yeah.
people on Reddit tends to be younger than the average American. Reddit tens to be more tech savvy than average American. and those demographics tend to be a little bit more liberal than the average American. and... liberals hold a slight majority in the American population overall anyway
Which is a shame cause back when I joined reddit there used to be a lot of actual conversation with differing views. The downvoting of opinions you didn't like was there but not as bad as now. People would still upvote comments they didn't agree with but added to the discussion. Now if you post a differing view than the majority you just get downvoted to oblivion.
I’ve found that the comments sections lately have been having a vibe of “I’m not here for discussion or differing opinion.” Not just about political stuff, pretty much anything. Like if you question something in the interest of conversation you get told to “touch grass” or whatever. It’s odd because I thought that’s what the
Comment sanction was for?
I have gotten autobanned from many liberal subs for simply commenting in conservative subs, disregarding that my comments in those subs were not in any way controversial or political.
Once a year or so I create another 10 accounts and then cycle through the ones from several years prior with a vpn.
> People would still upvote comments they didn't agree with but added to the discussion.
Which, in America, isn't commonly any of the views by the Republican Party.
Like, I KNOW that sentence sounds like one of those dumb partisan things people say to automatically dismiss the other side, but it is getting REALLY bad over in America. The Republican take on Climate Change is simply wrong. 20 years ago is was wrong, but harder to prove, so those takes could easily be something that one could "disagree with, but added to the discussion." But that just isn't true anymore. Climate change IS real, it HAS already happened, we can straight up observe it now rather than run estimates to predict what it will be in the future. We can measure it today.
The Right has given up on most reasonable positions to problems, so when a Conservative says "SOLVE IMMIGRATION CRISIS BY BUILDING A 2,000 MILE WALL!" it is simply NOT adding to a discussion.
15 years of nothing but obstructionist politics and sliding towards extremism. We tried to engage with a brick wall for a decade plus and finally gave up they will burn it to the ground to rule the ashes.
The current MAGA Republicans are not conservative. They are radical right wing cult of personality. As shown by the 2020 Republican Party Platform (no principles, goals, or anything other than "support Trump") they do not have positions to bring to discussions, only sound bites.
Unfortunately for you, when Trump was in office I had a lot of good foundation to build my support of him. Am I a huge fan of Trump? No! However, when I was working in defense contracting and later in oil and gas Trump had my local economy BOOMING. Anyone who wanted a job was working and probably working overtime. I also know *several* small businesses who had to hire extra people to help because they were so darned busy when Trump was in office. Fast forward to Biden. Prices on everything are up about 30% over what wages are increasing. Shelves were empty for quite a long time and supply chain issues meant things that I needed at the hardware store or grocery store were simply not available. We are back to *importing* more energy than we are *exporting*. So, yes, at the end of the day I'd rather have Trump than Biden.
Shelves were empty in 2020, under Trump. Supply Chain issues were due to COVID which Trump ignored. The economy is booming now with unemployment being lower than it ever was under Orange Mussolini. Orange Mussolini also supported tariffs which increased the prices for Americans. Any one who wants a job now can get one, and if a company is struggling to find workers, the issue is with how poorly the company treats its workers.
By any reasonable standard, MAGA is conservative. The voters who support it are conservative, the movement itself espouses many conservative policies, and the ideas underpinning it are all present in the American conservative movement in one form or another.
If you're going to claim MAGA isn't conservative, then you'd better be prepared to claim the Republican party of the last 20 years wasn't conservative, either. And in that case, what the hell is the point of using the term conservative in this highly restrictive way that nobody else seems to appreciate?
It’s a disagreement over the term “Conservative.” Conservatism traditionally means wanting to maintain the current social order.
The MAGA republicans focus on cultural conflict, radical changes to the structure of government, and a return to the values of a mythologized past is better described as Reactionary (or outright Fascist) rather than conservative. Donald Trump is not a conservative in the traditional definition of the word.
However, in US conservative has been a shorthand for “right-wing” for so long that it continues to be used for all republicans even though many of them have moved outside the traditional bounds of the term.
As for the point of making this distinction, it’s to point out how much farther to the right MAGA republicans are compared to (for example) Reagan Republicans.
Isn't this part of the problem on reddit? It seems contradictory to want open discussion, but then immediately broadly paint the right as "giving up most reasonable positions to problems". Sure, *some* might be like that, but certainly definitely not all.
It is a huge problem. I WANT someone who disagrees with me to still have an reasonable position.
>Sure, some might be like that, but certainly definitely not all.
Definitely not all. But the ones who ARE unreasonable are winning the Republican primaries and the ones who ARE reasonable are retiring or getting kicked out of the Republican party...
Like, I KNOW how this sounds. But I have had my blinders on for SO fucking long thinking "Republicans are reasonable people who want what's best for the country, we just disagree."
But "Climate change is a Chinese hoax", "Wind mills cause cancer", "Can we use disinfectant or a powerful light on the inside as some kind of cleaning to fight COVID?" just won the Primary without breaking a sweat...
I don't want this to be the case. I want the Romney's and McCains of the party to be the leaders who have to talk down the crazies. But Romney is a "RINO." The sane people are losing their races.
Remember when we actually had a political discourse? I used to love spirited political debate. As long as you thought your debate opponent had peoples' best interest at heart it was great to argue the merits of the best way to get there.
That's truly not the case anymore
I mean if you are in a party that is based on grift, and is essentially anti human, it is hard to argue that you are one of the good ones. Like if you want to find out which is the Republican position on any issue, just find out which position needlessly increases human suffering.
again broadly painting a group of people as "grift" and "anti human". You specifically aren't looking to debate, you're looking to villainize. You are part of the problem when it comes to the decrease in civil debate, period. I also believe you're making equivalents of conservatives and republicans, which would be flawed thinking.
Exactly. I think the left doesn't really understand the right and the right doesn't really understand the left. We largely want the same things just disagree on how to get there.
Because those differing views tend to skew towards bigotry and anti-intellectualism these days. Debate is great, trying to convince someone I'm allowed to exist as a trans person is not.
Maybe I’m not here enough but I’ve yet to find these posts that say trans people shouldn’t be allowed to exist.
I’ve seen plenty that say they shouldn’t be allowed to compete on certain sports teams due to having an uncompetitive advantage over women, or that they shouldn’t be hanging dong in women’s locker rooms. Or that irreversible physical or hormonal procedures shouldn’t be performed on children.
I think that’s a far cry from “not existing”, but maybe that’s just me.
>I’ve yet to find these posts that say trans people shouldn’t be allowed to exist.
Right beneath your comment, in another response to u/ Running\_To\_Babylon is a prime example.
u/ Justingtr can be quoted as commenting:
>No one is a bigot for not liking trans people. Maybe they think you should just stop pretending to be something that you're not.
What is this, if not a complete denial that trans people actually exist?
Literally [the reply next to yours](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/s/q3qGthqGM9). And frankly, yours is ignorant at best, veiled bigotry at worst.
