Then I noticed there was a message board and started lurking (I knew my english wasn’t up to debating here at the time). They hold a minority political position on a board about political debate. This, in turn, also excludes other aspects of social conservatism, such as homophobia, which attracts more liberals and chases away more conservatives.Īre conservatives, both social and, to a lesser degree, economic, a minority? Undoubtedly. Religious conservatives are not welcome here. This atmosphere is immediately hostile to one of the cornerstones of American social conservatism: creationism. Why is this board so socially liberal? Simple, the Straight Dope is a column about scientific and academic inquiry and busting urban myths and logical fallacies. This distinction is somewhat lost because social liberals are mad as hell (and rightfully so!) at Bush, and more than willing to attack him of economic grounds, even though they, in calmer times, might be able to agree with him. Looking at the Political compass polls, you’ll see that while the avergae numbers may be negative on both axes, they are much less so on the social axis. Even our conservatives often tend to be of a more libertarian (small “l”) streak, and our liberals are often more centrist when they discuss purely economic matters. It’s social liberalism that dominates, rather than economic, although the latter often comes along for the ride. What is the political leaning of the several other forums on this board, which make of the majority of the content posted here? And who really cares? In any event, a more interesting one might be: why do people insist on attempting to label this board purely on grounds of political content of one stripe or another? The only significant political content of this board is found in GD and, for those who can’t seem to hold to the ‘no insults’ policy, the Pit. And, BTW, I think that goes as well for conservative as for liberal views. Likewise, fairly strict enforcement of the policy against ad hominems and insults (outside the Pit) helps ensure that persons with non-mainstream political viewpoints are more likely to be treated with civility here than on many other boards. That cannot, I think, be said about boards that have an overtly conservative membership base. Pretty much any discussion at all that does not involve illegal actions is permitted here. In my view, one of the main reasons GD exists at all is to keep most of the endless, tedious political infighting from polluting the other forums here.Īs to why many perceive the board to lean to the left, people with liberal attitudes IMO, are more open to consider issues that don’t necessarily agree with their preconceived notions of how things ‘ought’ to be, without any particular prejudice. It amazes me how often people seem to take no notice at all that this board was not founded as a free-standing public political forum but as a marketing adjunct to the Straight Dope books and newspaper column. Unless you define “centrist” as “fanatically convinced that Bush ought to be taken out and shot, and anyone who would support him is a mouth-breathing Neaderthal who hates black people and wants to keep women locked in the basement.” By that standard, yeah, we’re pretty centrist. If someone can’t see it already, more evidence isn’t going to convince them. Can’t recall the thread, but on non-fiscal matters, the boards are very, very liberal (by something like three-to-one) and, on non-fiscal matters, almost two-to-one.Īrguing that the SDMB is not slanted left is like arguing that the sky isn’t blue, at least for me. IIRC, the results of various straw polls and online measurements of “find out where you stand politically” find that the SDMB runs somewhere around 80%-20% left-to-right. If someone who follows more closely than I would enumerate the consistent leftists and the consistent rightists, I bet the lists would be within 10% of each other. I’m not even sure if the Dems are in the majority here. You’ve got Shodan and Brutus and Sam Stone and others that represent the conservative view.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |