financeguy
ONE love, blood, life
Well there does appear to be a liberal majority so far...
Irvine511 said:anyway ... how could an open forum have a bias? if you think it's too left wing, then open your right wing mouth and say something. and vice versa.
starsforu2 said:
Yeah, but if the board is skewed mostly leftward then when you open your gob, you get a 2 to 1 lambasting and that is just based on people's perception of themselves. It could be more heavily skewed if people are misidentifying themselves.
There are certain topics where discussion has been civil, but more often it disintegrates, and you have to parry multiple opinions without the benefit of someone else helping to articulate your points. So a lot of people just choose to not participate unless they can avoid being thrown into the minority opinion which is usually characterized as being racist/mean/homophobic/cruel/rigid/stupid/mysoginistic/greedy/unreasonable and that doesn't even include the more creative ways of calling someone that you don't agree with you an idiot. It's a big part of why I delete more than 75% of the posts I write.
If this board leaned rightward, the same arguments would be made by the cowering left. (Instead of by the cowering right) I'm just trying to illustrate why it's so hard to participate on this board if you're in the minority. And yet I'm a political junkie and a huge U2 fan, so it's like a moth to a flame.
Irvine511 said:but i think everyone feels that way. it just seems, to me, and regardless of being right or left or in the minority or majority, that some choose to stay and fight and others choose to do several other things.
i will say, however, that the left leaning arguments, to me (and i realize this is a biased opinion), are in general more coherently argued than right leaning arguments. i'd like to think (and, hey, perhaps i'm delusional) that i'm able to appreciate a well-argued position, whether or not i agree with it, and based purely upon my own observations, i don't see equal quality of writing between left-leaning and right-leaning posters.
there are, however, notable exceptions. NBC is always logically sound. STING2 is always ready with a dissertation on UN Security Council resolutions. you've put forward some well worded arguments.
but, on the whole, the sheer number of people who are able to argue on a sophistocated level does skew leftward, in my opinion. and too often, your more right-leaning posters either make comments that are totally lacking in nuance (see the breast-feeding thread) or make arguments that are centered around the infallabilitly of the Bible, or more accurately, their belief in the infallability of their interpretaton of the Bible. and then when their beliefs are questioned, they scream about being discriminated against and being persecuted for their beliefs.
simply not a good basis for a rational discussion.
i'd also add that, on social issues, i do see a majority left-leaning of posters.
however, on international issues, i'd see a pro-American bias by the posters, myself included. in the US, i'm rather liberal. in Europe, i'd be centrist, if not even a bit center-right.
all to do with broader perspective.
and i haven't voted in this poll. i refuse to check off a box that i feel is inapplicable.
i'd call myself a "realist progressive."
starsforu2 said:It would be great to then have a poll to strike out where they are actually are in the political spectrum as a counter-point.
financeguy said:
indra said:
Voted solid liberal in the poll, but more honestly somewhere between that and flaming, far out there liberal.
Golightly Grrl said:
Me too!!! High five!!!
indra said:Voted solid liberal in the poll, but more honestly somewhere between that and flaming, far out there liberal. [/B]
U2democrat said:Solid liberal. Proud of it!
Carmelu2fan said:
Three cheers for U2democrat!!!