Why does GAF lean so much to the left in politics?

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speedline said:
It's the moderators plus the fact that many gaffers are influenced by Gaf itself. It's the hive mentality here. The conservatives are silenced here, but we do exist. Most of us just don't care enough to make a fuss or get banned because we like Gaf for the non political stuff.
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Silenced by the powers of reasoning and logic.
 
Honestly I think it's because most of GAF was influenced by GAF. There are a lot of young 18, 19, 20 year old kids here... probably that have been posting here for most, if not all, of their adult life.

I've been posting here since I was 22 years old for example (I'm 27 next month). Many people younger than even me have been here even longer.

That, combined with the simple fact that young people tend to lean left. It's just self perpetuating at this point.

Edit: I think this also presents itself in things other than Politics, like religious views, take on social issues, etc...
 
Probably because a person on the right can't speak up here without having to fend off half a dozen (or more) rabid left leaning members. It's overwhelming and most people with any common sense don't have time for it.

I don't lean left or right, but I generally refrain from discussing social or political issues on this site.
 
Sneds said:
Not everyone on GAF lives in the US.

The US political spectrum is further to the right than other 'Western' countries.

It might be that a lot of the posts the OP judges as leftist are written by people living outside the US.
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Pretty much. Some of the "Leftest" posts on GAF seem pretty centrist to me. In Canada, even the right-wing parties support health-care, and are opposed to war in Iraq.
 
Left leaning politicians base most of their policies on reality and science, which I think is something that most of GAF appreciates.

That being said, Obama's administration has been horrible in this regard, so you're probably thinking more of Independent types.
 
One thing I've always loved about message boards is they're darwinism for opinions. Opinions not fit for survival get torn to shreds quickly. Users are always eager to own noobs or idiots.

One of the reasons I came to be liberal was because I came of age reading message boards and I rarely if ever saw conservative opinions win out in a contest of ideas. Republicans in America get away with what they do because real life isn't a message board. Rick Santorum can stand up on a debate stage and not get challenged much at all. But put his exact statements in the form of a Neogaf member and he'd get torn to bits, and quickly.

If conservatism in practice had more positive results you'd see message boards be more conservative. But few people are going to stick their neck out here and espouse conservative principles when it's so obviously a position that will get them owned, and they know it and don't want that.
 
Most Tech Savvy people leaned left.
Most video game enthusiast also probably leaned left.
People here is probably pretty young as well (<40), they leaned left.
NeoGAF is international forum and Dem is hitting homerun these days in international politics, so again... left.
 
el retorno de los sapos said:
Druge, WND, Breitbart, Red State are pretty influential.
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I always thought drudge as a crazy independent site because I've seen them call out Republicans on their bullshit before, but maybe not.

edit: I'm so glad I'm a moderate independent. I don't get caught up in all of this bullshit liberal vs conservative and dem vs rep. I don't have to play for a team.
 
speedline said:
It's the moderators plus the fact that many gaffers are influenced by Gaf itself. It's the hive mentality here. The conservatives are silenced here, but we do exist. Most of us just don't care enough to make a fuss or get banned because we like Gaf for the non political stuff.
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Nailed it.
 
Dr.Acula said:
Pretty much. Some of the "Leftest" posts on GAF seem pretty centrist to me. In Canada, even the right-wing parties support health-care, and are opposed to war in Iraq.
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Did they before? Most republicans support medicare. They opposed it though when it was being formulated though. I think why conservatives are farther right is because they're still "conserving" the current system that is "behind" others. We fought the cold war and everything was commies v. freedom.

Europe and Canada was under the US's umbrella and could develop more socialistic alternatives that worked and now are supported across the political spectrum. The same thing happens in the US.
 
Dali said:
In the mods' defense, it's hard to believe someone isnt trolling when they say a conservative talking point with a straight face. A person's first reaction is usually "you can't seriously believe that". So the only logical conclusion is they're trolling.
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Sad that our current state of political discourse has created serious posts like these (apologies if you're being sarcastic).
 
Kayo-kun said:
Educated people often tend to lean left in politics for the obvious reasons (common sense), and most people on gaf are educated.
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Also, quite a significant majority of Gaffers are under 35, and young people generally are much more liberal than their elders.
 
speedline said:
Give me a break, this would be considered trolling if it were from a right perspective. That's the bias of Gaf.
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You misunderstand the sentiment of my post. This IS generally what happens for a large portion of people who post right wing things. For instance, consider gay rights. A "right wing" view might be that's its unethical, or that its unnatural, or that people being gay violates their religious freedoms (all arguments I've heard made by people who describe themselves as conservatives). There is concrete logic and reasoning that demonstrates that these things are wrong and gaf posters will thusly demonstrate them en masse whenever these conservative sentiments are expressed.
 
speedline said:
Give me a break, this would be considered trolling if it were from a right perspective. That's the bias of Gaf.
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hmmm I think it just depends on what you mean by "a right perspective" if you mean coming at things from a fiscal conservative POV there are plenty of posters that post those views and don't get banned for it because they employ sound reasoning. If you come at it from a social conservative point of view and post stuff about how badly "god hates fags" or whatnot you will have a tougher time
 
As a complete pinko liberal, I wish I had a button that blew up people's keyboards/mouths every time they tried to type/say "reality has a liberal bias".
 