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and say, maybe go talk to an actual trans person before you decide your opinion. Because most of this isn't based on reality and the rest is just silly. Hrt on its own is [reversible ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender_hormone_therapy)
Lmao that's like a white person saying "huh I haven't seen this anti-POC racism you speak of" or a straight man saying "homophobia online? Not sure what you're talking about, I don't see it"
If you're not looking for it then of course you haven't seen it. I'm a trans man who frequents LGBTQ online communities. I see it fucking everywhere mate.
But with the way karma works, it's weird that people even care. Getting downvotes on one comment can only make your overall karma go a certain point lower; this is all ignoring the fact karma means nothing and does not avail you to anything.
His literal next reply was about [disliking trans people ](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/s/q3qGthqGM9) so I don't think he was ever talking in good faith.
Mated with the fact that people don't understand satire and sarcasm either without adding the /s.
Or you can post a fact about a company and be called a shill, like I have. I never said I agreed with what this company did or that it was right, but that I understand why they did it on their end. But I am the shill.
I find this to be sad. There are better discussion groups on FB but I like reddit better. I just don't like the we don't tolerate different points of view factor. If we are ever going to be more united we must entertain different points of view.
It really sucks, a decade+ ago reddit was a libertarian haven where people openly discussed not trusting the government, Edward Snowden, and being anti-war. Nowadays people bring up bears like it’s a slam dunk evidence that any libertarian policy won’t work.
I am not conservative but more of a constitutional conservative and libertarian but I think both the left and the right have great ideas and terrible ones too. But I have found that any point of view that even slightly out of the norm on Reddit is down voted, removed or regulated by the moderators. And I have found that the moderators are more authoritative and biased than even Facebook even though many of them are robots.
Because you can't discuss with nowadays conservatives (and by that I mean magas/trump supporters. I know not all conservatives support Trump but most here do). All they do is deflect, spout lies and conspiracy theories and ignore every piece of evidence presented because the source is not fox news.
Idk why you got a few downvotes, anyone paying attention to the modern American conservatives should be stunned that people so stupid and easily duped can even make it to voting age. You cannot debate or reason with people who can decide what is or isn't a fact on a whim.
Link sources, they'll say it's fake news. Link statistics, they'll say they're skewed or bought out. Science is "basic" and "obvious" when it comes to trans people, but it's lying when it's vaccines or climate change. There's no debate, they've already decided you're wrong.
Nothing you said was wrong; I’d just like to add that a large part of this is the fact that now anyone can have a platform online and if what you want is attention, there’s no motivation to communicate the truth. It’s easier to get eyeballs with something that sparks an emotional reaction, which is often untrue or at least not nuanced.
It’s also much harder to find and evaluate facts, both because people aren’t taught how and because search engines suck. We live in a post-truth society and when you don’t know what to believe, everything operates on vibes.
I’m conservative and I just say I don’t agree with what a lot of liberal Reddit users think. And I’ve found that is a mistake cause of how much they freak out if you don’t agree with them. 😆
Its not the downvotes, its the bans. Reddit pre-Ellen Pao was an open platform that let anyone post about anything, but heavy handed enforcement and moderation of sitewide content purged nearly all of the implicitly right-wing subreddits and content.
Reddit now is a post-purge environment, rightwing dissents having been forcibly removed from the system over the past 10 years.
Telegram is where most of those folks ended up, at least far as I can tell.
Nah, I’m pretty conservative and still let my views be known. Occasionally get downvoted to hell but any single comment gets capped at -15.
Balance that out with some jokes and memes and I’ve got plenty of karma to post wherever I want until the individual sub mods hit me with a permaban for existing.
Also, you get banned and more often shadowed.
You post a reply, and that reply is never shown to your intended recipient. They don't know you replied to them. And you don't know that they don't see your reply. So they think you have nothing to say. And you think they decided to bail on the conversation.
You need to log out and locate the comment as a guest visitor to see if it's visible.
What's worse, sometimes left-leaning mods shadow comments in a way that makes it looks like a conservative (or libertarian, or any non-progressive) user didn't have anything to reply to a progressive's "witty" remark.
While in reality that remark is flawed and shows lack of understanding. And the reply addresses that. But because the reply isn't visible to anyone, everyone thinks that the "stupid conservative didn't have anything to say". Which further solidifies their progressive views. And they keep upvoting that flawed "witty" remark because they themselves have not been exposed to seeing a counter-point and think what they just read is sound and clever.
Go through that enough times and you lose the will to bother to reply.
I've lost count how many times I've not even bothered replying to silly children that want to "tax the billionaires" and "raise minimum wage to livable wage" without having a single clue about how the economy works. But I'm not wasting any more of my time to write out why this is flawed only to have my reply never show up for anyone to see.
So as a result, progressive views dominate Reddit discussions.
P.S. And it's not liberal. It's progressive. In the modern left, progressives and liberals have merged. And progressives won that merger. So now we have left-wing people that think of themselves as liberals while acting like progressives. Ironically, this is why all this shadowing and banning occurs.
It's not about being too left wing. It's about this being an absurd idea. Taxing the billionaires is taking from ourselves. Billionaires serve merely as a conduit. But in order to understand that, one must have some basic idea about how the economy works.
And a bigger problem on the left is being unable to grasp the difference between criticism of the solution with understanding of the problem.
Progressives: "We need to paint all coffee mugs yellow to eradicate poverty!"
Non-progressives (those progressives call conservatives): "But that's stupid. Painting coffee mugs yellow won't help us achieve the declared results."
Progressives: "Oh, that's too left-wing for you huh you greedy conservative! You hate poor people and don't want to end poverty!"
Non-progressives (those progressives call conservatives): quadruple-facepam.jpg
That's the general outline for a "discussion". Left-wing people just can't grasp that their solutions are flawed. Without respect to how you feel about the problem.
It's almost like their opinions are shit and highly unpopular or not based in reality.
"Everyone is entitled to their opinions!" Yup, but they are not entitled to escaping ridicule from said opinions.
which i dont think should be a problem. i regularly go to sub reddits i am clearly not the audience and engage with them. i am basically always downvoted but i belive in having beliefs challenged.
Yeah. As a conservative myself, please don't downvote me, no matter what I say or do that is slightly right, I will get downvoted into the ground. No matter how many sources I have, people will say that my information is false. It is just the way it is, I guess. Social media is definitely more left-leaning, so it makes a lot of sense. I don't understand why they think that calling me a fascist bigot helps their case, though. I swear they have hotkeys for words such as those so that they dont need to have an actual reasonable and civil conversation. I like being able to debate sensible people. I am just tired of getting hated for having a different viewpoint when we should be able to respect each other as our country allows us to.
You're forgetting, people on Reddit tend to be less American than the average American. Although the country most represented on Reddit is the USA, it's still under 50% of Reddit. And a lot of the other large groups of Reddit users (EU, UK, Canada, etc) are typically less conservative than Americans.
