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This actually happened...
I was at the gym this a.m. and while working out an older lady started small talk. At first she asked general questions such as "Are you enjoying this cool down a bit" and other miscellaneous things. She then asked what I did for a living, I told her I was studying Political Science and she asked a few more questions regarding it.
Then (out of the blue) she asks, "Since you are getting your PhD I know you must be smart enough to be a conservative." Seriously. It was her exact quote. At first I was stunned then I finally stammered, "Why would you think that?" She replied (matter-of-factly) "Because you seem very smart."
It took everything in me not to give her a verbal lashing. I smiled and said, "No... I am actually so smart that I am as liberal as it gets" then walked off.
I am still upset. Not because she assumed I was conservative, (no idea why still) but because her tone informed me that she felt all those not were idiots.
Re: This actually happened...
SMH. That's all I can really say to that. Snaps to you for not giving her that lashing. Sheesh.
They are (at least in academia.) It's funny (well, not really, but sort of...) every year a discussion comes up in the national education news about creating an Affirmative Action program for conservative professors because, 1., there aren't many of them in most fields and 2., people worry about "liberal professors" turning their children into Godless Communists.
I think it'd be hard to even find people for the program. 1., We tend to self-select into occupations (and I can't think of many fiscal conservatives who are dumb enough to go to college for 10+ years to earn less than a unionized plumber) and 2., college attendance tends to make you more socially liberal as it exposes you to ideas and groups of people that you wouldn't otherwise be exposed to (like feminism or structural arguments for poverty.) Heck, even my Mormon professor friends at BYU are liberals!
I don't think educating on tact is possible. Some people are just born tactless.
I know. I was being optimistic. Lol!
Well, I'd say the sample set here is pretty skewed, but in my industry (locally) I find pretty much everyone to be staunchly conservative, even though people are typically well educated. I don't think that was the case when I worked in the same industry in Southern California or Seattle though, for obvious reasons.