There is now overwhelming evidence that people with Left-wing views have worse mental health than their counterparts on the Right. It’s unclear whether exposure to Left-wing politics causes mental health problems or mental health problems cause people to find Left-wing politics appealing. Nonetheless, the association is there – and has been noted by such eminent scholars as Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation.
You might therefore expect that studies documenting the association would be relatively uncontroversial. Not in the current environment.
A paper titled ‘Do conservatives really have an advantage in mental health? An examination of measurement invariance’ is being retracted from the Scandinavian Journal of Psychology on blatantly trumped-up grounds. This is despite the fact that, according to one of the authors, the original peer reviews were “very detailed and very positive”. (I should mention that the authors are known to me personally.)
Here’s what happened.
The paper was published in August 2024, after going through the normal peer review process. The journal then received “critical letters”, prompting them to implement a highly unusual “post-publication review”. The paper was then sent out to two additional reviewers, who raised some rather minor issues with it. As a consequence, the journal editors opted for retraction. The authors were not given an opportunity to respond to the issues raised before this decision was made. Instead, they were told they could “resubmit a new manuscript based on the study” – an option they understandably declined.
The additional reviewers did
Discussion
Comments
This week across the site:
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to the Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
Words of wisdom, and precisely why being a people-pleaser or caring what others think of you is a mug’s game;
”Just because you’re offended, doesn’t mean you’re right.”
https://x.com/gervaisclips/status/1847731466265825414
A good chance to observe the Streisand Effect in operation as we would not be reading this article otherwise.
Well, they ain’t got no sense of humour either that’s for sure.
It’s uncertain as to whether or not having no sense of humour automatically makes you a leftie/woke or the other way round.
“Judgemental language” – latest debating trick from the Cognitive Bias, Word Salad and Waffle Industry.
The one and only Professor Feynman put the social “sciences” in their place over sixty years ago…
https://youtu.be/EYPapE-3FRw?t=308
“…You cannot prove a vague theory wrong.”
Thank you for the link.
Of course those who do not suffer from mental illness, will be mentally healthy, balanced, and rational. Such people will work, have families, believe in a higher power and be more socially active.
If you suffer from the diseases of queerity, trans, climate, net zero, open borders, TDS, EUphilia, Moslemphilia, Ronaphilia, you are a nitwit, probably addicted to TV, drugs, eating, disorders and probably paint your hair a rainbow colour, debauching God’s covenant. You are probably the endless war and Slava Ukraina nutbar as well. Most likeky you are unmarried, no children and lie whimpering in a corner with a face anus wrap worried about plant food.
Not difficult to figure out.
To me, it makes sense.
Ultimately it boils down to two fundamental ideas:
1.) You are here for a reason. Your life has purpose and meaning. You were made in the image of God. You should accept your responsibilities. Whatever happens to you is for a reason. Absolute truth exists.
2.) Life is meaningless, you are a random accidental conglomeration of molecules. Nothing you do matters, the universe is a cold hostile place where everything is trying to kill you – nowhere is safe.
Anybody organizing his or her life around idea number 2 is likely to get a little bit unstable.
As an unmarried man I can assure you there appears to be some pretty pathetic, married men out there. When observing some men with their wives their body language almost resemble that of an orang U tan trying to play a violin.
My personal experience, based on the people I have seen around me is that the least mentally stable people were the Greta Thunberg style, permanently agitated, died blue hair, angry, hysterical political activist types.
The most mentally stable were solidly conservative, mostly religious people.
Also, as a man I find that conservative women look far more attractive in general. But there is no accounting for taste, so that’s just my opinion.
People who have mental issues will be more likely to face problems in life, be frustrated, and thus adopt a victim mentality. The left preys on and nurtures the victim mentality. The left teaches that all bad things that happen to you are the fault of those who are more successful than you. It’s a very appealing theory if you are unable to fix your own issues.
Was their blue hair dead?