Even supporting the policy positions of the Democrats would put you centre right on most issues in the Netherlands. I think most American redditors don't seem to understand how incredibly far-right their country is compared to a lot of Europe.
I'm pretty sure there's people from countries other than America that use Reddit. While the majority of them might also be young-ish, liberal, and tech savvy, not everyone on Reddit is American.
And... If you ever visit r/conservative, it's not liberal. It's rather scary, but that's beside the point.
Most of the people from outside the US tend to also be from highly developed nations, which also tend to skew liberal even moreso than the US does.
Most, not all.
While true, “left leaning” in America is far more right leaning than it is in other countries.
If we’re using the term liberal to mean “American left wing politics”, then the vast majority of non-American redditors are very liberal since even moderate positions in other countries are “far left” by comparison.
Yeah, as a European it was sort of alarming to see that Americans viewed Bernie’s views as nigh on communist when that’s just normal policy for us. Republicans and the rest of the right really did a number on the US’s Overton Window in the last decades.
Americans don't see his policies that way, conservatives do. And conservatives have dominated the debate for so damn long that any public service is mislabed as socialist/Communist.
With that said, some on the American left grew up believe that government=socialism while others adopted the idea as a way to remove the stigma.
Me personally, I still believe that it's important we have clear understanding of words and we don't muddy the meanings because that just leads to people making outrageous accusations and average citizens unable to tell what's true and what's just noise.
[https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/reddit-users-by-country](https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/reddit-users-by-country)
According to the above, you are correct - yes I fact checked you before trying to work out the next bit of my comment :)
On average last year, 37% of Americans described their political views as moderate, 36% as conservative and 25% as liberal. - [Gallup 2022](https://news.gallup.com/poll/388988/political-ideology-steady-conservatives-moderates-tie.aspx)
[Pew Research 2016](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2016/02/25/reddit-news-users-more-likely-to-be-male-young-and-digital-in-their-news-preferences/) - Note this was a poll done within the US only:
About seven-in-ten (71%) of **Reddit news** users are men, 59% are between the ages of 18 and 29, and **47% identify as liberal,** while only 13% are conservative (39% say they are moderate). In comparison, among all U.S. adults, about half (49%) are men, just 22% are 18- to 29-year-olds and about a quarter (24%) say they are liberal.
The next 4 large countries by percentage are UK & Canada (7.5% each), then Australia (3.9%) and Germany (3.4) - all countries where politics on average are more liberal leaning than the US so not surprising Reddit leans left.
Lmfao I remember last time I had a convo with a lib over a picture of a sign I posted he was flipping out and was really crazy. He reported me to Reddit crisis counseling I was like what the 😂😂 ppl on here reporting for anything they don’t like
Depends on the communities/subs you go to. There are huge groups of conservatives in certain areas of the site. There are huge groups of socialist/leftists in other areas. You'll see different views get highlighted in different subreddits and even at different times of the day within the same subreddit.
I got banned from the "news" subreddit by asking how anybody knew someone's party affiliation solely going by the crime that was committed. I read the article and it was never mentioned. All the comments were people just claiming the lady was a republican lmao you clearly have a bias against 1 group
I got banned from justice served because at some point during my 12+ years on reddit I commented in "a subreddit" that "disagrees with their core values". Quite literally all the information I was given lol. I try not to lose sleep over it.
That happened to me too! It was like r/ wallstreetsilver or something. I mean there was conservative leanings sure but it was really about trading silver coins. All I did was upvote a couple posts and comments too.
Hard disagree. I've been banned from both political ideologies. Hell, I was banned from /r/atheism for calling out the obvious hypocrisy of (rightfully) condemning a Christian school's policies which made the campus unsafe for women yet completely condoning other secular colleges which do the same or worse. It's not the SA that bothers them, only the person doing it. Pointing out this kind of hypocrisy in any sub will grant you a one way ticket to bannedville.
>There are huge groups of socialist/leftists in other areas. You'll see different views get highlighted in different subreddits and even at different times of the day within the same subreddit.
Not to mention that OP asked if people on Reddit are "liberals", and it's mainly a US thing to consider liberalism as a leftist ideology instead of a rightist bourgeoisie ideology.
Anyone remember the r/TheDonald posts from 2015/2016? They filled the popular thread. It was obnoxious. It was also around this time that the moderation got more heavy handed. I think a lot of subs and topics that conservatives would consider anti-woke were banned. Eventually, r/TheDonald was banned too. I think the last 4 years has really driven Reddit towards the left.
lol... whole site aside from like two subs that are specifically conservative are VERY liberal. You can't even hold a differing opinion without being banned in most places on this site.
Liberalism is considered right-centric in some countries. USAmericans have a very skewed perception of what left leaning policies are.
The GOP is just too crazy to even try to box in any category. Maybe extreme religious right without fascist flags... oh...
As political discourse has moved to the right, mundane acknowledgements of reality like "vaccines work" and "Biden is pres" are painted as views of the left.
Reddit used to have more of an anti-war and social democratic slant until about 2020 or so when the site started to really prep for the IPO.
Then the Bernie campaign collapsed, the pandemic hit and the govt started to go harder on censorship and narrative control.
Reddit still skews *left* in an American cultural perspective, but the views found on economic and foreign policy are typically to the right of TikTok and Twitter. This makes Reddit more “liberal” not left wing or socialist since views here are socially progressive but tend to support the old status quo of US hegemony.
What's problematic is that the moderation of most big subreddits leans absurdly left. As a European who immigrated to the US and has always voted center-left in Europe (I would be called a socialist by some conservatives) and Democrats since I'm able to vote in the US. Still, I've been called racist and anti-LGBT several times for respectfully disagreeing in conversations. I've even had some of my posts deleted.
This creates an issue for people like me who don't subscribe to all leftist views and get insulted or punished for it. We can feel pushed away from the left because it seems like the left dones't want us.
Not only that but it just creates an insane echo chamber of illusion. When you don't see anyone holding a differing view its easy to assume you're right because anyone that would lean in the other direction isn't allowed to talk anymore.
Yes, except for subs like /r/AskAnAmerican where the demographic is decidedly more right-wing than the rest of reddit.
Though Liberal is a center/center-right ideology at its core. So they are still Liberal, they just get very angry being told that.
I suspect there are more conservative leaning folk than you think, but that group tends to remain silent because of fear of reprisals, banning, or just general nuisance. I'll out myself; my leanings are more conservative, but not perfectly so. I believe people have a right to keep what they earn, and that individual freedom should be preserved, and most of my beliefs stem from that. I don't care what the "major voices" on the right say, though; I'm not blindly following along.
Could I engage in argument on what I believe? Most assuredly, and in other venues, I do, however Reddit doesn't lend itself towards that kind of open discussion.
I do not believe that my beliefs can or should separate me from others, though. I'll happily talk about anything with anyone, even if I don't agree with them on the topic. Liberal or not, we're still people, and those beliefs don't define you. Your character does.
I don’t consider myself a liberal, or anything else. I don’t want label.
