Are you saying people who vote for Bush are
uneducated, fat, White, and shop at Walmart?
No, what the data say is
that the populations in states where Bush received more votes in 2000 are
less likely to have a college education, are more likely to be obese, are
more likely to be White, and are more likely to Shop at Walmart. This
implies that it is the individuals voting for Bush that have these
properties, but the data I've presented here do not conclusively show
that.
Are you saying that lack of education, obesity, and so on
cause people to vote for Bush?
The analysis does not conclusively
imply a causal relation. All the numbers indicate is a correlation between
the various factors and voting for Bush. Now if you ask me to interpret
the data, I think what's going on is: (1) the world and politics are really
complicated, requiring a great deal of attention to detail and
simultaneous maintenance of multiple perspectives (e.g., what would Iraqi
people think if we dropped a cluster bomb in the middle of their town square -
would a significant portion of the kids observing this conclude that
America is evil and decide to try to do the same thing to us?). (2) People
who are less formally educated are less likely to look for nuances in
arguments, and are thus (3) more easily manipulated by the sort of simplified
ways the government (and some portions of the media) spins policies and
events. (4) The Bush team is extremely adept at spin, especially with this
whole "we're in danger and must be strong so forget about everything else
(like your civil rights and the economy and the fact that we've killed
more people in Iraq than died on 9/11)" business.
My point is that,
yes, I think lack of higher education, coupled with the effective spin
strategies of the Bush team, is a cause of voting for Bush. As for the
other factors, I would be surprised.
How can I believe your
numbers?
You might be thinking of a recent "hoax", which showed a
correlation between purportedly lower IQ and salary on the one hand, and
increased voting for Bush on the other. That story seems to have big
problems. But in terms of the current study, the numbers I used are not
actually my numbers. I got them from the most reputable places I could -
the voting numbers are the actual voting numbers reported by the
government; the education and race numbers are from the U.S. census; the
Walmart numbers are from Walmart, and the obesity figures are from a
non-profit. If you can think of better places to get the numbers from,
you're probably on hallucinogens.
Why are you doing
this?
Well if you mean what got me started, a friend of mine sent be
the obesity statistics (thanks, Steve!). I looked them over and they
looked
familiar. It occurred to me that the list of most obese states looked a
lot like the list of Bush states. The rest followed naturally.
But if
you mean, why am I disseminating factual information of current relevance
to the nation, which may be of practical use, then I guess I would have to
say that I hope that would speak for itself. But I'm also doing it because
I wanted people like me, who have no idea how anyone could vote for Bush,
to get a glimpse at what life is like in places where Bush is favored.
You're some kind of overeducated, elitist, liberal asshole,
aren't you?
Huh, you wouldn't be from a Bush state, would you?
Regardless, who I am really has no bearing on the analysis I've presented.
But you really are an asshole, aren't you?
If you must
know, yes.
Why do you hate Bush so much?
I don't know the
man. He seems like a fun guy to hang out with. He likes a lot of the same
things I do - drinking, playing video games, not working... But if you
mean why I don't think he should be president, it's simple. The
overwhelming bulk of evidence I've seen points to his administration
making America weaker in every way: in terms of the health of our economy,
jobs, security, the environment, education, and protection of human and
civil rights. But if you don't already know that by now, I'm not going to
try to convince you.
Does this mean that if I vote for Kerry, I'll lose weight?