I think people also tend to forget that you can be fiscally conservative and socially liberal or socially moderate. People that are fiscally conservative will often fall under the rep's and get the same ridicule as those who are socially conservative which isn't a fair game to play. We get too black and white with our politics in America. Its always a us or them battle instead of the many shades of gray it really is.
 
speedline said:
It's the moderators plus the fact that many gaffers are influenced by Gaf itself. It's the hive mentality here. The conservatives are silenced here, but we do exist. Most of us just don't care enough to make a fuss or get banned because we like Gaf for the non political stuff.
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I've been lurking the various Poligaf threads for many years now. I don't think I've ever seen a mod silence anyone for their political views. What I have seen are several situations in which a single conservative posts, then is flooded with responses- about their opinion, why they think that way, and with counter-arguments.

And a lot of the time, it seems that those conservative posters have a tendency to crack under the pressure, eventually saying or doing something worthy of a ban.

Overall, I think Poligaf is actually pretty welcoming to people of many views, so long as that person is able to back up their beliefs with something more than "it was how I was raised" or "because the holy book of my choice says so" or "talking point #587".

And I'm saying this as someone who originally found GAF when he was a stringent member of the religious right.
 
Reality being objective and us subjective, it seems liberal folk have liberal bias. Just a loaded phrase liberals like to throw around. That said I identify as a liberal.
 
Society tends to get less conservative over time. It's only natural that most of this is due to the younger generation. Since Gaf skews younger, it makes perfect sense.
 
I lean left on social issues because it's the right, compassionate thing to do. If you're a decent human being, you lean left socially.

Economically, I don't talk about subjects I know shit about. More people should follow my lead.
 
Gaf is a global community, so it just seems further left leaning by comparison. Also, is it just me, or does it seem like there's a LOT more whining about "conservative persecution" on gaf these days.
 
Because it's moderated to the left. I suspect there are far more right-wingers here smart enough to keep their mouths shut out of necessity.
 
Divvy said:
Society tends to get less conservative over time. It's only natural that most of this is due to the younger generation. Since Gaf skews younger, it makes perfect sense.
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In what sense? Socially you might have a case although I'd be hesitant to make such a blanket generalisation.

The political spectrum across Europe and the US is more right-leaning fiscally than it was before the 1980s when neoliberalism began to take hold.
 
Seems to be a lot of people saying that they will be banned if they come out as conservative, that are well known GAF conservatives who have not been banned.
 
Orpheus said:
I've been lurking the various Poligaf threads for many years now. I don't think I've ever seen a mod silence anyone for their political views. What I have seen are several situations in which a single conservative posts, then is flooded with responses- about their opinion, why they think that way, and with counter-arguments.

And a lot of the time, it seems that those conservative posters have a tendency to crack under the pressure, eventually saying or doing something worthy of a ban.

Overall, I think Poligaf is actually pretty welcoming to people of many views, so long as that person is able to back up their beliefs with something more than "it was how I was raised" or "because the holy book of my choice says so" or "talking point #587".

And I'm saying this as someone who originally found GAF when he was a stringent member of the religious right.
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That will happen when a mob of Gaffers start belittling your views.

I'm fairly conservative. I fly under the radar and keep my mouth shut on a laundry list of topics. There's no point in swatting the hornet's nest.
 
With regards that young people lean left. It´s not necessarily the reason. You know the thing that confuses me, is why would people above 40 vote Republican and lose their medicare. Or at least it gets massively reduced. People who vote against their own interest make no sense whatsoever.
 
Ecotic said:
One thing I've always loved about message boards is they're darwinism for opinions. Opinions not fit for survival get torn to shreds quickly. Users are always eager to own noobs or idiots.

One of the reasons I came to be liberal was because I came of age reading message boards and I rarely if ever saw conservative opinions win out in a contest of ideas. Republicans in America get away with what they do because real life isn't a message board. Rick Santorum can stand up on a debate stage and not get challenged much at all. But put his exact statements in the form of a Neogaf member and he'd get torn to bits, and quickly.

If conservatism in practice had more positive results you'd see message boards be more conservative. But few people are going to stick their neck out here and espouse conservative principles when it's so obviously a position that will get them owned, and they know it and don't want that.
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The problem with social conservatives like Santorum though is his "values" don't need anyone else's approval or need to win any contests of logic or reason for him to accept them. In Santorum's case you're talking about an avid pro lifer that is glad life-saving prescription drugs are so expensive and absolutely giddy insurance companies can deny children with preexisting conditions coverage. He should probably change his stance to pro birth, because beyond that it seems he feels you're on you're own, kiddo.

greyshark said:
Sad that our current state of political discourse has created serious posts like these (apologies if you're being sarcastic).
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I was being serious. You should thank the vocal minority of conserva-Gaf for that.
 
homerule said:
Mostly naive children without real-world life experiences yet.
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Out of curiosity, how many countries have you lived in? Just want to get a feel for the extent of your real world life experience.

Dead Man said:
Seems to be a lot of people saying that they will be banned if they come out as conservative, that are well known GAF conservatives who have not been banned.
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There is indeed a very peculiar persecution complex around here,
 
Keru_Shiri said:
Gaf is a global community, so it just seems further left leaning by comparison. Also, is it just me, or does it seem like there's a LOT more whining about "conservative persecution" on gaf these days.
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It's fairly common in these type of threads. But it's true that most of the vocal, active GAFer's on political threads tend to be liberal. GAF is the anomaly not the norm though, just take a look at most US news site and scroll down to the comment section to see the reverse in action.
 
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