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LEFTISTS ON THE EDGE

They’re even crazy in their sleep:

A dream researcher from John F. Kennedy University in California has discovered fundamental differences between the dream worlds of people on the ideological left and the ideological right.

Among his findings, Kelly Bulkeley discovered that liberals are more restless sleepers and have a higher number of bizarre, surreal dreams—including fantasy settings and a wide variety of sexual encounters. Conservatives’ dreams were, on average, far more mundane and focused on realistic people, situations and settings ...

“While some of my colleagues think my research reinforces the stereotype of repressed, uptight conservatives, it also shows that many liberals may he hanging on the edge of mental well-being,” Mr. Bulkeley said. “There may be a lot of hidden distress and unpleasantness in the liberal mind.”

It’s not exactly hidden.

(Via andycanuck)

Posted by Tim B. on 09/28/2006 at 12:30 AM
  1. Don’t these people have more worthwhile things to research? Like how to stop global wooling?

    Posted by Nilknarf Arbed on 2006 09 28 at 12:42 AM • permalink

  2. What’s wrong with dreaming about a wide variety of sexual encounters?  And why do the lefties have the monopoly?

    Lord Karl, can you explain this?

    Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2006 09 28 at 12:47 AM • permalink

  3. I wonder what a research of Ted Kennedy’s dreamworld would reveal? No doubt there would be some real thrashing about on the ensemble. Dare I suggest one of his fantasies could be taking a course in deep diving techniques.

    Posted by Spag_oz on 2006 09 28 at 12:57 AM • permalink

  4. So the Right is realistic while the left isn’t? This isn’t news!

    Posted by Ian Deans on 2006 09 28 at 12:59 AM • permalink

  5. Much as I like the idea that science confirms liberals as paranoid fantasists, this ‘study’ is classic academic BS, straight from the University of Laputa.  The ‘affect’ of dreams - the way they feel to the dreamer - is unquantifiable and incommunicable, and any attempt to define it belongs more to the realm of literature than psychology.

    Posted by cuckoo on 2006 09 28 at 01:06 AM • permalink

  6. Funny that.
    I dreameed the other night that every 747 on the planet was chartered by the Left for a mass evacuation to Saudi Arabia so that they could all get an intoxicating whiff of Sharia Law in person.

    The really weird bit was that most of them (druggies, sodomites, adulterers, and those who attempted to form a protest rally in Riyadh), were never seen nor heard from again.

    Posted by Bonmot on 2006 09 28 at 01:12 AM • permalink

  7. #3 - He doesn’t sleep. He blacks out.

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2006 09 28 at 01:12 AM • permalink

  8. oh god, I can’t believe I’m actually going to attempt to explain this, but here goes…
    According to the article, the only robust finding is the difference in sexual scenarios. But how did he define “conservatives” when he selected these people? If sexual conservatism, family values, and belief in monogamy was part of his criteria, then of course those dream more about monogomous sex. If that’s the case, then the finding is banal. If he used voting patterns, or attitudes to gun ownership, capitalism, or Iraq, then the study is more interesting, but the article doesn’t say how “conservative” was defined. I’m guessing it’s the banal version, which makes it a no-brainer.

    Posted by daddy dave on 2006 09 28 at 01:15 AM • permalink

  9. and vice versa, if he classified people as “liberal” based on their sexual attitudes, then naturally those people are going to have more bizarre sex dreams.

    Posted by daddy dave on 2006 09 28 at 01:20 AM • permalink

  10. So, incompetent people have dreams that tend to disconnect from reality, and competent people tend to have dreams more connected to reality?

    Posted by Grimmy on 2006 09 28 at 01:25 AM • permalink

  11. yeah, I guess there’s that angle to it as well…

    Posted by daddy dave on 2006 09 28 at 01:30 AM • permalink

  12. Among his findings, Kelly Bulkeley discovered that liberals are more restless sleepers and have a higher number of bizarre, surreal dreams—including fantasy settings and a wide variety of sexual encounters

    For Bill Clinton it came true.

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2006 09 28 at 01:32 AM • permalink

  13. I sense wronwright’s fell hand in this.

    Posted by Achillea on 2006 09 28 at 01:39 AM • permalink

  14. Does quantity or depravity of the dreams make it more or less “liberal”?

    If one right winger has a dream involving a midget, a donkey, a football team Osama bin liner and a lot of effort does that cancel out 2 dreams of wife swapping for the other side?

    Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2006 09 28 at 01:51 AM • permalink

  15. JFKU, which is based just a couple of miles from me is mostly famous for its
    Holistic Studies Department and its semi-accredited law school.  In the 1970s, they offered degrees in “paranormal” studies, although I trust that’s all been folded into the Holistic Studies department.

    For what its worth, it doesn’t really have a campus—it’s in an office park a half a block behind an Outback Steakhouse.

    Posted by Andrew on 2006 09 28 at 01:52 AM • permalink

  16. Mine usually start mundane then fall into something kinda out there.

    Posted by chrisbg99 on 2006 09 28 at 01:53 AM • permalink

  17. I wonder if variances in the number of crystals and dream catchers in a room can skew the data?

    Posted by Grimmy on 2006 09 28 at 01:56 AM • permalink

  18. Recently I dreamt I was using the WC in public while reading a newspaper. Not quite mundane, but… not all that exciting either. I guess I’ve disappointed everybody.

    Posted by Dr Alice on 2006 09 28 at 01:57 AM • permalink

  19. #18
    Not necessarily Dr Alice.
    If you look like Elle Macpherson or Cindy Crawford your public performance could be quite uplifting.

    Posted by Bonmot on 2006 09 28 at 02:02 AM • permalink

  20. #8- if this hypothesis is true, I must make Noam Chomsky seem like Rush Limbaugh.

    I refuse to discus this issue further (at least until the statute of limitations runs out).

    Posted by Habib on 2006 09 28 at 02:11 AM • permalink

  21. “Tell him he’s dreamin”

    Posted by Howzat on 2006 09 28 at 02:37 AM • permalink

  22. So Habib, you are the exception that makes the rule?

    Posted by saltydog on 2006 09 28 at 02:48 AM • permalink

  23. liberals are more restless sleepers and have a higher number of bizarre, surreal dreams—including fantasy settings and a wide variety of sexual encounters.
    Does that mean that Paris Hilton is turning me to the left? Or maybe I’m a closet leftist…dammit, oh well- I’m off to the mainstream media, nice knowing you guys, errr I mean see you in hell fascist pigs.

    Posted by Mattofact on 2006 09 28 at 02:49 AM • permalink

  24. Oh. My. God.

    I’m a liberal.

    Or the fact that I’m 20 comes, at least slightly, into play.

    Posted by Rajan R on 2006 09 28 at 03:09 AM • permalink

  25. #23 - Paris Hilton? You do know that your dreams can include anyone? She’s seen more pricks than a second hand dart board. Why limit yourself to that vacuous slag.

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2006 09 28 at 03:11 AM • permalink

  26. Infidel T
    Well it did say bizarre, but point taken- I’m going home to hang my head in shame for a while.

    Posted by Mattofact on 2006 09 28 at 03:21 AM • permalink

  27. #18,
    Dr Alice,
    I hope you woke up and got to the bath room in time.

    Posted by chrisgo on 2006 09 28 at 03:22 AM • permalink

  28. If it’s a girlfriend’s dream, usually you’ve done something wrong in it.

    Posted by rhhardin on 2006 09 28 at 03:45 AM • permalink

  29. #23, you too? Although, in a weird twist, I ran off with her best friend after 5 minutes.

    I’m not going to admit any more for fear of accusations of being a leftie spy.

    Posted by Art Vandelay on 2006 09 28 at 04:02 AM • permalink

  30. Am I the only one here who uses sleepy dream time for useful pursuits such as planning enhancements to the landscaping around my home?

    Y’all are such wastrels. You should all be ashamed. And, as soon as I figure out how to get the grass to actually grown in evenly spaced and manicured 6 inch cubes suspended in the air in a staggered column pattern, y’all are gonna be so jealous too!!

    Posted by Grimmy on 2006 09 28 at 04:17 AM • permalink

  31. Damn! So to ensure a wide variety of sexual encounters in my dreams I gotta vote Labor?  That’s Faustian, that is.

    Posted by slammer on 2006 09 28 at 04:21 AM • permalink

  32. “... a higher number of bizarre, surreal dreams—including fantasy settings and a wide variety of sexual encounters.”

    Sounds like the U.N. to me.

    Posted by Inurbanus on 2006 09 28 at 04:28 AM • permalink

  33. What’s wrong with dreaming about a wide variety of sexual encounters?  And why do the lefties have the monopoly?

    You’re missing the point—some people dream because they cannot do.

    Posted by Rob Crawford on 2006 09 28 at 05:30 AM • permalink

  34. Am I a left-wing moonbat dreaming I am a right-wing death beast or a right wing death beast dreaming I am a left-wing moonbat?

