous idiot. In fact, he was imprisoned, received numerous death threats, and his offices were victims of arson more than once. Now, however, we consider him a hero. The point is that the simple fact that someone's views are well outside the mainstream DOES NOT mean that the person is close-minded or wrong. It doesn't mean that he/she is right, either, but it's still not a reason to tell someone to "open their eyes" or to deride his/her beliefs.</p>
<p>I don't mean to deride your beliefs at all. But the fact that you've made such broad claims leads me to believe that (a) you're closed minded, (b) you've been sheltered, or (c) you really are that pompous and arrogant.</p>
<p>You people are all ridiculous</p>