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About the Museum
The Museum of Hoaxes is dedicated to promoting knowledge about hoaxes. (Click here for opening hours, etc.) On our blog we post about dubious- sounding claims, and whatever else strikes our fancy. The site is also home to the Hoaxipedia (the museum's online encyclopedia of hoaxes), the Hoax Forum, and the Top 100 April Fools' Day Hoaxes.
The museum was created in 1997 by Alex Boese. He's assisted by a staff of deputy curators and docents. Alex is the author of three books, most recently Elephants on Acid: And Other Bizarre Experiments (which has nothing to do with hoaxes). Check out the list of the Top 20 Most Bizarre Experiments of All Time for a preview.
The Museum of Hoaxes is dedicated to promoting knowledge about hoaxes. (Click here for opening hours, etc.) On our blog we post about dubious- sounding claims, and whatever else strikes our fancy. The site is also home to the Hoaxipedia (the museum's online encyclopedia of hoaxes), the Hoax Forum, and the Top 100 April Fools' Day Hoaxes.
The museum was created in 1997 by Alex Boese. He's assisted by a staff of deputy curators and docents. Alex is the author of three books, most recently Elephants on Acid: And Other Bizarre Experiments (which has nothing to do with hoaxes). Check out the list of the Top 20 Most Bizarre Experiments of All Time for a preview.Prankplace.com
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Bush Voters Have Lower IQs
A table that breaks down states by income, average IQ, and whether they voted for Bush or Gore has been making the rounds. It appears to show, pretty dramatically, that the states with higher average incomes, and higher average IQs, voted for Gore. Whereas the lower income, lower IQ states went for Bush. The comment accompanying this table is usually 'Come to your own conclusions," or something like that. My first thought, on seeing this, was that it's awfully similar to the Lovenstein Institute IQ Report. But I suspect that the figures, in this case, might be correct... in the sense that they were produced by actual research, not just invented out of whole cloth. They appear to derive from a book published in 2002 titled IQ and the Wealth of Nations by Richard Lynn and Tatu Vanhanen. I haven't actually seen a copy of this book (and since it costs $81.95 I'm probably not going to either unless I find it at the library). But the real question here seems to be whether, even if 'actual' research produced these IQ figures, do they mean anything? I've always been skeptical about IQ tests, so I would say 'No, they don't.' And I'm saying this even though I'm a Democrat.Update: The IQ figures do not come from IQ and the Wealth of Nations, as confirmed by Richard Lynn, the book's author, whom I emailed to inquire about this. Therefore, it seems right now that the figures have actually been pulled out of thin air. In other words, it's a hoax. But it looks like The American Assembler fell for it, among others.
Update 2: The person responsible for the hoax appears to be a guy named Robert Calvert who posted the data to a Mensa newsgroup back in 2002. Presumably he did make the data up, since I haven't been able to find any info anywhere that would corroborate it.
Listed in chronological order. Newest comments at the end.
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Florida comes in at 26! Interesting, if things had been just a little bit different - I'd be in a more intelligent state? (Yes, I know that's backwards - ranked at 26, we had too many folks who could not figure out the ballots.) 
Posted by Ed in Florida on Tue May 04, 2004 at 03:53 PMI personally do think that ush voters are mentally off. He has led America to many bad decisions. But that is only my opinion.
Posted by Abi in Canada on Wed May 05, 2004 at 07:48 AMTake a close look at the page - he doesn't actually say his statistics came from "IQ and the Wealth of Nations." His claims about IQ varience are so broad as to be highly suspect. Take a look at this page:
http://iq-test.learninginfo.org/iq04.htm
Only 16% of the population has an IQ of 85 or below. However, he claims this is the average IQ for Mississippi. And only 25% of the population has an IQ of 90 or less - he's gone and claimed that no less than 10 states have an average IQ this low. I suspect these figures are a hoax, and one put together by someone unaware of how IQ is distributed in the population as a whole.
Posted by Matt on Wed May 05, 2004 at 11:08 AMhttp://iq-test.learninginfo.org/iq04.htm
Only 16% of the population has an IQ of 85 or below. However, he claims this is the average IQ for Mississippi. And only 25% of the population has an IQ of 90 or less - he's gone and claimed that no less than 10 states have an average IQ this low. I suspect these figures are a hoax, and one put together by someone unaware of how IQ is distributed in the population as a whole.
This table of IQs by state is an outright hoax.
