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Don't listen to the liberals - Right-wingers really are nicer people, latest research shows

by Paul Conneally | June 15, 2008 at 01:37 am

488 views | 15 Recommendations | 9 comments

This 'research' tells us that right wing people are nicer than liberal or left wing people despite their political views around gun control, abortion, the death penalty and corporal punishment etc. Right wingers apparently even hug their children more. This news on fathers day in the UK gets me looking with wonder at right wing tyrants such as Mugabe and Mussolini and perhaps if the research is true we might be able to say despite their sadist abuse of their own people they at least 'hugged their kids'.

George Orwell once wrote that politics was closely related to social identity. 'One sometimes gets the impression,' he wrote in The Road To Wigan Pier, 'that the mere words socialism and communism draw towards them with magnetic force every fruit-juice drinker, nudist, sandal-wearer, sex-maniac, Quaker, nature-cure quack, pacifist and feminist in England'.

Orwell was making an observation. But today a whole body of academic research shows he was correct: your politics influence the manner in which you live your life. And the news is not so good for those on the political Left.

There is plenty of data that shows that Right-wingers are happier, more generous to charities, less likely to commit suicide - and even hug their children more than those on the Left.

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Maireid Sullivan

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 04:24 on June 15th, 2008

LotusFlower, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Reminds me of that saying, "Simple minds seldom differ. Great minds think alike."

This is truly a hilarious research finding!

Barry ORegan

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 05:17 on June 15th, 2008

LotusFlower, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Lotus,this is what I have been trying to tell people for ages, I am so Far Right, that I had to remove my left turn signal from my SUV.

Certainly, this study is a tad ludicrous.

Rhonda J Mangus

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 05:48 on June 15th, 2008

LotusFlower, I like this story. It's good stuff.

joellerose

at 06:18 on June 15th, 2008

A. This story may have a "tongue-in-cheek" quality, but there is actual research data that shows that political conservatives donate much more to charities and perform more community services than do those on the left.

B. If you are going to throw Mugabe and Mussolini into this story, why not also Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, etc.?

Barry ORegan

at 18:04 on June 15th, 2008

OOHHH Let's not forget Chavez and FIdel

Paul Conneally

at 07:14 on June 15th, 2008

I agree all dictators - all bad - but the highlighted story is about right-wing not left - so if the research is true then Stalin's kids maybe got less hugs than lets say Musollini's... not sure how Mugabe classes himself right or left? But certainly not liberal!

bse5

at 08:06 on June 15th, 2008

1) Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot were not socialists/communists. They were fascist dictators which is about as far from the "left" as you can get - regardless of how they categorized themselves.

2) "Liberals" very well may donate less to charity, etc but that's probably because they believe in having a fair and equitable socio-economic structure supported by the government. Supporting a governmental structure that is unflinchingly pro-business and anti-welfare/social programs and then giving $100 to your local food bank once a year does not make things better. It requires fundamental change. And the more "just" society becomes, the less of a need we will have for charity.

joellerose

at 12:30 on June 15th, 2008

A. No-one else in the world would characterize Stalin, Mao or Pol Pot as anything else but communists.

B. It has been capitalism in a free society that raised the standard of living for the average man above that of royalty and more than doubled our life span. I want to continue to live in a free society and not a socialist one which has eventually failed wherever it has been tried.