partisanship & the demographics of Speakers Corner

[nerdgirl 0]

Every once in a while someone makes an assertion of which political/ideological view/perspective is in the minority.

What do you think?

/Marg

Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters.
Tibetan Buddhist saying

[ryoder 1,590]

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Every once in a while someone makes an assertion of which political/ideological view/perspective is in the minority.

What do you think?

/Marg

I don't consider myself liberal nor conservative, and I sure as hell don't consider myself a supporter of either party. I just happen to be currently registered Republican, but that was only because I was hoping to be able to vote for Ron Paul in the last primary.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[mnealtx 0]

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I was hoping to be able to vote for Ron Paul in the last primary.

Would've been a hellofa lot better candidate than McCain...

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[nerdgirl 0]

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I don't consider myself liberal nor conservative, and I sure as hell don't consider myself a supporter of either party. I just happen to be currently registered Republican, but that was only because I was hoping to be able to vote for Ron Paul in the last primary.

Thanks for that comment. That's a variable that I couldn't figure out how to control for in the poll.

/Marg

Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters.
Tibetan Buddhist saying

[Shotgun 1]

Regarding D/liberals and R/conservatives, I haven't noticed either one being in the minority here. Seems fairly even to me.

And I don't really consider myself in either group, though the last political quiz I took said that I was a Libertarian-leaning liberal, so maybe I do lean more in that direction.

[BikerBabe 0]

It's hard to characterize this in a poll, i think, because the options are rather limiting. Any options would be. And perhaps a bit of Schroedinger's corollary is happening here as well.

Part of the problem is SC is divided not only among ideological lines, but also upon tendency to post. I would say that of the POSTERS in SC, the majority leans conservative. However, looking at many polls over the course of the past year or so (especially around election time), the results tend to favor the liberal side. This leads me to believe that there's a much larger percentage of folks reading SC without posting, who happen to participate in the polls.

The question, i guess, is this: do the anonymous polls tell a more true story of the SC population than the actual posts? And is taking a poll like this going to skew results just from the fact that it is a poll, and anonymous, rather than just a question posed as a post?

edited to add: Also, i have a feeling the way the choices are worded, the first and fourth option will well outpace the others, since a lot of attacking goes on here, and people will tend to think their own ideology is the one in the minority.

Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

[kelpdiver 2]

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The question, i guess, is this: do the anonymous polls tell a more true story of the SC population than the actual posts? And is taking a poll like this going to skew results just from the fact that it is a poll, and anonymous, rather than just a question posed as a post?

If you don't post, you don't count.

[kelpdiver 2]

crap - misvoted. Marg, why the heck is the second item for the minority viewpoint, not the majority?

[nerdgirl 0]

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The question, i guess, is this: do the anonymous polls tell a more true story of the SC population than the actual posts? And is taking a poll like this going to skew results just from the fact that it is a poll, and anonymous, rather than just a question posed as a post?

I would hypothesize that the underlying idea you're suugesting (at least as I'm understanding it) is correct.

And while I can suggest a more robust method, e.g., go through & code against some standard or measure (like some of the media studies have tried to do) responses in randomly selected threads, unless NSF, etc is offering a grant/contract I'm not going to that much effort.

/Marg

Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters.
Tibetan Buddhist saying

[nerdgirl 0]

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crap - misvoted. Marg, why the heck is the second item for the minority viewpoint, not the majority?

Because my psychic powers were not working to anticipate what options you would be expecting.

/Marg

Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters.
Tibetan Buddhist saying

[BikerBabe 0]

haha, i don't blame you. It IS an interesting sociological question, though

Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

[nerdgirl 0]

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haha, i don't blame you. It IS an interesting sociological question, though

Concur - multiple ones.

I find ethnographic surveys fascinating & illuminating w/r/t policy. One of the folks who works for me is currently working on a survey of cognitive scientists w/r/t their views on security. The biggest issue he's dealing with is how to define who/what work counts as "cognitive science." Molecular biologist who deals with model systems of central nervous system - in? Computer scientist designing AI protocols for future UAVs - out?

/Marg

Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters.
Tibetan Buddhist saying

[Andy9o8 2]

Makes no provision for moderates. You get a C until your paper is revised.

[quade 4]

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Every once in a while someone makes an assertion of which political/ideological view/perspective is in the minority.

What do you think?

/Marg

I think your survey may prove that certain people don't read and comprehend very well!

I'm currently seeing 64% of all respondents Republican, yet 72% of all respondents think the Republicans are the minority party in the forum.

Uh . . .

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[BikerBabe 0]

Paul, i may be wrong, but i think perhaps that may be one of the "hidden" points of the survey...

Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

[quade 4]

I hope I didn't ruin the experiment.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[DrewEckhardt 0]

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Every once in a while someone makes an assertion of which political/ideological view/perspective is in the minority.

What do you think?

I think the majority view in Speakers Corner is Republican/Democrat which is a position I don't identify with.

[SivaGanesha 2]

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Every once in a while someone makes an assertion of which political/ideological view/perspective is in the minority.

What do you think?

/Marg

Well I was right anyways...I said the minority view was liberal/Democrat and that matches the results so far. It seems a little bit strange to me because skydiving remains somewhat out of the 'mainstream' whereas the Republicans still like to think of themselves as the party of the 'mainstream'--so I'm still trying to understand this phenomenom.

"It's hard to have fun at 4-way unless your whole team gets down to the ground safely to do it again!"--Northern California Skydiving League re USPA Safety Day, March 8, 2014

[lawrocket 3]

I don't myself as Republican or Democrat. Liberal or Conservative.

I guess I just find a way to be a hater of anyone who is in power. Bush? Hated him. Congress with the GOP? Hated it. Congress now? Hate it.

I had someone tell me that "hate" is a bad word. "Loathe" would be better. We were talking football. I told him, "Well, "hate" is arbitrary. Loathe means there's a good reason. I hate the Cowboys. No good reason. I just do.'

Okay. So I loathe Congress. I loathe the past few Presidents. I can't find myself hating Reagan, Carter or Ford. Reagan, I just freaking liked him. Carter? A good dude but the living example of the limits of idealism. Ford? How could you hate a guy who never wanted to be POTUS in the first place?

GHW Bush? YEah, I had my problems with him.
Clinton - the living example of what realism does. A fucking genius at the art of politics - turned from a miserable failure his first two years into a good president. His first two years showed his true colors, though. I loathe him.
GW Bush? The limits of realism personified.
Obama - a communist, who is effective. Thus, my loathing for his ideals is tempered with respect for his abilities.

I see no minority or majority. Sure, the moderators are lefties. But then we have Tom - not just a libertarian but a Raiders fan. I still shant go to Twin Falls any time soon (I think I've earned a tarring and feathering a few times) but if he's out here I'd buy him some beer.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[quade 4]

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I had someone tell me that "hate" is a bad word. "Loathe" would be better. We were talking football. I told him, "Well, "hate" is arbitrary. Loathe means there's a good reason. I hate the Cowboys. No good reason. I just do.'

I'm not a psychologist or psychiatrist or any other kind of "ist", but the other day I read an article in the LA Times I think applies to a few people here. I'm not saying it applies to YOU, but your last post . . . well . . .
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2009/05/the-destructive-emotion-du-jour-bitterness.html

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[JackC 0]

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I don't myself as Republican or Democrat. Liberal or Conservative.

It is interesting to note that we often define ourselves according to our intentions, whereas others define us according to our actions.

http://weblamp.princeton.edu/~psych/psychology/research/pronin/pubs/2008%20Self%20and%20Other.pdf

[nerdgirl 0]

Andy, Jerry, and others (cuz I'm confident you're out there ) who want to invoke an "I'm a moderate" position:

Please pick one and recognize that the clause after the hyphen is equally important as the clause before the hypen.

Alternatively, another option to exercise, like many voting experiences, is to abstain.

Thank you.

/Marg

Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters.
Tibetan Buddhist saying

[nerdgirl 0]

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I think the majority view in Speakers Corner is Republican/Democrat which is a position I don't identify with.

I suspect you're not alone: hence the "closer to" and conservative and liberal portions.

As I responded to Andy & Jerry, please recognize that the clause after the hyphen is equally important as the clause before the hypen.

/Marg

Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters.
Tibetan Buddhist saying

[nerdgirl 0]

There's really nothing to ruin.
The impetus was my curiousity as a check on my own observations, i.e., asking myself am I perceiving things accurately or is someone else?

My first sentence in the original post told the reader what I was asking about: "which political/ideological view/perspective is in the minority."

Error bars in any SC poll are likely to large and the sample size is small (one more reason to focus on fewer rather than more options); there is no reason to expect this one to be different.

Marg

Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters.
Tibetan Buddhist saying

[wmw999 2,588]

I haven't voted. I honestly think that the posting seems fairly balanced. There might be more perceived conservative posts, but I think there are more perceived liberal posters.

And, of course, my definition of conservative might not be the same as rushmc's

Both sides, though, have folks who get all superior when they're really comfortable standing their ground . I probably do the same thing, it's just that I'm so comfortable standing my ground when I do that

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)