Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal?
Pithy answer: because you aren&#x27;t going to be afraid of something when you understand that it&#x27;s not something you need to fear.<p>When you have a simple world view, nuance is always going to escape you. An educated person can understand that the world isn&#x27;t simple, which will lead to a more liberal view, as liberal views tend to be based on the assumption that angry, narrow world view responses aren&#x27;t a good thing. Someone who sees things in black and white, ignoring the complexities of life, will respond with simple, ignorant answers.<p>Examples: climate change denial, anti-vax, religion... They&#x27;re the intellectual equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ears and shouting, rather than seeking to actually understand anything.<p>It&#x27;s worth noting that all these things are driven by fear of things people don&#x27;t understand. Someone who understands how vaccinations work, why we do them, why they&#x27;re made the way they are can&#x27;t be afraid of them, and thus won&#x27;t be against them. But most people aren&#x27;t in that camp, which opens the door for people to make bad choices.<p>It&#x27;s hard getting people to be want to be informed and right, when it means they might have to disagree with their social group.