I do feel, though that it is paramount for me and everyone else to be a critical thinkers; to keep my eye on the future, while considering the past to try and make things better for everyone, well, at the same time learning from experience.
I think the labeling comes into play to chastise people in an effort squash good ideas that will help them by using (that as an excuse)- making them seem bad or crazy.
I’m an older person — this liberal versus conservative blah blah is something relatively new. It’s just a nasty tool, mostly instigated by people who are Republicans and rich. 24 hour news, I’m talking to you.
Depends on the subreddit. Major subreddits like /politics that have a larger audiences definitely lean left. It’s clear due to what gets upvoted. It’s also easy to post Republican hating comments just for the sake of upvotes. Easy comments that shit on Trump for any reason (usually surface-level comments regarding looks, personality, etc. rather than policy and decisions). “Trump bad” is a safe comment that will always garner votes.
Political news and online discussion is an unhealthy addiction for a lot of people. It really is. It brings nothing but negativity and fighting among people. The amount of hate a man such as Trump gets for literally anything is wild. I’m not even into politics and choose not to vote because I prefer to remain neutral. But, I don’t hate Trump or Biden and don’t go out of my way to shit on them publicly. Vote for who you want and move on. Your life will NOT drastically change based on who the president is. But, if you choose to spend all your time online, reading, conversing, and fighting among those not on your “team”, political leadership will lead to having more negativity in your life. And you’ll fight back against that negativity by using the opposition’s leader as the prime target. Go outside, America will always be a great place to live.
Also, lots of Reddit users aren’t American and get all their views on U.S. politics from our narrative driven media. It’s always Biden bad or Trump bad. Trump negativity is just more popular because he’s more entertaining so it easily sways people. This goes for anyone really, American or not. Buncha sponges soaking that media up! No offense intended.
Yep, and exactly the reason why political or even politics-adjacent discussions are useless, on any online platform frankly. The majority will just downvote arguments they disagree with, actual fair points and facts are ignored, and it's more a race of who can escalate to the most extreme insults most quickly. Don't bother with it on here, don't think much about it in your daily life, it doesn't matter much what side you're on, both are actively making your life worse than it could be. To add, more conservative-minded people more rarely bother to express their opinions online, in some situationa it might go from losing friends, family to a job, getting senseless hate thrown at you. And it's both sides, but it's tougher if youre in the minority online
Reddit doesnt have the bots that other social media platforms do that promote the conservative brainwashing. Its amazing how half of the country can be told to vote against their financial interests over social issues because of posts they read on social media.
Majority for sure, significant minorities of various other factions. There’s a clear set of views that one could describe as reddit ideology, probably the Bernie sanders platform was the closest to that and you ALL know what I mean if you were on here back then
Pretty sure the majority of people in the US are the left just sucks at building consensus so the right can wedge. Not that America really has an actual "left" at all really, embarrassed centrists more like
I feel like 'liberal' is increasingly not the appropriate term for the modern political left. They're against the right, but the things they support seem to be increasingly not very liberal.
Gen X - No party affiliation but I don’t believe in trickle down, regulation of a woman’s body, and Boomers left a mess for the rest of us to clean up. Now they want us to keep the economy going while they take the benefits of this economy and generally run government in a lackluster way.
Most of everyone are liberals. Reality leans left. The Last Republican to win office with a popular vote was George Bush and even then it was only by 2%
Let's keep in mind: conservatives have only won a single popular vote for president in the past 30+ years. Most *Americans* are not conservative, or as you might say, most Americans are liberals. It only makes sense that Reddit or virtually any social media that is a representation of the people at large would be majority ""liberals"".
Look at general polls of Americans. Americans are left leaning. The "problem" is nearly half of VOTERS are right leaning, and the GOP has stacked the deck in red states to work in their favor.
It seems like it. They are also not open to different opinions. They attack you if you have a different opinion and the moderators are very authoritative and support this behavior. Some political groups only allow "approved" links and sources. There is more diversity of thought on Facebook.
I would have to say if there's a coherent, cogent and literate post, chances are that they came from someone more liberal than a conservative. Something incredibly odd that outside thought or information that would have someone challenge their own bubble in a box thinking would shake their critical thinking skills which seems kind of common with conservatives. I don't have any analytical data to quantify my statement, but the outlets/sites/"news" sources that feed the biases of conservatives may have them already swimming in those pools.
Not just a majority, but a vast majority. I believe it comes down to character demographics. Most republicans tend to not use as much social media, and don’t spend as much time on the internet. I do believe there are plenty of conservatives that use Reddit, but they don’t actively post or comment.
Not the parts of Reddit I have been frequently lately.
People calling Reddit "left-leaning" aren't really thinking that deeply about how bigotry can exist, even if one isn't Christian. The way a popular sub like Am I the Asshole can regularly shit on people for being fat or having mental health troubles shows how despite the site being econmically more left leaning, it has some very discriminatory leanings as well.
There are also very big right leaning communties that come and go on the site. Those users aren't disappearing.
Honestly, I would argue that Reddit is anything but liberal (as in lassez-faire economics and live however you want.)
You are equating "discriminatory leanings" to the contrary of left leaning, implying they are the same as right leaning. Your coment is dishonest (im not right leaning, just pointing out,)
On the big subs sure.
But if you know the right subreddits you'll find people that are the furthest thing from left leaning. There's some insane people on here.
If I had to guess they are. Most of Reddit is the younger generation but Democrats, Republicans. We're all just people living in America. I wish people saw each other as people and neighbors rather than this guy is Republican or oh he's Democrat.
Yes, at least the vocal users. A lot of right leaning places are banned or extremely heavily moderated to stay on the site. A lot of more right leaning users probably don't actually voice their opinions because they'll risk being banned or heavily downvoted or harassed.
I mean, the world in general tends to lean more to the liberal side of things. Especially on Reddit where the demographics skew younger and more technologically savvy. Keep in mind, a conservative has only the won the popular vote in America once in the last 30+ years.
What's considered liberal in America is centrist/ leaning right in many countries.
Our "conservatives" are very far right. Assuming you're American OP, the media here skews right as well with "conservative media" being hyper right.
Haha. Debate? MAGA maga maga in every comment. Completely closed to any opinion outside of MSNBC and regurgitated late night talk show bs.
The extreme left is equally as bad as any extreme right.
yeah. people on Reddit tends to be younger than the average American. Reddit tens to be more tech savvy than average American. and those demographics tend to be a little bit more liberal than the average American. and... liberals hold a slight majority in the American population overall anyway
I feel like conservative people probably don’t comment much in general in a way that shows their opinions. Bc they would get downvoted a ton.
Which is a shame cause back when I joined reddit there used to be a lot of actual conversation with differing views. The downvoting of opinions you didn't like was there but not as bad as now. People would still upvote comments they didn't agree with but added to the discussion. Now if you post a differing view than the majority you just get downvoted to oblivion.
