The more I think about it, the more useless this assertion seems. It may make us (liberals) feel good, but that's all.
Kos took it one step further, implying (though he does say, “Draw your own conclusions.”) that liberals are more likely to use Macs and/or Firefox.
There may be some element of truth to this, though I question its relevance. I have an iMac at home and I use Firefox at work (I use Safari on my mac). But I'm also a computer geek. BTW, those of you who think there's a contradiction there (that geeks don't use macs) then you haven't been paying attention. I could go into an explanation here, but I'll just say that Mac OS X really appeals to a certain class of geeks. Not all, but a lot. If you're curious as to why, check out this page at Apple's web site. Briefly, I was primarily a Linux user before buying a Mac.
To digress a little, a lot Mac users seem to enjoy entertaining a romantic vision of Apple. They might think of them as the good guys fighting the Microsoft juggernaut. Ok, if people want to see it that way, then fine. I have lots of reasons for loving my mac and ipod, but it's not because I think that Apple is entirely ethical. That's not to say I think they're anywhere near as bad as Microsoft. I just don't think that Apple exists to uphold truth and justice.
But this is really about liberals, etc., thinking we're smarter than conservatives. In regards to the Kos thing, why might it be smarter to use Macs or Firefox? Geek stuff aside, it's really about security, and to some extent with Firefox, politics. Again, I'm not going to go into a detailed explanation, but Mac OS X is demonstrably more secure (out of the box and in general) than pretty much anything Microsoft has whipped up. And everyone should know by now that Firefox is far safer than IE.
So it might sound like I'm arguing that people who use Macs and Firefox are smarter. And since a higher percentage of liberals apparently use those than do conservatives, it may sound like I'm trying to support the idea that liberals are smarter.
But that's a logical train wreck.
I think it's more reasonable to say that liberals and conservatives care about different things, or at least place emphasis on different things.
For example, let's suppose that your average daily kos reader is relatively young (in their 20s or 30s), unmarried and without children. I may be playing into some stereotypes here, but as long as other liberals are claiming that we're inherently smarter than conservatives, what the heck. But this young, single, non-parent (like myself) is going to have vastly different priorities and concerns than a 30 or 40-something or whatever with a family. The younger person may have the time, patience and motivation to learn a different OS than the one they have to use at work. Or maybe they were exposed to Macs at school. The older person might have enough crap to worry about without trying to learn a new OS. Plus, Macs appear to be more expensive, and this person might consider them a waste of money.
Second, there are an awful lot of people out there who do have computers and do use them, but don't give much thought to the computer, OS or application itself. Most people just want to look at web sites, read email and maybe do instant messaging. They don't care about the OS, superior security models, etc. They want communication and information.
Now I think those people should (and are being) informed that they should put a little more thought into what they use instead of just what they're doing, but I'm just trying to present a possible mindset. It has little or nothing to do with intelligence.
I think this applies to politics in general too. I've met some dumb liberals. I've met racist democrats (in Minnesota, even).
If you think that liberals (in general) are smarter than conservatives (in general), then you probably have a pretty strictly defined social circle. It's remarkably easy to deride conservatives when you're surrounded by a bunch of like-minded, intelligent liberals.
But whatever. Other liberals can go on believing they're smarter. I suppose it's a useful myth, like the conservative one about the “Liberal Media”.
You may as well argue that liberals are better looking.|||110210289360196423|||Useful Myths
cczernia|||I GOT MAIL! I GOT MAIL! YEEAAHHHHH!!!!!! Tracy W.|||Liberals ARE better-looking. Everyone knows that. How do you think Clinton gets all the ladies?