New Study: Socialists Are Cheaters

[Shady]

A team of researchers from Duke University, and the University of Munich conducted a recent study. Apparently the more individuals were exposed to socialism, the more likely they were to cheat on the task of the study.

"The longer individuals were exposed to socialism, the more likely they were to cheat on our task," according to a new study, "The (True) Legacy of Two Really Existing Economic Systems," from Duke University and the University of Munich. The team of researchers concluded this after working with 259 participants from Berlin who grew up on opposite sides of the infamous wall.

http://reason.com/blog/2014/07/22/socialists-are-cheaters-says-new-study

I'm guessing part of the reason socialists tend to cheat more is that they feel justified in doing so. Especially if they feel as though somebody else has benefited more than themselves.In their minds, they probably succeed in convincing themselves that they "deserve" the same ends. Therefore, their dishonesty is actually moral in their eyes.

[TimG]

The longer individuals were exposed to socialism, the more likely they were to cheat on our task"

As tempting as this conclusion may be I think there are other more plausible explanations. i.e. In repressive regimes lying/cheating is necessary to survive or the rampant corruption of communist states makes makes honesty less socially desirable. Edited July 24, 2014 by TimG

[BubberMiley]

You didn't think it through enough to wonder whether being more exposed to socialism makes you more socialist. Maybe they cheated because they were conservative and resented the system they were exposed to.

[Shady]

As tempting as this conclusion may be I think there are other more plausible explanations. i.e. In repressive regimes lying/cheating is necessary to survive or the rampant corruption of communist states makes makes honesty less socially desirable.

Good point!

[On Guard for Thee]

Is this an attempt to blunt the "Conservative Negativity Bias" report? Pretty feeble I'd say. People throwing dice?

[The_Squid]

Certainly makes sense that people from brutal, repressive communist regimes will be more inclined to "cheat".

[On Guard for Thee]

Certainly makes sense that people from brutal, repressive communist regimes will be more inclined to "cheat".

Having once been tasked with setting up an operation in one of those regimes I quickly learned that cheating was the order of the day from the government, to the military and everyone on down. Hard to stay above board and get anything done. Oh well, vodka was cheap enough.

[waldo]

apparently... no capitalists cheat - evah! Hello, Ken Lay... Bernie Madoff... Jack Abramoff. Apparently, there is no such thing as white-collar crime.

throw a googly out and all the typical ring-wing rags/blogs are flauting something ala "Confirmed: Socialists are Cheaters"!!! And all it took was a single study and a chance to win $8

[Shady]

apparently... no capitalists cheat - evah! Hello, Ken Lay... Bernie Madoff... Jack Abramoff. Apparently, there is no such thing as white-collar crime.

throw a googly out and all the typical ring-wing rags/blogs are flauting something ala "Confirmed: Socialists are Cheaters"!!! And all it took was a single study and a chance to win $8

It's science waldo. You can't argue with science right?

[GostHacked]

What kind of socialists are they talking about? And where? Oh just East German socialism? Fail.

[BubberMiley]

Epic thread fail. Maybe it's best to keep to the status updates.

[Shady]

What kind of socialists are they talking about? And where? Oh just East German socialism? Fail.

Socialism is socialism.

[GostHacked]

Socialism is socialism.

Wrong. Or as you usually say, absolute nonsense.

[Shady]

Wrong. Or as you usually say, absolute nonsense.

Well we can agree to disagree then. You can disagree with Duke University and the University of Munich as well.

[GostHacked]

Well we can agree to disagree then. You can disagree with Duke University and the University of Munich as well.

There are different degrees and applications of socialism. We have a socialist type health care system. Some don't. So you'd have to define what area and aspect of socialism you are referring to.

