Is anyone else as shallow as I am? (Looks in politics.)

[LAS14]

I saw Rep Eric Swalwell for the first time a couple of days ago and immediately thought, "Hmmm... is he being showcased as a possible pres candidate?" I thought this strictly on the basis of his looks. CNN was on mute. He seemed a little stiff, and I'm really gun shy after having been suckered in by John Edwards. But it got me to wondering if a person's looks should have any place at all in our thinking. I would hope not, but does it matter? I'm afraid I really do want a tall person, if it's a man. I think the stats are overwhelming on that front.

[Angry Dragon]

1. I would think most of the shallow people are on the right-reich web sites

[Bucky]

7. That's a little naive, I'm afraid.

You'd be surprised at how deep the thinking runs in the fact-free community

[Angry Dragon]

8. it seems to me that without facts it is hard to go very deep

[Bucky]

10. Try reading the Conspiracy Theory websites

There's a bigger risk of becoming a Republican from convoluted thinking than from overly simple thinking. Some of the IHOP/MIHOP wankers are quite intelligent, but simply not properly discriminating when it comes to how real life conspiracies would work. I have a brilliant engineering friend, a very compassionate and loyal man, who also happens to be a gun nut and libertarian. We've argued till we're blue in the face sometimes--he's no slouch at it. But he simply deludes himself with muddled thinking--a result of too much intelligence, if not enough wisdom, not a result of poor intelligence.

If anything, smart people are more likely to be stuck in a narrow ideology because they have the intellectual firepower to back up their faulty biases. It's rationalization rather than rationality, but there's probably some conservative genius out there saying the same thing about me.

[Angry Dragon]

11. all that is is just circling the drain

[Bucky]

12. Your metaphor is unclear

[dchill]

2. I think it's just the fact that he's a...

Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee that makes him a how-to these days.

[old guy]

3. Of course a persons looks should be irrelevant however,

we all know that it is not. As much as I try I still find that I let looks influence some of my opinions. It's called being human I guess. I do try.

[FSogol]

4. Swalwell endorsed Martin O'Malley in 2016, so that makes him pretty smart too.

http://www.rollcall.com/news/home/rep-eric-swalwell-endorsed-martin-omalley

[tallahasseedem]

5. I'm watching him now...

he's quite astute as well!

[LakeArenal]

6. We all know a long list of not conventionally attractive people who are smarter, happier and richer

But we really can't name them because it really is hurtful and shallow....

[Bucky]

9. I'll name 'em!!

And I'll laugh while they cry!!

Ha ha, seriously, I've observed that Republicans tend to nominate a disproportionate number of conventionally attractive candidates. Good lookin' people tend to get a lot of extra breaks in life. That alone runs the risk of dulling the human capacity for empathy.