Comment on Tariffs on Canadian goods having a 'devastating effect,' U.S. farmers say
emeralddawn45@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks agoI mean lots of reasons, but primarily I’d say its because the concept of a general measurable intelligence is an illusion. People can be skilled at something, and can be quick to learn new skills, without any correlating ability for problem solving or reasoning. And because its generally an inherited position, most farmers may see learning their trade as more important than any other kind of formal or informal education. Why pay attention in school when you’re just goibg to work on the farm, or when you already are expected to work on the farm before and after school. Also what are you basing the idea that farmers are ‘very intelligent’ anyway? Even by most of the illusory mechanics we use to measure intelligence, why would farmers be any more intelligent than any other subset of the population? They just need to be capable. And capability in any skill is a poor measure of intelligence. There are plenty of doctors or researchers who are great at memorization or excel in a certain field but have no critical thinking skills.
adespoton@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
It depends on some degree on the type of farmer, but most farmers are required to be generalists. Their “trade” involves being capable veterinarians, businesspeople, market analysts, engineers, researchers and more, who at the end of the day produce a reliable stream of consumable product and don’t get wiped out by unexpected circumstances.
The reason I made a call to intelligence was in response to the “dumb farmer” caricature — the idea that, because they don’t specialize, they aren’t very intelligent.
But you make some good points — critical thinking can be lacking in any field, even when problem solving and general reasoning are requirements for the job.
However, the original question wasn’t “why would farmers be more intelligent” but rather “why would farmers behave consistently in a more conservative manner AND be more prone to falling for populism?” It’s obviously not their intelligence, so what is it?
Then again, as we’ve seen recently, businesspeople in general appear to have fallen for populism, so maybe that’s where the connection lies?