[Hal 9000]

Conservatives Give More to Charity than Liberals?

posted by Dr. Richard Land

Do “conservatives” give more to charitable causes than “liberals”? According to Syracuse University professor Arthur C. Brooks, they do. Dr. Brooks, a professor of public administration at Syracuse’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, was quite astounded with the results of his own research, which was so at variance with the common perception of the generous “liberal” and the Scrooge-like “conservative.”
In his book, Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservativism (Basic Books, 2006), Brooks discovered that approximately equal percentages of liberals and conservatives give to private charitable causes. However, conservatives gave about 30 percent more money per year to private charitable causes, even though his study found liberal families earned an average of 6 percent more per year in income than did conservative families. This greater generosity among conservative families proved to be true in Brooks’ research for every income group, “from poor to middle class to rich.”
This “giving gap” also extended beyond money to time donated to charitable causes, as well. Brooks also discovered that in 2002, conservative Americans were much more likely to donate blood each year than liberals and to do so more often within a year. Brooks found “if liberals and moderates gave blood at the same rate as conservatives, the blood supply in the United States would jump by about 45 percent.”
When Brooks compared his findings to IRS data on the percentage of household income given away, he found that “red” states in the 2004 election were more charitable than “blue” states. Brooks found that 24 of the 25 states that were above average in family charitable giving voted for Bush in 2004, and 17 of the 25 states below average in giving voted for Kerry. Brooks concluded, “The electoral map and the charity map are remarkably similar.”
Why? A clue may be found in the 1996 General Social Survey, which asked Americans whether they agreed that “the government has a responsibility to reduce income inequality.” People who “disagreed strongly” with that statement gave 12 times more money to charity per year than those who “agreed strongly” with the statement.
One’s values, beliefs and political philosophies seem to impact how much one shares of one’s own income with the less fortunate in society. Facts are often surprising and illuminating.

Read more: http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/castingstones/2008/04/conservatives-give-more-to-cha.html#ixzz38PROB7tu
Read more at http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/castingstones/2008/04/conservatives-give-more-to-cha.html#4J9G0ze2v9ruXRbR.99

I know it's a little off topic, but I found it interesting.

[Mighty AC]

It's science waldo. You can't argue with science right?

The paper discusses some potentially related reasons for the outcome, such as the fact that socialist systems have been characterized by extensive scarcity, which ultimately led to the collapse of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in East Germany. In many instances, socialism pressured or forced people to work around official laws.

[dre]

Socialism is socialism.

Not even close.

Socialism can mean anything from full-on state or worker control of the means of production to the kind of socialism practiced in the west today (shared defense, police, welfare, medicare, public roads, bridges, etc)

[waldo]

It's science waldo. You can't argue with science right?

sure! Findings via single-study consensus rules! Like I said, it's quite amazing to see a googly return all the right-wing bat-shit crazy headlines touting something like "Confirmed: Socialists are cheaters"!

[The_Squid]

You have to look at how socialism was defined in the paper. They are not talking about Canadian socialism... universal healthcare, welfare, employment insurance, and all the other "socialist" programs. The paper is defining socialism as communist East Germany. It is a large difference to just gloss over and say all socialism is just like that.

So to say "socialism is socialism" is rather dumb.

[cybercoma]

Socialism is socialism.

Yup. All socialists are Nazis.

[cybercoma]

Well we can agree to disagree then. You can disagree with Duke University and the University of Munich as well.

Duke University and the University of Munich says there's only one kind of socialism? That's amazing, considering it's completely and totally wrong.

[cybercoma]

You have to look at how socialism was defined in the paper. They are not talking about Canadian socialism... universal healthcare, welfare, employment insurance, and all the other "socialist" programs. The paper is defining socialism as communist East Germany. It is a large difference to just gloss over and say all socialism is just like that.

So to say "socialism is socialism" is rather dumb.

But it's really difficult to understand things if they're not black and white.

[iolo]

Obviously, if you study capitalism, you know that only thieves and cheats succeed. There were only four serious socialists in our sixth form. One was homosexual, one was me, and the other two are now multi-millionaires, having decided to overcome our fanatical opposition to the God-given system. Aren't right-wingers silly!

Edited July 25, 2014 by iolo

[cybercoma]

Of course socialists cheat. They feel entitled to all the things that others have worked hard to earn. When they don't get what they feel entitled to, their willing to just take. That's what socialism is: government sanctioned thievery.