It does _not_ come from Lynn & Vanhanen's book "IQ and the Wealth of Nations," as the table claims. I read and reviewed that book. There is nothing in the book about IQs by states. As the title suggests, it is only interested in assembling all tests of _national_ IQs published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
Posted by Steve Sailer on Thu May 06, 2004 at 02:38 AMIt does _not_ come from Lynn & Vanhanen's book "IQ and the Wealth of Nations," as the table claims. I read and reviewed that book. There is nothing in the book about IQs by states. As the title suggests, it is only interested in assembling all tests of _national_ IQs published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
Bad Decisions?
He ousted TWO, not one but TWO, oppressive dictators - is in the process of establising those two nations as powerful trading partners, He instituted a department of homeland security, he is working to improve interagency cooperation and he is expanding and empowering the economy.
The only reason why Bush is reflected as a bad president is because of the leftist media - attempting to anger a nation over 9 deaths a day in an attempt to reconstruct two of the most oppressed deaths.
No parallel can be credibly be drawn between Iraq and Vietnam - The simple difference between the number of casualties is tremendous.
As far as voter's IQ goes is a> irrelevant and b> completely false. There is no way to accurately obtain a voter's IQ unless a test is administered to the voters as they vote - under that reasoning the institution conducting the survey would either be sued, if the survey was widespread enough to even be accurate, or completely incorrect because they only tested certain polls in certain cities and did not develop a wide enough base to accurately depict the IQ of specific states
Posted by J on Thu May 06, 2004 at 10:50 AMHe ousted TWO, not one but TWO, oppressive dictators - is in the process of establising those two nations as powerful trading partners, He instituted a department of homeland security, he is working to improve interagency cooperation and he is expanding and empowering the economy.
The only reason why Bush is reflected as a bad president is because of the leftist media - attempting to anger a nation over 9 deaths a day in an attempt to reconstruct two of the most oppressed deaths.
No parallel can be credibly be drawn between Iraq and Vietnam - The simple difference between the number of casualties is tremendous.
As far as voter's IQ goes is a> irrelevant and b> completely false. There is no way to accurately obtain a voter's IQ unless a test is administered to the voters as they vote - under that reasoning the institution conducting the survey would either be sued, if the survey was widespread enough to even be accurate, or completely incorrect because they only tested certain polls in certain cities and did not develop a wide enough base to accurately depict the IQ of specific states
Leave it to a Republican to make comments on Bush's record, and then blame "leftist media." TRUTH? YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!
A few points:
1) Bush adminstration betrayed a career diplomat, then destroyed the career of his wife- a secret agent working for the government. If this isn't a partisan attack, what is?
2) The main reason for the fight in Iraq was "weapons of mass destruction." This was a bold-faced lie that cost the lives of 8,000 Iraqis and 600 Americans.
3) Iraq is a massive quagmire, and things are getting worse.
4) The economy is in shambles. There are more people going bankrupt than any other time in history.
5) Those that truly appreciate small government and less government interference with personal freedoms can no longer call themselves Republicans. We have the largest government in the history of mankind, with the biggest government spending ever, and the Patriot Act, which transforms the Bill of Rights into a distant memory.
There is a correlaton between intelligent, educated people and voting records. Deal with it.
Posted by Otto Know on Thu May 06, 2004 at 01:15 PMA few points:
1) Bush adminstration betrayed a career diplomat, then destroyed the career of his wife- a secret agent working for the government. If this isn't a partisan attack, what is?
2) The main reason for the fight in Iraq was "weapons of mass destruction." This was a bold-faced lie that cost the lives of 8,000 Iraqis and 600 Americans.
3) Iraq is a massive quagmire, and things are getting worse.
4) The economy is in shambles. There are more people going bankrupt than any other time in history.
5) Those that truly appreciate small government and less government interference with personal freedoms can no longer call themselves Republicans. We have the largest government in the history of mankind, with the biggest government spending ever, and the Patriot Act, which transforms the Bill of Rights into a distant memory.
There is a correlaton between intelligent, educated people and voting records. Deal with it.
Read the american assembler article again, they do stipulate that they took the voting and IQ records from "IQ and the Wealth of Nations".
Also given the resumes of the authors
(from amazon.com)
RICHARD LYNN is Professor Emeritus of Psychology, University of Ulster, Northern Ireland.
TATU VANHANEN is Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science, University of Tampere and Docent Emeritus, Department of Political Science, University of Helsinki, Finland.
(--)
I would tend to believe their assertions to be fact over the poster of this article.
