# Is the SDMB an echo chamber? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 9, 2016, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-an-echo-chamber/771190 "2016-11-09T13:40:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-an-echo-chamber/771190/41 "2016-11-09T16:27:34Z")
> [@ZonexandScout](#): > > Yes, it is. > > And while I voted Dem Party all the way, I must admit that I have never seen comments on any conservative message board that reached the vitriolic level of the personal attacks on a candidate that have appeared on the SDMB. > > The remedy for bad speech is good speech, not ad hominem attack. > > Group think is a dangerous thing. It becomes even more dangerous as participants become more convinced that their opinions are absolutely correct. Leaving aside your claim that you “voted Dem Party all the way”(because that’s what Democrats call their own party all the time :rolleyes:), your statement > [@](#): > > I must admit that I have never seen comments on any conservative message board that reached the vitriolic level of the personal attacks on a candidate that have appeared on the SDMB. leads me to believe that either you have not visited too many conservative message boards(because you are a “Dem”, of course) and/or you have totally ignore what has been said about Clinton on _this_ message board. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-an-echo-chamber/771190/42 "2016-11-09T16:43:52Z")
I admit that I do find myself at a loss to differentiate between calling one candidate an “orange turd” and another a “man-hating bitch.” To me, one is as bad as the other. They are both ad hominem and not representative of thoughtful discourse or argument. I’m puzzled. What would someone expect me to call the Democratic Party? ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-an-echo-chamber/771190/43 "2016-11-09T16:48:15Z")
> [@ZonexandScout](#): > > I’m puzzled. What would someone expect me to call the Democratic Party? If you shorten the word “Democratic” you’re committing a hate crime. I exaggerate of course. A little. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-an-echo-chamber/771190/44 "2016-11-09T16:52:50Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > If you shorten the word “Democratic” you’re committing a hate crime. I exaggerate of course. A little. A little? ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-an-echo-chamber/771190/45 "2016-11-09T16:57:47Z")
> [@ZonexandScout](#): > > I admit that I do find myself at a loss to differentiate between calling one candidate an “orange turd” and another a “man-hating bitch.” To me, one is as bad as the other. They are both ad hominem and not representative of thoughtful discourse or argument. Well, one is a personal attack and the other is a personal attack steeped in the hatred of women. So, while I agree they are both not representative of thoughtful discourse, I think one is clearly worse than the other. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-an-echo-chamber/771190/46 "2016-11-09T17:04:46Z")
Let’s observe the lack of a right-wing voice on this board by noting the complete lack of right-wing threads: “Great things about a Trump presidency.” “Trump is not a bad person, make an effort to like him.” “Just how bad a Politician is Hillary?” " Rank how likely the liberal freak out item for a Trump presidency is… " “I actually feel bad for Hillary” And that’s just some of the front of the Elections Forum. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Quatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc8723/32.png) [@Mr\_Quatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Quatro)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-an-echo-chamber/771190/47 "2016-11-09T17:05:01Z")
In the end it was the simple fact that the GOP and the Donald Trump train was running late at the station, but when that train came in it was the winning party. Being the underdog as per the media worked for Trump, right? but how do you explain the GOP winning the US Congress and the Senate? No polls would’ve been better for Hillary than the ones I saw going double digit to even to four points ahead Monday. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-an-echo-chamber/771190/48 "2016-11-09T17:07:13Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Well, one is a personal attack and the other is a personal attack steeped in the hatred of women. So, while I agree they are both not representative of thoughtful discourse, I think one is clearly worse than the other. I also don’t recall a wide-spread desire to put Trump in jail sans trial the instant Clinton gets elected. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-an-echo-chamber/771190/49 "2016-11-09T17:11:19Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > And I think you’re confusing “opposing opinion gets shouted down” with “help help I’m being oppressed”. > > I’m not even a conservative and I see it all the time. The most recent was how many times I had to explain the FBI statement. Posters point blank refusing to accept that the text of the law allows prosecution for gross negligence. People dancing around and saying “extreme carelessness” isn’t the same as “gross negligence”. Nope, all that happened was Clinton was cleared, it was all nothing. Now I agreed with Comey’s recommendation not to prosecute but people around here refused to even acknowledge the kernel of the Clinton haters’ objections. That’s an echo chamber. I once had the audacity to question Hillary’s health and was set upon as a Trump supporter, even though I had expressed several times how incredibly stupid he is and that I would never cast a vote in his favor. > [@Czarcasm](#): > > Leaving aside your claim that you “voted Dem Party all the way”(because that’s what Democrats call their own party all the time :rolleyes:), And you’ve never seen the [Republican party referred to as “Repug”?](https://www.google.com/#q=repugs+straight+dope+site:boards.straightdope.com) ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-an-echo-chamber/771190/50 "2016-11-09T17:12:19Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > A little? Obviously I am just joking but Democrats getting huffy about “Democrat Party” and using it’s usage to sniff out “fake” Democrats like you just did is the height of silliness, imho. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-an-echo-chamber/771190/51 "2016-11-09T17:16:58Z")