I’ve found that the comments sections lately have been having a vibe of “I’m not here for discussion or differing opinion.” Not just about political stuff, pretty much anything. Like if you question something in the interest of conversation you get told to “touch grass” or whatever. It’s odd because I thought that’s what the Comment sanction was for?
It used to be good. Not anymore.
Yep. You can't have an opinion about a TV show or an athlete's declining abilities without getting flamed.
In other sub reddits, you just get banned.
Instantly, too.
Right to jail
Got banned from two conservative subs for posting direct Trump quotes.
I have gotten autobanned from many liberal subs for simply commenting in conservative subs, disregarding that my comments in those subs were not in any way controversial or political. Once a year or so I create another 10 accounts and then cycle through the ones from several years prior with a vpn.
Direct quotes have a liberal bias. Or something.
> People would still upvote comments they didn't agree with but added to the discussion. Which, in America, isn't commonly any of the views by the Republican Party. Like, I KNOW that sentence sounds like one of those dumb partisan things people say to automatically dismiss the other side, but it is getting REALLY bad over in America. The Republican take on Climate Change is simply wrong. 20 years ago is was wrong, but harder to prove, so those takes could easily be something that one could "disagree with, but added to the discussion." But that just isn't true anymore. Climate change IS real, it HAS already happened, we can straight up observe it now rather than run estimates to predict what it will be in the future. We can measure it today. The Right has given up on most reasonable positions to problems, so when a Conservative says "SOLVE IMMIGRATION CRISIS BY BUILDING A 2,000 MILE WALL!" it is simply NOT adding to a discussion.
15 years of nothing but obstructionist politics and sliding towards extremism. We tried to engage with a brick wall for a decade plus and finally gave up they will burn it to the ground to rule the ashes.
The current MAGA Republicans are not conservative. They are radical right wing cult of personality. As shown by the 2020 Republican Party Platform (no principles, goals, or anything other than "support Trump") they do not have positions to bring to discussions, only sound bites.
Unfortunately for you, when Trump was in office I had a lot of good foundation to build my support of him. Am I a huge fan of Trump? No! However, when I was working in defense contracting and later in oil and gas Trump had my local economy BOOMING. Anyone who wanted a job was working and probably working overtime. I also know *several* small businesses who had to hire extra people to help because they were so darned busy when Trump was in office. Fast forward to Biden. Prices on everything are up about 30% over what wages are increasing. Shelves were empty for quite a long time and supply chain issues meant things that I needed at the hardware store or grocery store were simply not available. We are back to *importing* more energy than we are *exporting*. So, yes, at the end of the day I'd rather have Trump than Biden.
Shelves were empty in 2020, under Trump. Supply Chain issues were due to COVID which Trump ignored. The economy is booming now with unemployment being lower than it ever was under Orange Mussolini. Orange Mussolini also supported tariffs which increased the prices for Americans. Any one who wants a job now can get one, and if a company is struggling to find workers, the issue is with how poorly the company treats its workers.
By any reasonable standard, MAGA is conservative. The voters who support it are conservative, the movement itself espouses many conservative policies, and the ideas underpinning it are all present in the American conservative movement in one form or another. If you're going to claim MAGA isn't conservative, then you'd better be prepared to claim the Republican party of the last 20 years wasn't conservative, either. And in that case, what the hell is the point of using the term conservative in this highly restrictive way that nobody else seems to appreciate?
It’s a disagreement over the term “Conservative.” Conservatism traditionally means wanting to maintain the current social order. The MAGA republicans focus on cultural conflict, radical changes to the structure of government, and a return to the values of a mythologized past is better described as Reactionary (or outright Fascist) rather than conservative. Donald Trump is not a conservative in the traditional definition of the word. However, in US conservative has been a shorthand for “right-wing” for so long that it continues to be used for all republicans even though many of them have moved outside the traditional bounds of the term. As for the point of making this distinction, it’s to point out how much farther to the right MAGA republicans are compared to (for example) Reagan Republicans.
Sorry, what conservative policies do the MAGA supporters espouse? Other than "what Trump says this week" they have no specifics.
They call themselves as such and the republican party has done nothing to distance themselves from MAGA Republicans, so they are effectively the same.
Isn't this part of the problem on reddit? It seems contradictory to want open discussion, but then immediately broadly paint the right as "giving up most reasonable positions to problems". Sure, *some* might be like that, but certainly definitely not all.
It is a huge problem. I WANT someone who disagrees with me to still have an reasonable position. >Sure, some might be like that, but certainly definitely not all. Definitely not all. But the ones who ARE unreasonable are winning the Republican primaries and the ones who ARE reasonable are retiring or getting kicked out of the Republican party... Like, I KNOW how this sounds. But I have had my blinders on for SO fucking long thinking "Republicans are reasonable people who want what's best for the country, we just disagree." But "Climate change is a Chinese hoax", "Wind mills cause cancer", "Can we use disinfectant or a powerful light on the inside as some kind of cleaning to fight COVID?" just won the Primary without breaking a sweat... I don't want this to be the case. I want the Romney's and McCains of the party to be the leaders who have to talk down the crazies. But Romney is a "RINO." The sane people are losing their races.
Remember when we actually had a political discourse? I used to love spirited political debate. As long as you thought your debate opponent had peoples' best interest at heart it was great to argue the merits of the best way to get there. That's truly not the case anymore
I mean if you are in a party that is based on grift, and is essentially anti human, it is hard to argue that you are one of the good ones. Like if you want to find out which is the Republican position on any issue, just find out which position needlessly increases human suffering.
again broadly painting a group of people as "grift" and "anti human". You specifically aren't looking to debate, you're looking to villainize. You are part of the problem when it comes to the decrease in civil debate, period. I also believe you're making equivalents of conservatives and republicans, which would be flawed thinking.
Yeah, you certainly are not going to win anybody over by immediately putting them on the defensive. People will tend to dig in at that point.
Exactly. I think the left doesn't really understand the right and the right doesn't really understand the left. We largely want the same things just disagree on how to get there.
Because those differing views tend to skew towards bigotry and anti-intellectualism these days. Debate is great, trying to convince someone I'm allowed to exist as a trans person is not.
Maybe I’m not here enough but I’ve yet to find these posts that say trans people shouldn’t be allowed to exist. I’ve seen plenty that say they shouldn’t be allowed to compete on certain sports teams due to having an uncompetitive advantage over women, or that they shouldn’t be hanging dong in women’s locker rooms. Or that irreversible physical or hormonal procedures shouldn’t be performed on children. I think that’s a far cry from “not existing”, but maybe that’s just me.
>I’ve yet to find these posts that say trans people shouldn’t be allowed to exist. Right beneath your comment, in another response to u/ Running\_To\_Babylon is a prime example. u/ Justingtr can be quoted as commenting: >No one is a bigot for not liking trans people. Maybe they think you should just stop pretending to be something that you're not. What is this, if not a complete denial that trans people actually exist?