Yet a fallacy that I would like to point out from an arguement about average IQ in the begining of this thread: The average IQ may be over 85 points, however in average IQs running from 102 to 85 with 50 states being used to create the average, we would need atleast some of the states polled be under the national average in order to get a national average that is higher than some states.
Yet I digress, Inteligence Quotient Tests are highly subjective and relevant to racial, social, and economic factors of the individual taking the test, no wonder certain areas scored 'abnormaly low' and others much higher.
I contacted Richard Lynn, author of IQ AND THE WEALTH OF NATIONS. He said, "This information is not given in my book." So it looks like the IQ figures are a hoax.
Unfortunately, the American Assembler is displaying them as fact: http://americanassembler.com/features/iq_state_averages.htm
I also emailed the student at UMass, 'gcharter', who seems to be the real source of this info, but he hasn't responded to me.
Posted by Alex on Thu May 06, 2004 at 02:19 PMUnfortunately, the American Assembler is displaying them as fact: http://americanassembler.com/features/iq_state_averages.htm
I also emailed the student at UMass, 'gcharter', who seems to be the real source of this info, but he hasn't responded to me.
Why does it not suprise me that it's a hoax?
[as an aside, if you really believe that the only 'main reason' to go into Iraq was WMD, you really need to invest in some long-term memory]
Posted by Bob S. Yunkle on Fri May 07, 2004 at 02:58 AM[as an aside, if you really believe that the only 'main reason' to go into Iraq was WMD, you really need to invest in some long-term memory]
Is that "American Assembler," or "American Dissembler"?
It seems self-evident to me that Bush supporters would have to be either a. rich and extremely selfish, b. profoundly ignorant, or c. mentally deficient (not that those are mutually exclusive);
but trying to prove such claims with statistics is an inherently foolish enterprise, especially since, as someone else pointed out, the notion of "IQ" as a measurable and meaningful trait has been pretty thoroughly discredited (See "The Mismeasure of Man" by Stephen Jay Gould for a whole book about bogus IQ testing).
Posted by Big Gary in Texas, USA on Fri May 07, 2004 at 02:19 PMIt seems self-evident to me that Bush supporters would have to be either a. rich and extremely selfish, b. profoundly ignorant, or c. mentally deficient (not that those are mutually exclusive);
but trying to prove such claims with statistics is an inherently foolish enterprise, especially since, as someone else pointed out, the notion of "IQ" as a measurable and meaningful trait has been pretty thoroughly discredited (See "The Mismeasure of Man" by Stephen Jay Gould for a whole book about bogus IQ testing).
OH NO!
Displaying them as Fact?
Making up information?
Making False statements concerning the sources?
HOW HORRIBLE! Just goes to prove how DANGEROUS those LIB LIES really are.
The death toll on this must be in the double digit range at least.
Lying about HOW STUPID Republicans can behave...
As if a chart were really necessary for that.
Posted by Ray in PE on Fri May 07, 2004 at 10:32 PMDisplaying them as Fact?
Making up information?
Making False statements concerning the sources?
HOW HORRIBLE! Just goes to prove how DANGEROUS those LIB LIES really are.
The death toll on this must be in the double digit range at least.
Lying about HOW STUPID Republicans can behave...
As if a chart were really necessary for that.
Yep, according to 'Big Gary', Bush voters are either rich or stupid, or both, and according to 'Ray', libs don't need to make up numbers to try to paint Bush supporters as stupid.
But of course, it's the Republicians that are mean spirited.
Posted by Bob S. Yunkle on Sat May 08, 2004 at 01:02 AMBut of course, it's the Republicians that are mean spirited.
Does gullibility factor into IQ in some way? The people who fell for this hoax might like to consider what it says about their own mental agility.
Posted by John on Sat May 08, 2004 at 02:40 PMSome moron wrote:
Does gullibility factor into IQ in some way? The people who fell for this
hoax might like to consider what it says about their own mental agility.
--
Were the author of the last post actually intelligent they would understand that IQ pertains to intellectual acuity, not mental agility. But alas they do not, and probably would not be able to fathom the differences between the two notions.
Posted by spunk in your ass on Sat May 08, 2004 at 09:21 PMDoes gullibility factor into IQ in some way? The people who fell for this
hoax might like to consider what it says about their own mental agility.
--
Were the author of the last post actually intelligent they would understand that IQ pertains to intellectual acuity, not mental agility. But alas they do not, and probably would not be able to fathom the differences between the two notions.
You can find more about this hoax at this URL.
