Whenever Trump’s election victory is discussed in the media they never fail to remind us that Hillary’s supporters were made up of “college-educated” men and, particularly, women whereas those voting for Trump did not have college degrees and were mostly men. They want to generate the impression that Trump’s supporters are knuckle-dragging men working in junkyards who don’t really understand anything other than NASCAR and duck hunting, whereas Hillary’s are women who have the education and intellect to understand everything there is to know about the world and hence are better placed to judge the suitability of a Presidential candidate.
I am sure there are some serious dumbasses among Trump’s supporters who wouldn’t know America has a coastline, and some of these will be men. But there will also be some seriously bright men and women who did vote for Trump, for a variety of reasons which they could explain with more eloquence than the average journalist could manage. And there will undoubtedly also be some number of very bright, well-informed, and reasonable women who voted for Hillary for various reasons, not all of which will be completely stupid.
But let’s not kid ourselves that all of Hillary’s supposedly educated, female supporters took the time to understand the major issues facing America and voted accordingly. While researching my book by reading the Facebook profiles of demented, third-wave feminists I came across this:
Supposedly it’s the intelligence of Trump’s supporters that has the world worried.
Educated in what? My personal favorite that is going the rounds is that men in the US are just a bunch of misogynist jackanapes who won’t elect a woman. I seem to remember they said the same thing about a black man.
The voters were never going to elect Jesse Jackson, he’s a grifter. Hillary is cut from the same cloth. It’s why she lost to Obama in 2008. Of course these college educated women can’t quite make the leap that it’s the candidate not the race or the gender.
Clearly they’re not well educated in US history.
I’m sure a majority of collage-educated people voted for Clinton, but then again, a majority of collage-educated people are working bar jobs in New Orleans, so I’m not entirely convinced that is a useful measure in any regard.
Who the hell splits a creme brulee? You’re grown women, have one each!
As I get older (I must be honest and say it’s a process that isn’t always fun but does give time for reflection) I begin to see that cleverness isn’t all that clever after all. People acquiring “studies in…” degrees don’t impress me (if they ever did) and those who pretend — for example newsreaders who look earnest while reading from a teleprompter — they are super-intelligent are increasingly irritating. Nor have I got much time these days for people who ‘play in the dressing-up box’ and have opinions which at best are shallow and barely worth the oxygen used in expressing them.
No, I am more impressed now by people who can do things. That means people who actually work and know things. The ones who can fix things, understand how real science works, what goes where and how to keep it going.
I have, for example, a neighbour who is a farmer. He is, as befits the job, out in all weathers and actually does things that keep people alive, like growing food. When he isn’t at work he rebuilds old tractors, clears public land near our homes of weeds that choke other more beneficial plants and has even repaired a local unmade road with the aid of one of his farm’s diggers. He doesn’t do it because he can post it on Faceberg for praise but because he sees a need. it is the philosophy of ‘see a problem, do something about it.’
The more I encounter people who do the real work and the things that keep us and society ticking over, the more I grow to dislike the psuedo-intellectuals who can do nothing. Every time I find someone on television or radio or in the papers telling me how much I should bow and praise the non-workers and the useless the more I see where all this is going.
In short, the people who promoted the likes of Clinton and Obama and the whole shambles of the ‘do-nothing, know-nothing’ hordes are the true enemy of civilisation. Civilisation is not only repairing the sewers but also being grateful to those people who will. Shrillary made it clear, early on, that she wants nothing to do with those who build, maintain and support civilised life. They were deplorable. It was that unbearable pomposity and sense of sneering at those who actually do things, and those who admire the people who do, which made ordinary men and women finally stand up.
The chatterers and the creme brullee sippers, who cleverly appear to be lovely people, will one day wonder where the waiter is who brings them the elegant cups they coo over and wonder why their inane chatter is echoing off blank walls.
What proportion of women graduate with degrees in Grievance Studies?
What proportion of US female graduates claim to have graduated in humanities but can’t even speak a foreign language?
‘There are some ideas so absurd that only an intellectual could believe them.’
So said George Orwell. I believe that puts to bed the notion that intelligence is a good measure of any decision. It is not intelligence or education that decides the best outcome of a decision but the level of common sense, logic, reason and objectivity. There is no section of society that can claim a monopoly on having those attributes. Least of all the so called intelligentsia.
@watcher
I get an awful lot of satisfaction working alongside construction staff, I make sure that I keep in touch with them and dont get too theoretical. I dont do much work with my hands these days but I facilitate those that do and use my skills to make sure that they can flourish by keeping them clear of red, black and green tape.
They really do believe that some worthless credential in Grievance Studies qualifies them as judges of politics and character.
@ Watcher,
Spot on!!