Is the SDMB an echo chamber?

[The_Other_Waldo_Pepper]

@We_re_wolves_not_werewolves

I also posted in a P&E thread, and got very similar responses. Now what should people on the left do? - #140 by Miller

That said, “panning for good” was an ace turn of phrase.

[Czarcasm]

“Some people” doesn’t sound very much like an SDMB echo chamber to me.

[Ash_trav511]

My first post in sdmb…though I’ve been reading the posts here a long time

Im an Indian woman living in India…with a lot of relatives who are US citizens
I feel sdmb(politics section) is a decent message board …with a significant lean towards the left/liberal pov.
From quite a distance away and from my very limited interactions with my own family and friends in usa (my own little bubble) … I was initially surprised to find out that almost 70-75 percent of my little circle(Indan Americans family and friends) who always voted straight ticket democratic voted for republicans this election for mainly 2 reasons , illegal immigration and perceived increased crime rate and the very vocal and hard left social views(in their view) wrt lgbtq issues …in states like California,NY,Texas and Pennylvania

I guess there was a considerable drain from the usually very reliable Indian American democratic vote to the Republicans this election

Coming to the OP I reiterate my feeling sdmb is perhaps a bubble with 80 percent posters of liberal/left lean…not that it is wrong. Everyone is entitled to have their views

Peace and best wishes to all

[MethidManTMA]

@Aspenglow

@Buck_Godot

They show up occasionally generally make a few erroneous claims, which are immediately jumped on by the populace. They will then either usually ignore the evidence presented to them and just re-assert their claims until a moderator steps in and tells them to put up or shut up, or start insulting people or both. Either way they either quit or are banned relatively quickly.

Thank you. This is my experience. It’s not that they aren’t welcome, it’s that they’ve been feeding at the trough of misinformation for so long, they can no longer think critically about what they’ve been told.

Usually they are here to take pot shots at our regular posters or make unfounded, unsupported claims and doggedly stick to them no matter how much legitimate evidence is offered in opposition. We won’t keep someone long if those are their objectives. But we do try to give them lots of chances.

Yeah, it’s not our fault they can’t argue in good faith.

[Der_Trihs]

@WOOKINPANUBv.2

I mean, we all know what the maga crowd thinks and wants but clearly we’re missing some insight into what normal Republicans are thinking.

The MAGA crowd ARE the “normal Republicans”. They are the mainstream, not the fringe.

[Czarcasm]

Did these so-called “normal” Republicans vote against Trump or do something to slow him down? If not, I equate them with “good” cops that don’t actually do the crime but stand by and/or stay silent when actively bad cops do things. Right now "good"Republicans are about as relevant as Log Cabinet Republicans- show pieces with no power.

[BigT]

Just to answer the OP, but for 2024: No. It was the same basically everywhere. Even Trump supporters I’ve seen elsewhere were surprised.

[OldOlds]

Living in Massachusetts, and working in Life Sciences, I have quite a few Indian friends. And I’m surprised at how many of them seem to support Modi, whom I see as an Indian Trump. I’ve often wondered if a surprising number of these friends are secretly voting for Trump.

[Ash_trav511]

@OldOlds

And I’m surprised at how many of them seem to support Modi, whom I see as an Indian Trump. I’ve often wondered if a surprising number of these friends are secretly voting for Trump.

It’s true…seen in my own family…considerable number of Indian Americans who voted for Hillary and Biden have now voted for Trump. I’m very surprised too

[Jasmine]

@snowthx

What about our beloved SDMB? Have we chased-off all the dissenting voices such that we have a pure echo chamber here?

We haven’t chased anyone off. First of all, in any intelligent enlightened forum like this one, MAGA is going to be a minority for that very reason. Second of all, they get their asses whipped in intelligent debate because MAGA isn’t a positive thinking force with positive suggestions, they are a hate group whose rhetoric is consistently negative.
Oppress women
Strip away Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and any other service that helps human beings in need.
Make America Great Again by returning to the white male supremacy of the pre-sixties.
I could go on, but you get my point. So, naturally, they get whipped in this debate oriented site. We don’t drive them off, the poverty of their MAGA position drives them off.

[snowthx]

I think we are starting to dissect why Harris lost and Trump won - there are plenty of discussions for that. My question is about the board here. ISTM there was evidence of Trump’s strength and Harris’ weakness leading up to the election, but we didn’t want to see it. Polls and news we liked we cheered, but info that went the other way was dismissed. How do we get better at recognizing pertinent info as valid, even if it jibes differently?

Social media has algorithms to keep shoving info we like at us, which creates information bubbles. This board seems to do the same thing, but manually.

@Jasmine

First of all, in any intelligent enlightened forum like this one, MAGA is going to be a minority for that very reason.

Agree the quality of the poster and their arguments matters. What I am getting at is us (me included) being dismissive of data and information we dont like.

[Jasmine]

@snowthx

What I am getting at is us (me included) being dismissive of data and information we dont like.

Who isn’t? LOL

I’m afraid it is a human frailty that will always exist.

[Der_Trihs]

@Artificial_Stupidity

*It isn’t that I think immigration is the only issue. It’s that, without his position on immigration, Donald Trump would have had no chance. Many people feel that unregulated immigration to the point where anyone can walk across the border–not even through a Port of Entry–and be released into a country for some sort of future processing, will destroy that country because by that logic, hundreds of millions of people get to come in at will. And hundreds of millions would, if they could figure out how to get to the border. So Donald Trump retained a large base of voters willing to make immigration their only litmus. For them it was not a question of good versus bad candidate. It was a question of nation versus no nation, I think.

In other words, standard xenophobia and racism. That’s the standard rhetoric used to justify hatred of “foreigners” going way back; just “The Brown Peril” instead of “The Yellow Peril”.

And they won’t limit themselves to immigrants, of course. Anyone not white is a target.

[snowthx]

See, this is the kind of post that @Artificial_Stupidity is taking about - it obliquely paints the poster as xenophobic and racist. While I dont necessarily agree with everything they posted, I don’t think they are those things, especially after just one post.

Oh, and welcome, BTW, to @Ash_trav511 and @Artificial_Stupidity.

[Der_Trihs]

@snowthx

See, this is the kind of post that @Artificial_Stupidity is taking about - it obliquely paints the poster as xenophobic and racist.

They are posting standard xenophobic, racist rhetoric.

And bending over backwards to avoid calling out the Right on those things is a major reason why we are in the present situation.

[snowthx]

Now this is what I’M talking about here. At no point did the poster mention any race or nationality. They are expressing a point of view, a data point that some here may not align to. Calling them racist and xenophobic pretty much shuts down further discussion.

Maybe the border was a bigger bugaboo than we cared to acknowledge, and maybe LGBTQ concerns were a more outsized liability for some communities than we’d like to admit, but shutting down discussion keeps the echo chamber going.

[Der_Trihs]

@snowthx

At no point did the poster mention any race or nationality

“Immigration” = brown people. Nobody cares about white people immigrating.

[The_Other_Waldo_Pepper]

@Der_Trihs

Nobody cares about white people immigrating.

As it happens, I do.

[snowthx]

Yeah, let’s just leave it there. I could see a valid and civil discussion on the points raised Re: immigration in another thread, but I can see why there would be some trepidation in bringing it up.