[extropy-chat] The NeoCon Mind-Trick (was letter concerning presidential growth)

[BillK]

On 12/15/05, The Avantguardian wrote:
>
> There was a clear positive correlation between the
> average IQs of states that voted Democrat in the 2004
> presidential elections and conversely an inverse
> correlation between IQ and Republican votes.
>
> I first saw this data here:
> http://chrisevans3d.com/files/iq.html
>
> But a some other sites claim it is a hoax.

Not just some other sites.
The IQ data by state is completely ficticious.

<http://www.snopes.com/politics/ballot/stateiq.asp>

Claim:   Chart shows relationship between 2004 electoral vote result
and voter IQ.
Status:   False.
They give the history of this and previous similar hoaxes.
Origins:   Some pranks are so good they keep working over and over again.

Back in November 2002, someone (using the name Robert Calvert) created
and posted to a USENET newsgroup a phony chart which purportedly
showed the average IQ per state in the U.S., along with the average
income and a column indicating how that state voted in the 2000
presidential election. The gag was that all the states that voted for
Vice-President Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election were
clustered at the top of the IQ scale, while all the states that voted
for then-Texas Governor George W. Bush were clustered at the bottom.

This same made-up chart was later re-worked and applied to the 2004 election.

<http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_voter_iq.htm>

IQ and Voter Preference in 2004 Presidential Election
Netlore Archive:  In which the results of the 2004 U.S. presidential
election are correlated with purported average IQ of voters in each
state
Description:  Net hoax
Circulating since:  Nov. 2004 (this version)
Status:  False


The obvious retort on at least one site I read is:
"I wonder what the average IQ of the people who fall for this hoax is?"

BillK