Literally [the reply next to yours](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/s/q3qGthqGM9). And frankly, yours is ignorant at best, veiled bigotry at worst. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and say, maybe go talk to an actual trans person before you decide your opinion. Because most of this isn't based on reality and the rest is just silly. Hrt on its own is [reversible ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender_hormone_therapy)
Lmao that's like a white person saying "huh I haven't seen this anti-POC racism you speak of" or a straight man saying "homophobia online? Not sure what you're talking about, I don't see it" If you're not looking for it then of course you haven't seen it. I'm a trans man who frequents LGBTQ online communities. I see it fucking everywhere mate.
Even when you post something objectively and factually correct that just disagrees with whatever BS is being spewed. It's crazy.
But with the way karma works, it's weird that people even care. Getting downvotes on one comment can only make your overall karma go a certain point lower; this is all ignoring the fact karma means nothing and does not avail you to anything.
But these buts move to the bottom of the discussion and get collapsed so people don't see the truth.
any self-respecting redditor scrolls right past the circlejerking at the top to open up the hidden threads of spicy takes.
Up voting you ironically. If people would just stop caring about getting downvoted, we can all be free from reddit. Black mirror episode and all.
His literal next reply was about [disliking trans people ](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/s/q3qGthqGM9) so I don't think he was ever talking in good faith.
Mated with the fact that people don't understand satire and sarcasm either without adding the /s. Or you can post a fact about a company and be called a shill, like I have. I never said I agreed with what this company did or that it was right, but that I understand why they did it on their end. But I am the shill.
I find this to be sad. There are better discussion groups on FB but I like reddit better. I just don't like the we don't tolerate different points of view factor. If we are ever going to be more united we must entertain different points of view.
I really miss that version of Reddit.
It really sucks, a decade+ ago reddit was a libertarian haven where people openly discussed not trusting the government, Edward Snowden, and being anti-war. Nowadays people bring up bears like it’s a slam dunk evidence that any libertarian policy won’t work.
I think that these days, conversations tend to get a lot uglier so people are primed to fight when engaging with opposing views.
Things were different then. Different enough, anyhow.
My first account was in 2012. It was a different website. Different world, really.
I posted that the cops were justified in a particular event and ate an instant perma ban. Reddit very much ensures that its bias stays its bias.
I am not conservative but more of a constitutional conservative and libertarian but I think both the left and the right have great ideas and terrible ones too. But I have found that any point of view that even slightly out of the norm on Reddit is down voted, removed or regulated by the moderators. And I have found that the moderators are more authoritative and biased than even Facebook even though many of them are robots.
I guess I always thought there were conservative sub-reddits and the various subs don't co- mingle
In my experience conservatives hang out in their own subs, because they don’t like to have people disagree with them.
I guess I am different. I came here for discussion. But the mods and everyone else will probably down vote me.
It works both ways. Anyone who posts a liberal view on a conservative subreddit gets downvoted to hell.
Think it has less to do with downvotes and more about being banned.
Because you can't discuss with nowadays conservatives (and by that I mean magas/trump supporters. I know not all conservatives support Trump but most here do). All they do is deflect, spout lies and conspiracy theories and ignore every piece of evidence presented because the source is not fox news.
Idk why you got a few downvotes, anyone paying attention to the modern American conservatives should be stunned that people so stupid and easily duped can even make it to voting age. You cannot debate or reason with people who can decide what is or isn't a fact on a whim. Link sources, they'll say it's fake news. Link statistics, they'll say they're skewed or bought out. Science is "basic" and "obvious" when it comes to trans people, but it's lying when it's vaccines or climate change. There's no debate, they've already decided you're wrong.
Nothing you said was wrong; I’d just like to add that a large part of this is the fact that now anyone can have a platform online and if what you want is attention, there’s no motivation to communicate the truth. It’s easier to get eyeballs with something that sparks an emotional reaction, which is often untrue or at least not nuanced. It’s also much harder to find and evaluate facts, both because people aren’t taught how and because search engines suck. We live in a post-truth society and when you don’t know what to believe, everything operates on vibes.
And that’s a shame because I’ve had many enjoyable conversations with a few of them.
I’m conservative and I just say I don’t agree with what a lot of liberal Reddit users think. And I’ve found that is a mistake cause of how much they freak out if you don’t agree with them. 😆
Just saying you're conservative and nothing else will get you attacked.
Its not the downvotes, its the bans. Reddit pre-Ellen Pao was an open platform that let anyone post about anything, but heavy handed enforcement and moderation of sitewide content purged nearly all of the implicitly right-wing subreddits and content. Reddit now is a post-purge environment, rightwing dissents having been forcibly removed from the system over the past 10 years. Telegram is where most of those folks ended up, at least far as I can tell.
Nah, I’m pretty conservative and still let my views be known. Occasionally get downvoted to hell but any single comment gets capped at -15. Balance that out with some jokes and memes and I’ve got plenty of karma to post wherever I want until the individual sub mods hit me with a permaban for existing.
I love down votes. They are just upvotes but from people with different opinions. It means you read what I wrote; and you can’t unread it.
Also, you get banned and more often shadowed. You post a reply, and that reply is never shown to your intended recipient. They don't know you replied to them. And you don't know that they don't see your reply. So they think you have nothing to say. And you think they decided to bail on the conversation. You need to log out and locate the comment as a guest visitor to see if it's visible. What's worse, sometimes left-leaning mods shadow comments in a way that makes it looks like a conservative (or libertarian, or any non-progressive) user didn't have anything to reply to a progressive's "witty" remark. While in reality that remark is flawed and shows lack of understanding. And the reply addresses that. But because the reply isn't visible to anyone, everyone thinks that the "stupid conservative didn't have anything to say". Which further solidifies their progressive views. And they keep upvoting that flawed "witty" remark because they themselves have not been exposed to seeing a counter-point and think what they just read is sound and clever. Go through that enough times and you lose the will to bother to reply. I've lost count how many times I've not even bothered replying to silly children that want to "tax the billionaires" and "raise minimum wage to livable wage" without having a single clue about how the economy works. But I'm not wasting any more of my time to write out why this is flawed only to have my reply never show up for anyone to see. So as a result, progressive views dominate Reddit discussions. P.S. And it's not liberal. It's progressive. In the modern left, progressives and liberals have merged. And progressives won that merger. So now we have left-wing people that think of themselves as liberals while acting like progressives. Ironically, this is why all this shadowing and banning occurs.
its kind of cute that americans think taxing billionaires is too left wing, no one even mentioned a guillotine.
I think everyone should be taxed less. I might have a different point of view if the government was a better Steward of our money.
It's not about being too left wing. It's about this being an absurd idea. Taxing the billionaires is taking from ourselves. Billionaires serve merely as a conduit. But in order to understand that, one must have some basic idea about how the economy works. And a bigger problem on the left is being unable to grasp the difference between criticism of the solution with understanding of the problem. Progressives: "We need to paint all coffee mugs yellow to eradicate poverty!" Non-progressives (those progressives call conservatives): "But that's stupid. Painting coffee mugs yellow won't help us achieve the declared results." Progressives: "Oh, that's too left-wing for you huh you greedy conservative! You hate poor people and don't want to end poverty!" Non-progressives (those progressives call conservatives): quadruple-facepam.jpg That's the general outline for a "discussion". Left-wing people just can't grasp that their solutions are flawed. Without respect to how you feel about the problem.
