Thursday Open Thread [10.9.14]

Filed in National by on October 9, 2014

This is my favorite graph today.

The chart / graph tells us which states are angels on the street yet devils… well, on their computers. The chart finds that the more religious a state is, the higher the number of Google searches for porn. The states with 80% religiousity and that are over 60 in their interest in porn (and I cannot tell how that is measured (i.e. 60 on a scale of what? as a percentage?)) are Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. I wonder what all these states have in common, other than hypocrisy.

Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post:

Cara C. MacInnis and Gordon Hodson of Brock University found that residents of more religious and more politically conservative states — often in the South — are more likely to Google things like ‘‘sex,’’ ‘‘gay sex,’’ ‘‘porn,’’ ‘‘xxx’’, ‘‘free porn,’’ and ‘‘gay porn” than their peers in more secular states. The study, published this month in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior, analyzed state-level Google Trends data for 2011 and 2012, and combined it with measures of religiosity and political conservatism from Gallup surveys. “Overall,” the authors say, “a reliable positive association of moderate-to-large association size exists between state-level religiosity and searches for the term ‘sex.’” They observed similar patterns for Google image searches for sex with political conservatism.

Delaware is on the opposite end of the spectrum: We are less religious and our searches for internet sex is low.

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  1. Jason330 says:

    Strident piousness is just a red flag for all sorts of creepy fucking shit.

    (A willingness to use curse words in blog posts is correlated with a healthy locus of control and positive self-efficacy.)

  2. Delaware Dem says:

    We angry foul mouthed bloggers are very pleasant and docile in real life.

  3. auntie dem says:

    What is it about human nature and hypocrisy? I simply cannot stand hypocrisy — it makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck — I get a physical reaction to it. And yet there seems to be a whole class of people who positively thrive on it. Couldn’t live without it. Wha’s with that?

  4. Geezer says:

    They’re just, um, doing research.

  5. pandora says:

    I don’t know what’s with that, but they do thrive on it. It’s like how their teenage daughter’s abortion is different… and necessary… and completely justifiable.

  6. Geezer says:

    …and performed out-of-state so nobody at the anti-abortion protest will know about it.

  7. Dorian Gray says:

    For the record, and based on Del Dems comments, I am as acerbic, vulgar and confrontational in real life.

  8. painesme says:

    Ugh. Doesn’t look like Wonkblog bothered to normalize these results – looks like all of the states with small populations rank on the lower end of the google search axis (measured in “units of search”?), while the three largest states (CA, NY, TX) are all at the top. Sure, there’s some variance, but unless it’s a stunning correlation between small states and large states, this graph isn’t saying what it thinks its saying.

  9. Delaware Dem says:

    LOL, Dorian. I think I have met you on occasion, and you failed to attack me with acerbic and vulgar comments.

  10. pandora says:

    Dorian is quite charming in real life.

  11. bamboozer says:

    Religion breeds hypocrisy, especially when you attempt to use it as a get out of hell free card.

  12. puck says:

    Delaware obviously needs faster Internet.

  13. Brock Landers says:

    Danza

  14. mouse says:

    Religion is basically a rationalization to form a tribal camp that hates everyone outside the tribe. Kind of like the Taliban in the caves of Afghanistan or the slave state crowd here. And few if any “Christians” ever push the teachings of Jesus over their tribal hate