Sarah Palin Is Not Stupid
July 6, 2009 5:35 PM   Subscribe

Sarah Palin Is Not Stupid.

brought to you by Skeptoid. Previously.
posted by wittgenstein (42 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: There's a reasonably lively Palin thread from just a couple days ago that this'd be fine in. -- cortex



 
Dangerously ignorant, not stupid.
posted by uaudio at 5:37 PM on July 6, 2009 [1 favorite]


Stupid people don't tend to attract contributors, managers, supporters, and electorates. If she'd exhibited stupidity on the Wasilla city council, they probably wouldn't have elected her mayor. If she'd exhibited stupidity as mayor, they probably wouldn't have elected her for a second term. Her appointment to the Oil and Gas Committee by the governor was probably not because she'd behaved stupidly. Finally, stupidity probably does not characterize most successful bids to run for governor of one of the United States.

For someone blogging as "Skeptico", there's a frightening amount of naivete in that quote.
posted by Pope Guilty at 5:38 PM on July 6, 2009 [10 favorites]


being charismatic enough to win a gubernatorial election does not necessarily equal smart.
posted by TrialByMedia at 5:40 PM on July 6, 2009


"Stupid people don't tend to attract contributors, managers, supporters, and electorates." Huh? Does this guy not have a tv or radio?
posted by diogenes at 5:40 PM on July 6, 2009 [1 favorite]


The Peter Principle at work. Someone more than smart enough to be the mayor of an Alaskan hamlet might not be smart enough to be governor, or president. Like everything else, this accusation is relative. And Skeptoid seems to rely on her actions being consistent with her assumptions about the way the world is ordered. But what if those assumptions are also, for lack of a better, term, stupid?
posted by 1adam12 at 5:41 PM on July 6, 2009 [1 favorite]


Show me one thing Sarah Palin has said or done that's "stupid", and I'll show you something that's perfectly rational for someone with her religious and political convictions.

Wow. This guy is clearly an expert on stupid.
posted by diogenes at 5:42 PM on July 6, 2009 [1 favorite]


Not stupid. She's a maverick. How soon he forgets.
posted by educatedslacker at 5:42 PM on July 6, 2009 [1 favorite]


Forrest Gump said it best.
posted by gman at 5:43 PM on July 6, 2009


Show me one thing Sarah Palin has said or done that's "stupid", and I'll show you something that's perfectly rational for someone with her religious and political convictions.

"All of them."
posted by DU at 5:43 PM on July 6, 2009 [5 favorites]


Stupid people don't tend to attract contributors, managers, supporters, and electorates. If she'd exhibited stupidity on the Wasilla city council, they probably wouldn't have elected her mayor. If she'd exhibited stupidity as mayor, they probably wouldn't have elected her for a second term. Her appointment to the Oil and Gas Committee by the governor was probably not because she'd behaved stupidly. Finally, stupidity probably does not characterize most successful bids to run for governor of one of the United States.

I totally get what he's saying, but he's missing a really key element: The contributors, managers, supporters, and electorates attracted to her were really, really stupid. QEFUCKIND
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 5:44 PM on July 6, 2009 [7 favorites]


Open Palin thread.
posted by LarryC at 5:45 PM on July 6, 2009


Show me one thing Sarah Palin has said or done that's "stupid", and I'll show you something that's perfectly rational for someone with her religious and political convictions.
You betcha!
posted by Flunkie at 5:45 PM on July 6, 2009


"At a fundamental level, they're on our same team: They want what's best for people."

This thread is going Godwin in 5..4..3...
posted by uaudio at 5:46 PM on July 6, 2009


The probability of someone watching you is proportional to the stupidity of your action.
posted by netbros at 5:47 PM on July 6, 2009


This guy has a blog with an inked signature on it.
I think we should listen to what he has to say.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 5:47 PM on July 6, 2009 [3 favorites]


You know who else wanted what was best for people?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 5:47 PM on July 6, 2009


Show me one thing Sarah Palin has said or done that's "stupid", and I'll show you something that's perfectly rational for someone with her religious and political convictions.

So, let me get this straight, rationality is relative and as such if you are an irrational person what ever irrational things you say should be considered rational and if you say something rational it should be irrational?

I'm confused.
posted by Midnight Rambler at 5:48 PM on July 6, 2009


This is a very good article.

Of course, we all know that this thread will be full of people missing the point.

Such is life, and such are the blinders which politics put on us.
posted by koeselitz at 5:49 PM on July 6, 2009


Larry C -- I thought about posting this there, but I thought it was sort of on a different topic. I have no qualms about the mods moving it if they feel it should be moved.
posted by wittgenstein at 5:49 PM on July 6, 2009


Here's the bigger point of the article:

It may be that you simply disagree with her convictions, and you probably have very good reasons for doing so. But if that's the case, don't just say "Sarah Palin is stupid". That's kindergarten talk, and it makes you look bad, not her. Understand why she takes the position she does, then reveal the faults in that position.

If you want your positions to become more widely adopted, you have to convince the people who are on the fence. If your best attack is "Sarah Palin is stupid," then you will repel the undecideds, not attract them.

