# Conservative dopers -- why do you think the SDMB leans left? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 29, 2016, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-dopers-why-do-you-think-the-sdmb-leans-left/767218 "2016-09-29T16:57:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-dopers-why-do-you-think-the-sdmb-leans-left/767218/21 "2016-09-29T18:43:36Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > You don’t have to name any, but are there any right-leaning boards of this nature that treat people of the opposite political beliefs more fairly? As a right-winger - no, not that I am aware of. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-dopers-why-do-you-think-the-sdmb-leans-left/767218/22 "2016-09-29T18:43:41Z")
There’s a Pit thread about how to offer up mental health counseling for Trump supporters. I am by no means a Trump supporter, but I cannot and will not vote for Hillary. That thread to me is SDMB in a nutshell. It presupposes that those who do not agree with the majority of this board have something wrong with their brains. It’s a big reason I left for four or so years. Now I just roll my eyes at the political threads and go find fun stuff to do in Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-dopers-why-do-you-think-the-sdmb-leans-left/767218/23 "2016-09-29T18:46:14Z")
As for why the SDMB leans left, I think others have already expounded pretty thoroughly on it - the atheist/scientist/humanist community has always leaned left. Not saying that everyone or even most on the SDMB are atheist/scientist/humanists but there is certainly a sizable chunk. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-dopers-why-do-you-think-the-sdmb-leans-left/767218/24 "2016-09-29T18:46:15Z")
I asked about right-leaning boards of equivalent quality to the Dope years ago and answer came there none. The political section of OCUK’s messageboard tends to lean right but that’s a British board and I mean right of the British centre. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-dopers-why-do-you-think-the-sdmb-leans-left/767218/25 "2016-09-29T18:51:37Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > I assume ATMB is the right place for this question (since it’s about the board) – maybe it’s better suited for IMHO. > > I lean left and I think the SDMB leans left because fighting actual ignorance with facts and science and the like is more common and more welcome with left-leaning folks. But this well could be bias speaking. > > So conservative dopers, why do you think the Dope leans left? Are there any conservative-leaning boards on the internet that do as good a job of fighting actual ignorance as the Dope does? If not, why not? Or do you believe the Dope is no better than other boards at fighting ignorance, and it just happens to lean left for some other reason? I think the Dope is excellently at fighting ignorance about \*technical \*issues - I’ve learned more about nuclear technology, aviation, household devices etc. from this message board than from perhaps anywhere else. But when it comes to political topics, there is always going to be confirmation bias and political prejudice at work. That being said, I will say that many of the left-wingers on the SDMB are often more willing to hear out opposing views than the right-wingers on other message boards. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-dopers-why-do-you-think-the-sdmb-leans-left/767218/26 "2016-09-29T18:54:23Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > I asked about right-leaning boards of equivalent quality to the Dope years ago and answer came there none. I tried to join a right leaning forum on a website I’m active on, but they were so skewed the other way that I left. Big anti-gay-Bible thumping-abortion-is-always-bad crap. I’m more libertarian (Gary Johnson is useless though. I think I’ll vote in the local elections on Nov 8 and leave the Presidential race alone.) ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-dopers-why-do-you-think-the-sdmb-leans-left/767218/27 "2016-09-29T19:01:14Z")
As to the question of why there doesn’t seem to be any right-wing boards that are equivalent to the Dope, the Dope itself is something is something of a singularity is it not? I’ve never heard reference anywhere to another left-wing board similar to this one. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-dopers-why-do-you-think-the-sdmb-leans-left/767218/28 "2016-09-29T19:05:03Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > As a right-winger - no, not that I am aware of. Why is that, in your opinion? Is the Dope just really special and unique and by chance it leans left? Or is a board dedicated to fighting ignorance with facts and science always going to be more likely to lean left? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-dopers-why-do-you-think-the-sdmb-leans-left/767218/29 "2016-09-29T19:05:11Z")
For whatever it’s worth, I’m not much interested in a conservative leaning board, because the posters there will reinforce my instincts as opposed to forcing me to examine my positions. I wish this place could do that without devolving into personal attacks, but… ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-dopers-why-do-you-think-the-sdmb-leans-left/767218/30 "2016-09-29T19:06:34Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > It presupposes that those who do not agree with the majority of this board have something wrong with their brains. I believe some people in any party believe that people who disagree with them are a little crazy. I don’t. If I were wealthy, I would probably vote Republican. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-dopers-why-do-you-think-the-sdmb-leans-left/767218/31 "2016-09-29T19:12:52Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Why is that, in your opinion? Is the Dope just really special and unique and by chance it leans left? Or is a board dedicated to fighting ignorance with facts and science always going to be more likely to lean left? I have been a member of left-leaning message boards and I would say the Dope is unique, not because of fighting ignorance, but because of intentional freedom of speech and being willing to engage the “opposing side” in debate. (I was banned from a left-leaning message board about 3 years ago - for, would you believe it - saying that politics had become too “vitriolic” and that both the American right and American left should be nicer to each other. A bit ironic.) As for the ignorance and facts and science part, I think it needs a caveat, which is that oftentimes science only grasps part of the picture, whether by ignorance or by intentional omission. When Galileo said that the Earth orbits the Sun, he might have been contradicted by people saying they were fighting his “heliocentric ignorance” with “earth-centric facts and reason.” And sometimes science is like a movie in which the plot appears to follow one way but the ending is another, but you cannot possibly persuade someone, mid-movie, that the movie ends differently than the way it seems to be going, because it hasn’t happened yet. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-dopers-why-do-you-think-the-sdmb-leans-left/767218/32 "2016-09-29T20:12:20Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > (2) The powerful cultural relativist political movement within modern academia, strongly _left_-leaning, that has sometimes drifted equally far into bizarro-world, claiming that the hard sciences should be understood in the same terms - quite literally that (say) our understanding of subatomic physics or geology is a cultural construct without any objective reality. It’s worth noting that these folks get very little welcome here either. Nor do leftists who deny the efficacy of vaccines, or leftists who think GMOs are Frankenfood, or leftists who believe we should move to state control of the means of production. One issue hinted at above is that as long as this messageboard has been around, there’s been a certain strain of thought ascendant in the Republican party, courtesy of Rush Limbaugh and Fox News and others, that is less interested in facts than it’s interested in raw ideology. Such forces exist in the Democratic party, but they’ve been much less successful at their Occupation of Wall Street or of the Democrats. A person who objects to anti-scientific nonsense on the left and the right is going to be objecting to the fringes of the Democratic party and the most powerful figures of the Republican party. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-dopers-why-do-you-think-the-sdmb-leans-left/767218/33 "2016-09-29T20:41:27Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > I wish this place could do that without devolving into personal attacks, but… Of course this place can - just stay in GD and report personal attacks when they occur and the mods will give out warnings. Discuss politics in the Pit, though, and all bets are off - as it should be. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-dopers-why-do-you-think-the-sdmb-leans-left/767218/34 "2016-09-29T21:45:44Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > For whatever it’s worth, I’m not much interested in a conservative leaning board, because the posters there will reinforce my instincts as opposed to forcing me to examine my positions. > > I wish this place could do that without devolving into personal attacks, but… Like **Bryan Ekers** says, isn’t this just the Pit? Aren’t you treated fine in GD and other forums? ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-dopers-why-do-you-think-the-sdmb-leans-left/767218/35 "2016-09-29T21:48:32Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Nor do leftists who deny the efficacy of vaccines, or leftists who think GMOs are Frankenfood, or leftists who believe we should move to state control of the means of production. Yes, that is perhaps worth emphasizing - this board leans firmly left by American standards, but folks like actual doctrinaire Marxists tend to get short shrift. I’ve seen a number of folks complain this board is _too conservative_, apparently with every sincerity :). This is undeniably a lefty board, but it is a very MOR/woo skeptical lefty board as such things go. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-dopers-why-do-you-think-the-sdmb-leans-left/767218/36 "2016-09-29T21:57:37Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > I’m not sure the differentiation means much: if someone believes in woo, it doesn’t matter whether it’s from religious influence or “superscience.” Chiropractic, anti-vax, food fads, dietary supplements - I’m pretty sure these straddle the political spectrum, and there are others. From personal experience, I can tell you there’s vigorous woo on both the left and right. The only difference is the left-wing woo deals in vibrations and spirituality, whereas the right-wing woo trucks in virility, vitality, and multi-level marketing. I have some odd friends who run cannabis pyramid schemes and are vocally pro-pot-rights, except of course for the the kind of pot that actually gets you high. Who are these people? You already know they’re right-wingers and Trump supporters, but how did you know this? Life’s weird. People are weirder. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-dopers-why-do-you-think-the-sdmb-leans-left/767218/37 "2016-09-29T22:26:02Z")
I’m a liberal and hell, I think the Board leans farther left than I do. Take a look at RivkahChaya’s "[So who won the debate"thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/poll.php?do=showresults&pollid=7847) 97% Clinton, 3% Trump and no draws? Really? Even MSNBC was more generous than that. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-dopers-why-do-you-think-the-sdmb-leans-left/767218/38 "2016-09-29T22:26:05Z")
As far as Republicanism, 15 years ago I happily voted Republican. Not anymore. The Republican party has become significantly less mainstream than it used to be. And by “mainstream” I mean, you know, stuff that seems reasonable to me. But seriously, the Republicans and movement conservatism has gone off the rails in the last decade. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-dopers-why-do-you-think-the-sdmb-leans-left/767218/39 "2016-09-29T22:30:53Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > For whatever it’s worth, I’m not much interested in a conservative leaning board, because the posters there will reinforce my instincts as opposed to forcing me to examine my positions. > > I wish this place could do that without devolving into personal attacks, but… Easy solution for that problem, just change human nature! I mean, as long as we’re fighting ignorance, how much more work could it be? ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2016, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-dopers-why-do-you-think-the-sdmb-leans-left/767218/40 "2016-09-30T01:01:01Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > As to the question of why there doesn’t seem to be any right-wing boards that are equivalent to the Dope, the Dope itself is something is something of a singularity is it not? I’ve never heard reference anywhere to another left-wing board similar to this one. The only other message board I’ve **ever** found even remotely similar to this one was the AOL Buzzsaw boards, and they closed in late 2000 or early 2001. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-dopers-why-do-you-think-the-sdmb-leans-left/767218.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-dopers-why-do-you-think-the-sdmb-leans-left/767218.md?page=3)