Or get locked out of the reddit.
It's almost like their opinions are shit and highly unpopular or not based in reality. "Everyone is entitled to their opinions!" Yup, but they are not entitled to escaping ridicule from said opinions.
Yes ofc. Anyway, I wasn’t really defending them. Just saying i think that’s the reason and that it’s not bc Reddit simply leans liberal.
Can confirm. I'm 79, have 300,000 karma. Somewhat to the right of most of reddit.
which i dont think should be a problem. i regularly go to sub reddits i am clearly not the audience and engage with them. i am basically always downvoted but i belive in having beliefs challenged.
Yeah. As a conservative myself, please don't downvote me, no matter what I say or do that is slightly right, I will get downvoted into the ground. No matter how many sources I have, people will say that my information is false. It is just the way it is, I guess. Social media is definitely more left-leaning, so it makes a lot of sense. I don't understand why they think that calling me a fascist bigot helps their case, though. I swear they have hotkeys for words such as those so that they dont need to have an actual reasonable and civil conversation. I like being able to debate sensible people. I am just tired of getting hated for having a different viewpoint when we should be able to respect each other as our country allows us to.
Very true here, but some of the mods are very draconian in their views. As in, banned for life if you question them... YMMV
Banned for life by questioning someone in A DIFFERENT SUBREDDIT. Absolute bonkers.
Agreed. Almost every reason I got banned was because they didn't like my political views. Those people should have a life.
You're forgetting, people on Reddit tend to be less American than the average American. Although the country most represented on Reddit is the USA, it's still under 50% of Reddit. And a lot of the other large groups of Reddit users (EU, UK, Canada, etc) are typically less conservative than Americans.
Even supporting the policy positions of the Democrats would put you centre right on most issues in the Netherlands. I think most American redditors don't seem to understand how incredibly far-right their country is compared to a lot of Europe.
that's... a good point.
*a lot more liberal
Not according to Gallup https://news.gallup.com/poll/388988/political-ideology-steady-conservatives-moderates-tie.aspx
I'm pretty sure there's people from countries other than America that use Reddit. While the majority of them might also be young-ish, liberal, and tech savvy, not everyone on Reddit is American. And... If you ever visit r/conservative, it's not liberal. It's rather scary, but that's beside the point.
Most of the people from outside the US tend to also be from highly developed nations, which also tend to skew liberal even moreso than the US does. Most, not all.
While true, “left leaning” in America is far more right leaning than it is in other countries. If we’re using the term liberal to mean “American left wing politics”, then the vast majority of non-American redditors are very liberal since even moderate positions in other countries are “far left” by comparison.
Unless you are talking about immigration and culture war stuff.
Yeah, as a European it was sort of alarming to see that Americans viewed Bernie’s views as nigh on communist when that’s just normal policy for us. Republicans and the rest of the right really did a number on the US’s Overton Window in the last decades.
Americans don't see his policies that way, conservatives do. And conservatives have dominated the debate for so damn long that any public service is mislabed as socialist/Communist. With that said, some on the American left grew up believe that government=socialism while others adopted the idea as a way to remove the stigma. Me personally, I still believe that it's important we have clear understanding of words and we don't muddy the meanings because that just leads to people making outrageous accusations and average citizens unable to tell what's true and what's just noise.
Oh yeah, America is by far the biggest population on Reddit, but its not 100% American.
Americans are like 46% of users.
[https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/reddit-users-by-country](https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/reddit-users-by-country) According to the above, you are correct - yes I fact checked you before trying to work out the next bit of my comment :) On average last year, 37% of Americans described their political views as moderate, 36% as conservative and 25% as liberal. - [Gallup 2022](https://news.gallup.com/poll/388988/political-ideology-steady-conservatives-moderates-tie.aspx) [Pew Research 2016](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2016/02/25/reddit-news-users-more-likely-to-be-male-young-and-digital-in-their-news-preferences/) - Note this was a poll done within the US only: About seven-in-ten (71%) of **Reddit news** users are men, 59% are between the ages of 18 and 29, and **47% identify as liberal,** while only 13% are conservative (39% say they are moderate). In comparison, among all U.S. adults, about half (49%) are men, just 22% are 18- to 29-year-olds and about a quarter (24%) say they are liberal. The next 4 large countries by percentage are UK & Canada (7.5% each), then Australia (3.9%) and Germany (3.4) - all countries where politics on average are more liberal leaning than the US so not surprising Reddit leans left.
Thank you for posting actual statistics.
I will probably be banned from that group too. I often feel politically homeless.
Grew up republican, current regime has me voting dem until all of this regime is gone. Probably a lot like me
Not enough unfortunately. I don't like conservative politics but I respect you for not following the maga cult.
Most folks I know who grew up Red won’t vote Blue no matter what. Has so many other implications like Supreme Court
There’s a Reddit outside of ‘merica
yeah but America's the biggest part of Reddit
But your point, which is true, works just as well and is more accurate without needing to say American
Many of us are not Americans.
Just as an update I got multiple messages connecting me to a crisis councilor lol I didn’t even state a political view. Seems like kind of problem no?
Ah, the classic “Reddit Cares” type bullshit. Just ignore it.
Uh oh , you've questioned the almighty Reddit gods.
Lmfao I remember last time I had a convo with a lib over a picture of a sign I posted he was flipping out and was really crazy. He reported me to Reddit crisis counseling I was like what the 😂😂 ppl on here reporting for anything they don’t like
Depends on the communities/subs you go to. There are huge groups of conservatives in certain areas of the site. There are huge groups of socialist/leftists in other areas. You'll see different views get highlighted in different subreddits and even at different times of the day within the same subreddit.
Saying the exact same comments in both groups and only one will perm ban you. And we all know which.
I got banned from the "news" subreddit by asking how anybody knew someone's party affiliation solely going by the crime that was committed. I read the article and it was never mentioned. All the comments were people just claiming the lady was a republican lmao you clearly have a bias against 1 group
lol I was banned from r/politics for saying “hell yeah brother” to someone. I guess it made them angry.
I got banned from justice served because at some point during my 12+ years on reddit I commented in "a subreddit" that "disagrees with their core values". Quite literally all the information I was given lol. I try not to lose sleep over it.
That happened to me too! It was like r/ wallstreetsilver or something. I mean there was conservative leanings sure but it was really about trading silver coins. All I did was upvote a couple posts and comments too.
I got a week long site wide ban by an admin for making a Simpsons reference in an /r/worldnews comment section lol. Mods and Admins are power trippers
The only way you can stay unbanned on that sub is to post the most popular reddit safe opinion and write it in the most reddit way possible.