Name-calling may be satisfying on a gut level, but it's ultimately unhelpful to promoting any cause.
posted by JDHarper at 5:49 PM on July 6, 2009 [1 favorite]


"Make a comment about this episode of Skeptoid (please try to keep it brief & to the point). Anyone can post"
posted by gman at 5:49 PM on July 6, 2009


Stupid people don't tend to attract contributors, managers, supporters, and electorates. If she'd exhibited stupidity on the Wasilla city council, they probably wouldn't have elected her mayor. If she'd exhibited stupidity as mayor, they probably wouldn't have elected her for a second term.

Someone wasn't paying attention during 43rd period.
posted by theantikitty at 5:49 PM on July 6, 2009


You know who else wanted what was best for people?

That's right: ED GEIN.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 5:50 PM on July 6, 2009 [3 favorites]


You know who else wanted what was best for people?

Most Godwin-lead-in comments can be preempted with a similarly trite rejoinder:

You know who else wanted what was best for people?

YOUR MOTHER.
posted by GuyZero at 5:50 PM on July 6, 2009 [1 favorite]


Sarah Palin is not stupid?

OK, then, it's a discussion of semantics and ad hominem attacks. I get it.

But let's start by defining "smart." Because whatever we end up with, I'm certain it won't be a description of Palin.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 5:51 PM on July 6, 2009



Stupid people don't tend to attract contributors, managers, supporters, and electorates. If she'd exhibited stupidity on the Wasilla city council, they probably wouldn't have elected her mayor. If she'd exhibited stupidity as mayor, they probably wouldn't have elected her for a second term. Her appointment to the Oil and Gas Committee by the governor was probably not because she'd behaved stupidly. Finally, stupidity probably does not characterize most successful bids to run for governor of one of the United States.


George , uh, umm, what's his name? Oh yeah. Bush. Got it.
posted by notreally at 5:51 PM on July 6, 2009


and then the Blade Runner references begin...
posted by GuyZero at 5:51 PM on July 6, 2009


I'll tell you what's stupid: ads which cover the text of your article, and javascript to disable my otherwise helpful context menu.
posted by pompomtom at 5:51 PM on July 6, 2009


You know who else wanted what was best for people?

YOUR MOTHER.


Christ, no - not my mother!
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 5:52 PM on July 6, 2009


If you want your positions to become more widely adopted, you have to convince the people who are on the fence.

True, though I question the argument that intelligent rational discourse is what wins the fence sitters.

See: Iraq war.
posted by yeloson at 5:54 PM on July 6, 2009


I'll tell you what's stupid: blatant contrarianism in the interest of driving up [ blog-hits / pageviews / revenue / "eyeballs" / "conversation" / etc. ].

Scare-quotes. Also.
posted by joe lisboa at 5:55 PM on July 6, 2009 [1 favorite]


Some strains of stupid are contagious. If you pay too much attention to people who are carriers, you catch it. This skeptoid seems to have succumbed
posted by Kirth Gerson at 5:55 PM on July 6, 2009


Fundamentally disagree. Anyone who travels through life with thinking that ignorance is OK is stupid. You don't have to be intelligent to attract votes, campaign funding etc, all you need to do is allow yourself to be used by those who can.
posted by mattoxic at 5:56 PM on July 6, 2009


This guy appears to be conflating "stupid" and "crazy."


Not that it makes much of a difference. As far as I'm concerned, she's really not all that bright and a complete mentalist.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 5:57 PM on July 6, 2009


If you want your positions to become more widely adopted, you have to convince the people who are on the fence. If your best attack is "Sarah Palin is stupid," then you will repel the undecideds, not attract them.

Name-calling may be satisfying on a gut level, but it's ultimately unhelpful to promoting any cause.
That's a good point, but it's awfully naive about political tactics.

This entire essay reads like the work of an annoyingly earnest high school civics teacher. And in any case, it is an extraordinarily ahistorical take on Palin's rise (and fall).
posted by deanc at 5:57 PM on July 6, 2009


Hey, what gives? There's already an open thread about surrealism two links below this one!
posted by loquacious at 5:57 PM on July 6, 2009


Counterpoint: Sarah Palin Is Stupid
posted by rokusan at 5:58 PM on July 6, 2009 [1 favorite]


Brian Dunning is a nutcase who has no idea what he's talking about.
posted by mazola at 5:59 PM on July 6, 2009


Name-calling may be satisfying on a gut level, but it's ultimately unhelpful to promoting any cause.
posted by JDHarper at 5:49 PM on July 6 [+] [!]


Not everything I say will be a font of charity. Stupid.
posted by basicchannel at 6:00 PM on July 6, 2009


Brian Dunning is a good man who cares deeply for the public welfare. Unfortunately, a lot of the political information he passes along is woefully out of date.
posted by echo target at 6:01 PM on July 6, 2009


An incorrect point of fact from the article...Timothy McVeigh did not kill the most children in U.S. History. As I learned from Metafilter, that happened in the Bath Schoolhouse Disaster.
posted by Xoc at 6:03 PM on July 6, 2009


Human social success is not largely conditioned upon "intelligence" but rather the ability to position oneself as a hub in human social networks. Physical attractiveness is generally enough to accomplish this as anybody who has ever gone to high school knows. Palin is America's head cheerleader. Nothing more needs to be written on the subject.
posted by norabarnacl3 at 6:04 PM on July 6, 2009 [2 favorites]


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