Intelligence

When I first enrolled in college, I had the same evangelical fantasy you've probably heard before, that goes something like this:

A professor tries to teach class about the fundamentals of evolution.  In his class is a student who is a hardcore conservative evangelical Christian, who knows better.  The kid challenges the professor, citing Bible verse after Bible verse, and eventually the professor sees he's been bested, and runs out of the room crying.

No, this isn't just a meme.  It's the kind of thing churches, periodicals, and parents drill into kids' heads on the right.  Beware the evil liberal college!  If you must go, know that your professors will all be against you, ready to fill your head with lies!  You can only resist them by thoroughly knowing Scripture, and reading it every day!

So, when I got to college, I was fully prepared to be constantly at war with my professors.

Only... none of them seemed to know it.

Thinking back on this made me consider something deeper about how the political right constructs straw men around their ideological opponents. 

Notice in this fantasy that it is the professor who is evil; notice, too, that the professor knows better - that is, the professor really knows the "truth," knows that evolution is sham, knows that the Bible is a legitimate source of knowledge and wisdom, knows that it is, in fact, inerrant; however, the professor teaches against this, knowing full well he is teaching evil, because he IS evil.  He's there as a servant of Satan, deliberately trying to lead young, impressionable minds astray.

That is legitimately how right-wing Evangelicals see the world; that is, that they know the truth, and in fact the truth is obvious to anyone with the intelligence to see it.  If someone can't see the truth, then, they must either be an idiot (libtard) or intentionally attempting to deceive idiots into following false idols.  No one could come logically and intelligently to any argument other than those supported by their interpretation of the Bible.

So if you find yourself arguing with an Evangelical, and they're calling you a "libtard" - while they do mean it as an insult, they ALSO mean that you MUST by an idiot... because the alternative is unconscionable.

Also note the power dynamic in the example: the professor is one of the "liberal elite".  In this myth, professors, Democrat politicians, clergy who openly advocate homosexuality, and such, are all people who are intelligent... they're just also purely evil, seeking to deceive the masses.

And it's pretty hard to convince someone of your honesty and integrity when their myths identify you as a literal antichrist.