'Liberals,' Conservatives and Stereotypes

Yesterday I said that an infallible mark of a 'liberal' or 'progressive' is a refusal to distinguish legal and illegal immigration. Another infallible mark is the refusal of 'liberals' or so-called 'progressives' to admit that there is truth in some stereotypes, that some of them have a basis in reality, and are not the product of mindless bigotry.  We conservatives, however, being fundamentally sane, admit the obvious: there are accurate stereotypes and inaccurate stereotypes. An example of an inaccurate stereotype is the black watermelon stereotype according to which black folk are disproportionately fond of watermelon.  Examples of accurate stereotypes below.

It occurs to me that our 'liberal' pals can be taxed with swallowing a negative, inaccurate meta-stereotype: they falsely think that all stereotypes are inaccurate and of course 'racist'! What bigots these 'liberals' be!

Lee Jussim gets to the heart of the matter with the following quiz. I got every answer right. See how you do. Answers below the fold.

1. Which group is most likely to commit murder?
A. Men
B. Women

2. Older people are generally more __________ and less __________ than adolescents. 
A. Conscientious; open to new experiences 
B. Neurotic; agreeable 

3. In which ethnic/racial group in the US are you likely to find the highest proportion of people who supported Democratic presidential candidates in 2008 and 2012?
A. Whites 
B. African Americans

4. People in the US strongly identifying themselves as ___________ are most likely to attend church on Sunday.
A. Conservative
B. Liberal

5. On 24 December 2004, a father and his three kids wandered around New York City around 7pm, looking for a restaurant, but found most places closed or closing. At the same time, his wife performed a slew of chores around the house. This family is most likely:
A. Catholic
B. Baptist
C. Jewish
D. Pagan/Animist

 

The answers, of course, are A, A, B, A, and C.

If you didn't get all of them right, then I will put you down as lacking experience of the world. The world, mind you, not your utopian, John-Lennon-type fantasy of what you would like the world to be.

Corresponding to each of the above examples is a true generic statement and an accurate stereotype.That's painfully obvious, isn't it? But then it is painfully obvious that 'progressives' are being willfully stupid in denying the obvious.

To be fair, the  willful stupidity of 'progressives' is motivated in part by good intentions: they fear that accurate stereotypes can be used to oppress and denigrate people. 

For example, it is true that women as a group are more nurturing, conciliatory, cooperative, family-oriented, averse to heated disagreement, etc. than men as a group. Corresponding to this true generic statement is  the accurate stereotype of women as more nurturing, etc. 

It is not only an accurate stereotype, but a positive one as well. Obviously, it is good to have a lot of people in society that are nurturing, etc.

Vicious leftists, however, who have no qualms about slandering their opponents, think that the only motive a conservative could have for  pointing out the platitudes above is to keep women tied to their stoves, blacks on the plantation, etc.

It's a lie and they know it. They are not good people. That is what you have to understand.