Intelligence and politics: it’s not an oxymoron (I promise)

Written by Jaime Jensen Monday, 17 November 2008 19:00

The presidential election is finished, and many are breathing a well-deserved sigh of relief as election coverage dwindles in search of the promise of “hope” and “change” brought by the new president-elect.

In order to fill the voids left by election-night anticipation mongering, many have turned their attentions to speculations concerning the 2012 election. An obvious prospect in the minds of election theorists is the running of Sarah Palin as the Republican ticket for President.

Just as Barack Obama swept away the hearts and minds of Americans by his suave speech and idealistic promises, so too has Sarah Palin captured many with her “down to earth” mannerisms and “relatability” to working moms.

I was very surprised, however, to observe an interesting trend in the past election season. Women may not have swarmed to Hillary Clinton with her often-shrewish ways, but many certainly warmed up to Sarah Palin.

It could have been due to her aforementioned qualities, in addition to her religious affiliations in which many future voters found a comfort. It could very well have been her claims of participations in moose hunts and her ability to wield a chainsaw.

Her demeanor, however, seemed a blight to academically inclined women, which, unfortunately, a bane which did not seem to be recognized (or was, perhaps, ignored entirely) by many women during the election season.

Norah Vincent, an opinion columnist for the Minneapolis “Star Tribune,” rightly summarized her own reasons for refusing to support Palin in a recent column: “Christopher Hitchens was right on the money when he called her a “proud, boastful ignoramus,” though I would go further.

The resounding theme of her candidacy was a shamefully rabble-rousing, nauseatingly populist denunciation of knowledge, intellectual expression and reasoned debate, all apparently the vicious province of the media elite and not the hard and hardy backbone of the “real” America.”

In today’s society, intelligent women are becoming easier to come by with a more open educational system and a readily available means for self-education. However, women in high positions, whether they are academic or political, are still often viewed with distrust or skepticism. Unfortunately, women in power seem to garner the labels of either “bitch” or a character that has somehow cheated the system.

Women may not face the level of career discrimination that was present in years past, but many women in non-traditional jobs are still taking the heat for choosing to entire non-customary fields.

While affirmative action and “leveling the playing field” for both genders in certain professional spheres may not have been the best approach for getting more women involved in non-traditional career options, certain women have overcome the gender gap to go on to accomplish excellence in previously male-dominated areas of academia and politics.

Sarah Palin’s denial of intellectual expression, as characterized by her obvious distrust of scientific investigation, her “denunciation of knowledge,” as evidenced by the fact that she was not even aware that Africa was a continent, and her ability to successfully sideline important debate questions characterized the election as a high-school popularity contest, not a bid to run one of the world’s most powerful nations.

Her rise to power and influence was, in this way, not a success for women, but a setback.

Many women have or are working toward overcoming the stereotypes that have been placed, often correctly, upon women in power. When it comes to running a country, individuals should not base their decisions upon “relatability,” but upon an actual ability to lead and reason through problems.

Education and knowledge was once valued by Americans, but we have driven ourselves down a path where our political decisions rest upon who we’d best like to share a beer and a conversation.

Are we truly this naïve?