    Posted by MentalFloss on 2006 09 28 at 05:55 AM • permalink

  35. #34. MF that’s too hard for me. I’m just a bogan. Can’t remember half my dreams, and those I do are all over the shop anyway.

    Posted by Nilknarf Arbed on 2006 09 28 at 06:41 AM • permalink

  36. LEFTISTS ON THE EDGE


    Kosh
    JUMP…. JUMP NOW
    /Kosh

    Posted by Patrick Chester on 2006 09 28 at 07:07 AM • permalink

  37. I’m not saying I have dreams, but if I did, and I’m not saying I do, I wouldn’t dare ask anybody what they mean.

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2006 09 28 at 10:11 AM • permalink

  38. Last night i dreamt i was pursued by the hired assassins of a global conspiracy.

    Until i was ten years old, my dreams every night were of being eaten by a wolf. Then they stopped. When i was about fifteen, the night-wolf came back… and i killed him, and haven’t seen him since.

    What would Freud say?

    Posted by trexkilla on 2006 09 28 at 10:22 AM • permalink

  39. I realize California has a shitload of institutions of higher learning, but JFK University? Never heard of it.

    Overall, conservative males appear to sleep the most soundly and remember the fewest dreams, while liberal women are the most restless sleepers and fantastical dreamers.

    Could it be that liberal women are left so unsatisfied during their waking hours, they have to make up for it when they’re asleep? Doesn’t say a lot for liberal men, does it? And apparently conservative males go to sleep well satisfied which does speak volumes about conservative females.

    For the record, even though I consider myself fairly down-to-earth and steady (and not the least bit repressed nor uptight), I do have some outrageously bizarre and colorful dreams (though logical—they’re always logical in their way and sexual encounters are indeed monogamous). Quite entertaining, really. I love ‘em!

    Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2006 09 28 at 11:12 AM • permalink

  40. JFK university is an SF Bay Area franchised “night school” for part-time working students, much like the University of Phoenix or Golden Gate U.

    Not exactly a top-flight research university. On the other hand the teachers at these places are often working professionals themselves, and very practical-minded folks as opposed to wool-headed academics.

    Posted by luis on 2006 09 28 at 01:43 PM • permalink

  41. “Among his findings, Kelly Bulkeley discovered that liberals are more restless sleepers and have a higher number of bizarre, surreal dreams—including fantasy settings and a wide variety of sexual encounters.”

    Unfortunately for the leftys, most of these dream “encounters” involve various types of barnyard animals.

    And, if you take a good look at your average lefty females, it isn’t hard to see why.

    Posted by Dave Surls on 2006 09 28 at 02:18 PM • permalink

  42. Do leftists dream of headtilts in their sleep?

    Posted by Room 237 on 2006 09 28 at 05:00 PM • permalink

  43. Erm, I’m not exactly sexually conservative (at least that’s what John Norman told the judge when he requested the TRO), but my dreams are fairly mundane.  Perhaps that’s why?

    Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 09 28 at 08:04 PM • permalink

  44. Its all very well to talk about dreams but what about “vision” we know us conservatives don’t have any “vision” because the lefties tell us so.

    Posted by the nailgun on 2006 09 28 at 09:26 PM • permalink

  45. #43. Erm, I’m not exactly sexually conservative (at least that’s what John Norman told the judge when he requested the TRO), but my dreams are fairly mundane.  Perhaps that’s why? 

    My youth was so misspent that I used to dream I was reading books.  Just about every night, I dreamt books.  Nonfiction; I read plenty of fiction in real life.

    After I got married, my dream life definitely turned peculiar.

    Posted by VKI on 2006 09 28 at 09:31 PM • permalink

  46. Well, that explains the Carter Administration.

    Posted by Michael Lonie on 2006 09 28 at 09:31 PM • permalink

  47. “There may be a lot of hidden distress and unpleasantness in the liberal mind.”

    Spaer a thought for us libertarian types.  We have the bad dreams, the angst, the unpleasantness, and no world peace and phoney brotherhood of all men.

    if there are any liberals out there, I’ll see your distress and raise you some unpleasantness…

    Posted by Big Jim on 2006 09 29 at 07:26 AM • permalink

  48. “liberals are more restless sleepers and have a higher number of bizarre, surreal dreams—including fantasy settings and a wide variety of sexual encounters.”
    It’s just a side-effect of the drugs.

    Posted by Observer on 2006 09 29 at 11:54 AM • permalink

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