> [@Duke\_of\_Rat](#): > > And you’ve never seen the [Republican party referred to as “Repug”?](https://www.google.com/#q=repugs+straight+dope+site:boards.straightdope.com) Do you realize you are supporting my point that it is used primarily as an insult? edited to add: In other words, such a term wouldn’t be used by someone claiming to vote “the straight Repug party ticket”, would it? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-an-echo-chamber/771190/52 "2016-11-09T17:19:36Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Obviously I am just joking but Democrats getting huffy about “Democrat Party” and using it’s usage to sniff out “fake” Democrats like you just did is the height of silliness, imho. What posts are _you_ referring to? He went right past the “Democrat Party” straight to the even more emasculative “Dem party”. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-an-echo-chamber/771190/53 "2016-11-09T17:20:25Z")
I’m hard pressed to think of ‘‘Dem party’’ as any kind of insult. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-an-echo-chamber/771190/54 "2016-11-09T17:23:38Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > What about our beloved SDMB? Have we chased-off all the dissenting voices such that we have a pure echo chamber here? To a large extent, yes. I was initially attracted to the Dope because it claimed to fight ignorance. I have learned alot from some good people here, I have grown from them, and for that I am grateful. But I find the signal-to-noise ratio to be quite low in Elections. Not so much in GQ. The Pit is not a healthy place. As an example, many heaped crap onto **Idle Thoughts** when he said he doesn’t vote, never has and never will. Many made laudable attempts to show him where he isn’t as enlightened as they thought he should be, and I fully agree with their arguments (although I did not state that there). It got pretty ugly, especially in light of him admitting to suffering from depression. The irony of the ugliness thrown by the very people who accuse Trump of the same ugliness is telling: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=19764809#post19764809](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=19764809#post19764809) > [@I live in the US, but I don't vote. Never have, never will. Ask Me Anything if you want.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-live-in-the-us-but-i-dont-vote-never-have-never-will-ask-me-anything-if-you-want/771059/223): > > It is more than a little ironic that many of the accusations against Trump (his name calling, meanness, bullying, denigrating demeanor, being the Ugly American…) have been expressed often in this thread, directed at **Idle Thoughts** , by the same people who voted against Trump and made those same accusations at Trump. Fighting ignorance? There’s a lot of it right here. This echo chamber is a club of several like-minded people who are too busy congratulating themselves. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-an-echo-chamber/771190/55 "2016-11-09T17:24:03Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > What posts are _you_ referring to? He went right past the “Democrat Party” straight to the even more emasculative “Dem party”. Yes, youre right. You sniffed out a fake Democrat because he used “Dem party”. My argument is shattered. “Emasculative”, eh? Maybe I didn’t exaggerate all that much. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-an-echo-chamber/771190/56 "2016-11-09T17:26:42Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Let’s observe the lack of a right-wing voice on this board by noting the complete lack of right-wing threads: > “Great things about a Trump presidency.” > “Trump is not a bad person, make an effort to like him.” > **“Just how bad a Politician is Hillary?”** > " Rank how likely the liberal freak out item for a Trump presidency is… " > “I actually feel bad for Hillary” > And that’s just some of the front of the Elections Forum. I am the OP for the bolded. I am not right wing. I am not even American. If anything, my political views mostly mesh with hers, if I was American, I would have voted for her. Considering how bad she is as a politician is not being right wing. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-an-echo-chamber/771190/57 "2016-11-09T17:29:23Z")
I am the OP for the one right below yours, and I too do not consider myself right wing. I just wanted a clear eyed assessment of how much of the despair was warranted, and in what areas. Or am I just supposed to assume that everything about this nation has been fundamentally and irrevocably changed, which would matter if climate change wasn’t going to lead to our inevitable deaths first? Should I just be giving up now? ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-an-echo-chamber/771190/58 "2016-11-09T17:37:45Z")
Perhaps we need different modding for the Elections forum? I am not complaining about the mods here, but maybe a different approach that does not alienate so much, is warranted. Truth be told, I am as guilty as anyone around here with the piling-on derogatory threads that taunt the GOP (e.g. “What does GOP stand for?”). Some of those threads are quickly shuffled off to the Pit, but maybe more of them should be. A lot of the complaints in this very thread suggest poor behavior has been allowed that should not be. Is there any basis for that? Do the mods have any opinion about what is going on here? ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-an-echo-chamber/771190/59 "2016-11-09T17:40:10Z")
There’s a fair amount of international voices here, if I’m not mistaken, so no one should expect it to fall in line with the conservative American mainstream. Political discussion here is focused around managerial liberalism, which rejects a lot of more lefty views as well. The board mostly accepts American hegemony abroad, criticizing particular decisions instead of the concept. I didn’t see a lot of Sanders support here, more of a grudging acceptance transforming into contempt as the primaries went along. Not exactly a lot of socialists here. Feminism, when discussed, tends to be the vanilla third wave “choice” variety celebrated by the media. I don’t think any of this is unusual or should be changed, though. Every community falls somewhere on the scale. When I want a different view I go elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-an-echo-chamber/771190/60 "2016-11-09T17:50:34Z")
Nope, not an echo chamber. Plenty of argument and debate goes on. We have a whole forum devoted to it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-an-echo-chamber/771190.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-an-echo-chamber/771190.md?page=4)