It might sound like nothing more than an ad hominem attack to say that authoritarians aren't very bright, but in fact there is solid research which demonstrates that the higher a person scores on tests for authoritarian tendencies, the worse they score on tests for basic intellectual skills, cognitive functions like reading comprehension and retaining information.

Bracewell writes about detailed research in this area:

[T]he authoritarianism scores co-varied significantly with total cognitive task performance so that as the authoritarianism scores increased cognitive performance decreased.

When the acquisition of new material was in written format, authoritarianism interacted with reading skills to limit recognition and retention of new information.

When new material was presented orally, in a manner similar to that of a radio or television news broadcast or the giving of testimony during a trial, the task of retaining that information was significantly impacted by authoritarianism (accounting for 13% of the variance in recognition performance by the student sample).

Subjects in both student and juror samples who scored high in authoritarianism also made significantly more inferential errors.

The data from this study strongly suggests that authoritarianism as a personality variable covaries significantly with a lessened ability of an individual to process incoming information with reasonable care and accuracy.

Who are these authoritarians? Bracewell lists the characteristics as explained in Bob Altemeyer’s RWA-scale:

1) are less likely than most people to demonstrate self-awareness (Altemeyer, 1999) and

2) are more likely to favor religious beliefs over scientific data when the two appear to be in conflict (Westman et al., 2000).

3) exhibit more self-reported fear than the general population (Eigenberger, 1999),

4) tend to be prepared to cut low-status offenders more slack than high status offenders (Feather, 2002).

5) correlate with security values such as national strength and order, religiosity, and propriety in dress and manners (Heaven, 2001),

6) and individuals with high RWA scores tend to indicate negative attitudes toward homosexuality than the high SDO-scale (Whitley, et al., 2001).

7) individuals with high RWA scores may have greater trouble remembering what they read and making correct inferences (Wegmann, M.F. 1992).

For a good example of intellectually and cognitively impaired authoritarians, one need look no further than Stormfront and the White Nationalist principles they uphold:

Racial Differences: Human races exist, were created through a long evolutionary process, and possess unique physical, mental, and behavioral tendencies. These differences are significant and cannot be erased with cultural conditioning. As an example, blacks are more prone to violence and have a lower IQ than Whites. The blending of two races always results in a lowering of the higher race and an elevation of the inferior race.

Racism is a key component of White Supremacism — and it’s also dependent upon their fear of others, fear of sharing power, and fear of change. It’s furthermore dependent upon favoring ideology over science. White Supremacists like to paint their ideology with the veneer of scientific credibility — but it’s nothing more than a veneer and it’s certainly not science.

 

Unity: No matter where they reside, or what language they speak, Whites worldwide compose an ethnic family or nation. As such, a White person should favor and promote the general welfare of his fellow Whites in daily life, whenever possible.

Here we find the emphasis on “national strength” — something heard often from White Supremacists who imagine that their identities and power are invested entirely within the color of their skins and the accidental birthplaces of long-distant ancestors they know and care nothing about. The fact that all of our familial lines probably intersect as recently as 2,000 years ago just doesn’t matter to these people.

 

Jewish Subversion: The single greatest, active, knowing enemy of the White race is the Jewish plexus. Its influence at this point in history is unprecedented as they seek racial domination and White genocide through depravity and societal degradation leading to total miscegenation. Many Jews, as a result of their breeding, innately and instinctively fall on the side of anti-life on every issue.

People who hate because they are afraid always need a terrible and powerful enemy to blame their problems upon. For White Supremacists, the favorite enemy is the Jews — everything they dislike is tracked back to Jewish influences, Jewish media, secretive Jewish organizations, and of course “Jewish” writers whose only “error” is to have the temerity to point out just how ridiculous these White Pride organizations really are.

 

Sovereignty: Exclusively White nations and communities are needed which protect and advance the interests of the White race. They are inherently superior to any multi-racial society. As non-whites flee the societal failures of their own race, they transform, by their very presence, the superior White society into what is was they fled.

Here again we find the preoccupation with order, nationalism, and unity through force. For What Supremacists, of course this order and unity can only occur on the basis of race — for White Supremacists, race is the deciding factor in everything. Race determine everything. Ultimately, though, race means nothing outside of what meaning people put into it.

 

Theology: White Nationalism is not a religion, but its adherents are devoted to it with a religious passion. It is compatible with many religious beliefs, the most glaring exception being Judaism, which is actually a racial cult. White Nationalists are a wide spectrum of individual religious beliefs, including Christianity and its numerous denominations, agnostic, atheist, pagan, and Nietzcheist.

Here again we find religion brought up — and while they take great pains to proclaim their religious diversity, the simple fact of the matter is that Christianity is the dominant religious ideology of White Supremacism. It even gets its own name: Christian Identity. White Supremacy depends upon religious texts to tell people that they are special and better than other because of their race — something they did nothing to earn or acquire. I have to wonder why they make such a big deal out of it... unless it’s simply that nothing they can or do acquire on their own is worth anything anyway.

 

Christian Right & Christian Nationalism:

• Adolf Hitler, Nazi Germany, and Christian Nationalism
• Christian Anti-Semitism, Persecution of Jews
• Religious Intolerance & Bigotry
• Christianism & Christian Nationalism
• Christian Identity, White Supremacy, Christian Supremacy
• Confederate Southern Nationalism & Christianity
• Religion in America

 

Christian Nationalism & Dominion Theology:

• Dominionism & Dominion Theology
• Christian Reconstructionism
• Leading Christian Reconstructionists
• Reconstructionism & Christian Right: Common Goals, Beliefs