Why is the SDMB dominated by Democrats/Liberals?

What is it about this place that would attract what appears to be vastly more Democrat/Liberal types than Republican/Conservative types?

wow, my sentiments declared by someone else.

I’m not sure that it is. You’ve got Shodan and Brutus and Sam Stone and others that represent the conservative view. I’m not even sure if the Dems are in the majority here. 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.

Both of the papers that I’ve seen the Straight Dope column run in have been small, progressive, weekly independent arts type papers (Daily Planet in Tampa and Seven Days in Burlington VT). They are obviously fairly liberal papers that, I assume, have fairly liberal readerships.

I don’t know if these papers are representitive of the publications that run the Straight Dope, but if they are I think we can assume that a greater bulk of the people that find this site through the newspaper column are of a liberal persuasion.

It is usually pointed out that people usually find their way here through Cecil’s columns, which are usually published in “alternative weeklies,” papers whose readers usually skew to the left. Considering that, I usually wonder why we have an unusually large number of conservatives here.

(Isn’t that nicer than what I usually say: that liberals are usually smarter than conservatives? :wink: )

My presence is the result of a referral from another doper. (Thank you Fisher Queen). I suspect that happens quite a bit. And I lean to the right. Not all the way, but far enough.

Well, I think that the SDMB is more LIBERAL than conservative. Many of them break down to various left wing 3rd parties though, so I’m not sure about the Democrats part of our assertion.

Why? Probably because of the types of papers that The Straightdope by Cecil run in…at a wild guess. I actually found the Straight Dope because someone used one of Cecil’s articles as a cite in a spanish board I was going to at the time, and I began reading the archives of his listed articles. Then I noticed there was a message board and started lurking (I knew my english wasn’t up to debating here at the time).

Or, maybe ‘liberals’ are just more interested in bursting myths (the original intent of The Straightdope) than ‘conservatives’ are. Or, perhaps the conservatives who come to the board see the reception that the few who try and debate get from the vast majority and figure its not worth the hassel. :slight_smile:

-XT

SDMB posters tend to be more intelligent and politically aware than the average person. You do the math.

The board also has a fairly large European contingent; my guess is that they’re always wondering why the Straight Dope leans so far to the right. What seems middle-of-the-road in the US is, amongst industrialized countries, pretty far to the right.

That said, I suspect that if the Straight Dope ran primarily in, say, business magazines, the board’s makeup would be far more to the right than it currently is.

Daniel

Well, I discovered the Dope online, so I don’t have to fit the Reader readership stereotype. But I’m not sure. I don’t know that it skews in any direction.

Now, there’s a lot of anti-Bush sentiment, but that’s all over the net.

For the same reason watchers of “The Daily Show” are more liberal than the population at large.

So you’re calling Republican/conservatives stupid, is that right? And you’re implying that people who don’t think much about politics lean to the right? That’s pretty unfair.
Now what I’m about to say has no cites, it is just my opinion based on experience. Many rich, business-type people are right leaning. Being in business takes a great deal of intelligence and political awareness. As a matter of fact, I would almost say more politically aware people tend to be right leaning. Only recently does it seem more left-leaning folks are becoming more politically aware.

Part of it is self-reinforcing. Predominantly liberal to begin with, the board has more liberal members available for pile-ons and tag-team argumentation. Therefore it is easier to shout down the non-liberals and/or make it a non-welcoming environment than it would be for conservatives to attempt the same.

Plus, if the mods tolerate a certain number of drive-by posts and sniping, the majority Left here means that such things will come mostly from the majority, and be aimed at us poor, persecuted minorities.

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. 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.

Arguing that the SDMB is not slanted left is like arguing that the sky isn’t blue, at least for me. If someone can’t see it already, more evidence isn’t going to convince them.

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.

Regards,
Shodan

As I said: on an international scale, we’re pretty centrist.

Daniel

Originally posted by ** Left Hand of Dorkness**

That is correct. :smiley:

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. 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.

As 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. Pretty much any discussion at all that does not involve illegal actions is permitted here. That cannot, I think, be said about boards that have an overtly conservative membership base. 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. And, BTW, I think that goes as well for conservative as for liberal views.

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. 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?

It’s social liberalism that dominates, rather than economic, although the latter often comes along for the ride. 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. 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. 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.

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 atmosphere is immediately hostile to one of the cornerstones of American social conservatism: creationism. Religious conservatives are not welcome here. This, in turn, also excludes other aspects of social conservatism, such as homophobia, which attracts more liberals and chases away more conservatives.

Are conservatives, both social and, to a lesser degree, economic, a minority? Undoubtedly. Are they then persecuted? Hardly. They hold a minority political position on a board about political debate. What do they want, a medal?

You seem to have gotten over that. I know that I am no good grammar influence and that is par for the course here so I will assume that we didn’t drag your skills “up” as much as you realized that you were no worse than the lion’s share of us. I know that I had completely forgotten you were not a native English speaker.

That’s possible. Successful debate here has selected liberals because more were in the pool to begin with (see the newspaper theories above) and now that their skills are honed a conservative newbie either realizes he has little chance or, if he is a “true believer,” wades in hoping to save a few souls, either literally or from the clutches of The Left, before his martyrdom. Some brave ones stay on, giving us the well-spoken and respected conservatives. Liberal newbies, on the other hand, have a bit more protection from the more-numerous liberal, to one extent or another, members.

Then there are the put-upon people from the extremes of both ends who appear to feel that anyone whose beliefs do not precisely match their own is a bomb-throwing revolutionary itching to turn the world into a Stalinist or Fascist paradise. These sad people are delusional and paranoaic and it is our duty as good (insert your faith or lack of faith here) to soften the blows of society on these poor souls by ignoring them. Debate does no good, as they are incapable of seeing reason and they will draw you deeper into a death spiral of repetitious posts. Arguing only makes their beliefs more entrenched, though that can seem impossible, and can have a deleterious effect on everybody’s blood pressure. And by agreeing with them in hope they will shut up you risk getting tarred by the same brush as them while they continue with new vigor, believing they have found a convert, so it’s best just to ignore them.

I don’t know if the SDMB is really that left. On social issues I think the SDMB is very far to the left. Economics, on the other hand, I would say the SDMB is moderately conservative.

IMHO, all messageboards are left of centre, this is simply because the right wingers are busy trying to make money.