Posted by Steve Sailer in www.iSteve.com on Sun May 09, 2004 at 03:53 AMThe funny thing, is that IQ really does not mean a darn thing about who or what you are. I knew a Canadian truck driver who qualified for Mensa who was shocked that they had listed murder/rapist Paul Bernado (or it might of been his just as guilty wife, Karla Homolka) were being listed as current members AFTER the trial. Great group of people that the high IQ mensa types hang out with, huh?
Posted by Bob S. Yunkle on Sun May 09, 2004 at 02:06 PMFor chrissakes guys, he marked it as a hoax in the first place. Are you going to go read Satire Wire, Something Awful or The Onion and take THAT as fact, too? Hell, just because Bush is a complete moron doesnt mean ALL of his voters are, too.
Posted by Saddened in Hell on Mon May 10, 2004 at 03:49 PMActually, you all are sort of heading the discussion in the wrong direction with the IQ rantings. Most people don't even know their IQs. If you look at the states that Bush won in 200 and compare them with how those states rank in educating young people, you'll find a correlation. That's the point. (Hint: It's the Alabama belt.)
Bush himself is no rocket scientist. He's proud of the fact that he was a C student at Yale. (Getting Cs in grad school is nothing to be proud of.) Educators know that C students are usually sort of uninspired, slow to catch on to things, willing to let others do the hard work, and so forth.
Bush calls well-educated people "smarty-pantses" and "the elite" as if being well educated is a crime, or something to be suspicious of. That is part of the reason why he's in so much trouble. He has surrounded himself with smarty-pantses who probably talk over his head or around him, deliberately cut him out of the loop, write his lines for him, placate him with one-liners he can deliver and feed him very short "briefings" at his particular reading level. Bush hates shades of gray and subtlties. He even said once that "we don't do nuances in Texas." He probably meant Midland, Texas.
We all need to wise up, figure out what a problem he is causing, and send him back to Texas this fall.
Posted by PBK in San Jose on Tue May 18, 2004 at 06:43 PMBush himself is no rocket scientist. He's proud of the fact that he was a C student at Yale. (Getting Cs in grad school is nothing to be proud of.) Educators know that C students are usually sort of uninspired, slow to catch on to things, willing to let others do the hard work, and so forth.
Bush calls well-educated people "smarty-pantses" and "the elite" as if being well educated is a crime, or something to be suspicious of. That is part of the reason why he's in so much trouble. He has surrounded himself with smarty-pantses who probably talk over his head or around him, deliberately cut him out of the loop, write his lines for him, placate him with one-liners he can deliver and feed him very short "briefings" at his particular reading level. Bush hates shades of gray and subtlties. He even said once that "we don't do nuances in Texas." He probably meant Midland, Texas.
We all need to wise up, figure out what a problem he is causing, and send him back to Texas this fall.
The Economist also fell for this.
So the following week they published the nearest they could find - state vs % graduates and state vs school test results.
Posted by Douglas on Sun May 23, 2004 at 02:46 AMSo the following week they published the nearest they could find - state vs % graduates and state vs school test results.
Here's a Bush voter/Low IQ joke that I just came across:
A popular bar had a new robotic bartender installed
A fellow came in for a drink and the robot asked him, "What's your IQ?"
The man replied, "150."
So the robot proceeded to make conversation about Quantum physics, string
theory, atomic chemistry, and so on.
The man listened intently and thought, "This is really cool." The man
decided to test the robot. He walked out the bar, turned around, and came
back in for another drink.
Again, the robot asked him, "What's your IQ?"
The man responded, "100." So the robot started talking about football,
baseball, and so on.
The man thought to himself, "Wow, this is really cool." The man went out
and came back in a third time.
As before, the robot asked him, "What's your IQ?"
The man replied, "50."
The robot then said, "So, you gonna vote for Bush again?"
Posted by Alex on Tue May 25, 2004 at 09:04 AMA popular bar had a new robotic bartender installed
A fellow came in for a drink and the robot asked him, "What's your IQ?"
The man replied, "150."
So the robot proceeded to make conversation about Quantum physics, string
theory, atomic chemistry, and so on.
The man listened intently and thought, "This is really cool." The man
decided to test the robot. He walked out the bar, turned around, and came
back in for another drink.
Again, the robot asked him, "What's your IQ?"
The man responded, "100." So the robot started talking about football,
baseball, and so on.
The man thought to himself, "Wow, this is really cool." The man went out
and came back in a third time.
As before, the robot asked him, "What's your IQ?"
The man replied, "50."
The robot then said, "So, you gonna vote for Bush again?"
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