National Review writer: 18-year-olds are too stupid to vote and should be beaten...

[cynatnite]

The National Review’s Jonah Goldberg is claiming that 18-year-olds should be denied the right to vote because they are “so frickin’ stupid about so many things.” In a video first posted by the Daily Caller, Goldberg laments the culture’s obsession with youth and argues that conservatives should “beat out” young people’s belief that “socialism is better than capitalism.” Goldberg is the third National Review writer in two months to face controversy:

GOLDBERG: Personally, I think the voting age should be much, higher, not lower. I think it was a mistake to lower it to 18, to be brutally honest….It is a simple fact of science that nothing correlates more with ignorance and stupidity than youth. We’re all born idiots, and we only get over that condition as we get less young. And yet there’s this thing in this culture where, ‘Oh, young people are for it so it must be special.’ No, the reason young people are for it because they don’t know better. That’s why we call them young people. [...]

The fact that young people think socialism is better than capitalism. That’s proof of what social scientists call their stupidity and their ignorance. And that’s something that conservatives have to beat out of them. Either literally or figuratively as far as I’m concerned.

http://dailycaller.com/2012/05/12/jonah-goldberg-young-people-are-so-frickin-stupid-video/#ooid=54bHhuNDrdPIqn9GwkhEDjoPplQ_7xya

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/06/01/493804/national-review-writer-conservatives-should-beat-young-people-who-think-socialism-is-better-than-capitalism/

[cyberswede]

1. Good grief.

He has no shame.

[Initech]

2. Stay classy Jonah, go back to being the tool of the billionaires you are.

[katsy]

3. No one cares what he thinks except

like-minded maggots.

goldberg is irrelevant.

[MrScorpio]

11. That's not true...

His mom, Lucianne cares.

I'm sure that she'll give him some hot chicken soup and a nice pat on his head once he comes back home to her basement.


… On second thought, you were right the first time.

[katsy]

27. I forgot about lucianne...

The family that hates together.

[Fresh_Start]

4. I'd raise the voting age, if they also raised the age when people can join the military

but its insane to me that someone could serve our country and not be able to vote.
Of course, the people who are too young to vote should also be too young to pay taxes.

[Enrique]

5. well this is fascistic thinking

by that logic, anyone who has those views should not be allowed to vote because they are just as stupid. Which leaves us with only people that see things Goldbergs way being allowed to vote.

Ironic that Goldberg wrote a book called Liberal Fascism.

[hlthe2b]

6. Oh, please Jonah... stand up in front of a group of 18 yo armed US military and say that crap...

I'm SURE they'd love to hear that opinion from you.

That one knows no limit to ignorance.

[sakabatou]

14. +1

[malthaussen]

7. Why pick on the 18 year olds? Half the people in the country are too stupid to vote

Isn't it interesting, the recent emphasis on beating? We've had people advocating beating the gay out of people, beating the socialism out of people, beating toddlers and infants for, apparently, just kicks...

Who was it that theorized that Republicans are bullies?

-- Mal

[leftynyc]

8. The unbelievable obsession that the wingers

seem to have with both violence and male gay sex disturbs me on quite a few levels.

[SoutherDem]

9. Maybe we should have an age limit to vote

They are too closed minded plus, after all they won't be around to suffer the outcome of their decisions.

[Scootaloo]

10. Ah, Jonah Goldberg

Like Ann Coulter, only able to hold onto a writing job.

[bongbong]

25. Hold onto a job?

He, like so many other of the right-wingnut "writers", are beneficiaries of "Wingnut Welfare", financed from the change-found-in-the-sofa from the KochSucker Brothers, Scaife, Coors, etc etc etc etc. Without giveaways, these guys only have the talent & ability to do jobs like changing lion litterboxes at the zoo.

[GeorgeGist]

12. Mental Abilities Peak at Age 22, Decline After 27

http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/health/2009/march/Mental-Abilities-Peak-at-Age-22-Decline-After-27-Study-Says.html


Stupid rules!

[malthaussen]

18. Damn me, I thought it was 40.

My brain's been rotting longer than I thought. But hey, wouldn't that be tautological?

-- Mal

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

13. That pasty doughy fuck couldn't beat his own dick if he tried. nt

[Uncle Joe]

20. He could with tweezers and a magnifying glass. n/t

[Blue_Tires]

15. he says shit like this every day...

don't give him the satisfaction of discussing it like he matters...

[randome]

16. Didn't a preacher get a jail term recently for advocating parents use wooden rods on their children?

Why wouldn't the same apply to Goldberg? He truly is a classless act.

[JoePhilly]

17. I invite Jonah the conservative to come and try to beat my liberal 18 year old son.

Jonah would be begging for the socialism of police protection and free healthcare.

[hifiguy]

19. Jonah Goldberg is one of the ten biggest

douches on the planet. Every day in every way a little more of the reichwing's true agenda is revealed. They just can't help themselves. I believe the term "flaming shitheel" was created just for people like Goldberg.

[muriel_volestrangler]

21. Nothing correlates more with ignorance and stupidity than writing for National Review (nt)

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

22. I doubt he could beat anyone.

Goldberg's another silverspoon in need of a good ass kicking.

[Jim__]

23. If stupidity is the criteria, then Jonah Goldberg's right to vote should definitely be revoked.

[spanone]

24. is jonah the clown still around? i've missed his ignorant hilarious opinions

not

[Nevernose]

32. I flipped through his last book at Costco a few days ago

My wife and I were laughing out loud at the dust jacket. You used the right descriptor -- hilarious. Most children in grade school could have seen the logical fallacies at work in just the table of contents. My wife honestly thought it WAS a joke since I've read all the Colbert/Onion type books.

[lpbk2713]

26. If stupidity was a valid disqualifier ...

there would be no rethuglican party.

[Canuckistanian]

28. The Doughy Pantload(tm) issues another steaming pile

"literally or figuratively" Hmm, violent, too.

[AJTheMan]

29. Surprise surprise!

Conservatives want to make it harder for people to vote -- nay, make it illegal for 18 year olds to vote? That's so uncharacteristic of them!

(18 year old Louisianian here)

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

30. Jonah Goldberg has the mind of a 5 year old

"We’re all born idiots", he says. And Goldberg's mind has developed very little since then. I don't think I've ever read or heard anything intelligent out of his mouth.

[Marr]

31. It's pretty funny that he used a collection of logical fallacies to claim young people are stupid.

[cynatnite]

34. Where did I get it wrong?

that’s something that conservatives have to beat out of them. Either literally or figuratively as far as I’m concerned.

Or would you feel better if I put word for exact word in the subject line?

[Quantess]

37. Okay, thanks.

I think the exact wording would have been more convincing, in this case.

[Marr]

36. He said it should be "beaten out of them, literally *or* figuratively".

I'd love to hear how you construed that to mean something else.