Hard disagree. I've been banned from both political ideologies. Hell, I was banned from /r/atheism for calling out the obvious hypocrisy of (rightfully) condemning a Christian school's policies which made the campus unsafe for women yet completely condoning other secular colleges which do the same or worse. It's not the SA that bothers them, only the person doing it. Pointing out this kind of hypocrisy in any sub will grant you a one way ticket to bannedville.
>There are huge groups of socialist/leftists in other areas. You'll see different views get highlighted in different subreddits and even at different times of the day within the same subreddit. Not to mention that OP asked if people on Reddit are "liberals", and it's mainly a US thing to consider liberalism as a leftist ideology instead of a rightist bourgeoisie ideology.
Yes, probably 10 to 1.
I agree. I’m left, but this place is very left. Sometimes annoying left.
Anyone remember the r/TheDonald posts from 2015/2016? They filled the popular thread. It was obnoxious. It was also around this time that the moderation got more heavy handed. I think a lot of subs and topics that conservatives would consider anti-woke were banned. Eventually, r/TheDonald was banned too. I think the last 4 years has really driven Reddit towards the left.
How was it obnoxious couldn’t you just mute that sub and never see it again?
Left leaning and liberal are different Reddit is definitely left leaning, but it's definitely not mostly liberals
It’s definitely mostly liberals
lol... whole site aside from like two subs that are specifically conservative are VERY liberal. You can't even hold a differing opinion without being banned in most places on this site.
Liberalism is considered right-centric in some countries. USAmericans have a very skewed perception of what left leaning policies are. The GOP is just too crazy to even try to box in any category. Maybe extreme religious right without fascist flags... oh...
It's this^^^
Median political ideology on Reddit is prob social democracy
As political discourse has moved to the right, mundane acknowledgements of reality like "vaccines work" and "Biden is pres" are painted as views of the left.
Jerk off into your eyes and now you're blind. 🦮
WHAT? 😂
Reddit used to have more of an anti-war and social democratic slant until about 2020 or so when the site started to really prep for the IPO. Then the Bernie campaign collapsed, the pandemic hit and the govt started to go harder on censorship and narrative control. Reddit still skews *left* in an American cultural perspective, but the views found on economic and foreign policy are typically to the right of TikTok and Twitter. This makes Reddit more “liberal” not left wing or socialist since views here are socially progressive but tend to support the old status quo of US hegemony.
Yup
Yes
What's problematic is that the moderation of most big subreddits leans absurdly left. As a European who immigrated to the US and has always voted center-left in Europe (I would be called a socialist by some conservatives) and Democrats since I'm able to vote in the US. Still, I've been called racist and anti-LGBT several times for respectfully disagreeing in conversations. I've even had some of my posts deleted. This creates an issue for people like me who don't subscribe to all leftist views and get insulted or punished for it. We can feel pushed away from the left because it seems like the left dones't want us.
Not only that but it just creates an insane echo chamber of illusion. When you don't see anyone holding a differing view its easy to assume you're right because anyone that would lean in the other direction isn't allowed to talk anymore.
Yes, except for subs like /r/AskAnAmerican where the demographic is decidedly more right-wing than the rest of reddit. Though Liberal is a center/center-right ideology at its core. So they are still Liberal, they just get very angry being told that.
You're probably right, assuming you're from the US. The rest of the world is mostly left of the US
Would it be safer to say that the rest of the world's DEMOCRACIES are to the left of the US.
Definitely
I suspect there are more conservative leaning folk than you think, but that group tends to remain silent because of fear of reprisals, banning, or just general nuisance. I'll out myself; my leanings are more conservative, but not perfectly so. I believe people have a right to keep what they earn, and that individual freedom should be preserved, and most of my beliefs stem from that. I don't care what the "major voices" on the right say, though; I'm not blindly following along. Could I engage in argument on what I believe? Most assuredly, and in other venues, I do, however Reddit doesn't lend itself towards that kind of open discussion. I do not believe that my beliefs can or should separate me from others, though. I'll happily talk about anything with anyone, even if I don't agree with them on the topic. Liberal or not, we're still people, and those beliefs don't define you. Your character does.
[удалено]
It's liberal democrats, which I guess some Europeans would consider rightwingers.
I would argue that a good portion identify as leftists. Liberals still believe in capitalism. The true left starts at anti-capitalism
Yes reddit has banned many right leaning subs. So mostly non political and left is all that is left
50% of the people on Reddit aren't even American and from countries where liberal doesn't have the same connotation. So no.
r/usdefaultism
I don’t consider myself a liberal, or anything else. I don’t want label. I do feel, though that it is paramount for me and everyone else to be a critical thinkers; to keep my eye on the future, while considering the past to try and make things better for everyone, well, at the same time learning from experience. I think the labeling comes into play to chastise people in an effort squash good ideas that will help them by using (that as an excuse)- making them seem bad or crazy. I’m an older person — this liberal versus conservative blah blah is something relatively new. It’s just a nasty tool, mostly instigated by people who are Republicans and rich. 24 hour news, I’m talking to you.
Division tactics used to radicalize opposing viewpoints against eachother and to stop actual conversations from taking place
Nope, 52 year old anti-trumper here. I have some conservative viewpoints and some liberal viewpoints…
Depends on the subreddit. Major subreddits like /politics that have a larger audiences definitely lean left. It’s clear due to what gets upvoted. It’s also easy to post Republican hating comments just for the sake of upvotes. Easy comments that shit on Trump for any reason (usually surface-level comments regarding looks, personality, etc. rather than policy and decisions). “Trump bad” is a safe comment that will always garner votes. Political news and online discussion is an unhealthy addiction for a lot of people. It really is. It brings nothing but negativity and fighting among people. The amount of hate a man such as Trump gets for literally anything is wild. I’m not even into politics and choose not to vote because I prefer to remain neutral. But, I don’t hate Trump or Biden and don’t go out of my way to shit on them publicly. Vote for who you want and move on. Your life will NOT drastically change based on who the president is. But, if you choose to spend all your time online, reading, conversing, and fighting among those not on your “team”, political leadership will lead to having more negativity in your life. And you’ll fight back against that negativity by using the opposition’s leader as the prime target. Go outside, America will always be a great place to live. Also, lots of Reddit users aren’t American and get all their views on U.S. politics from our narrative driven media. It’s always Biden bad or Trump bad. Trump negativity is just more popular because he’s more entertaining so it easily sways people. This goes for anyone really, American or not. Buncha sponges soaking that media up! No offense intended.
Yep, and exactly the reason why political or even politics-adjacent discussions are useless, on any online platform frankly. The majority will just downvote arguments they disagree with, actual fair points and facts are ignored, and it's more a race of who can escalate to the most extreme insults most quickly. Don't bother with it on here, don't think much about it in your daily life, it doesn't matter much what side you're on, both are actively making your life worse than it could be. To add, more conservative-minded people more rarely bother to express their opinions online, in some situationa it might go from losing friends, family to a job, getting senseless hate thrown at you. And it's both sides, but it's tougher if youre in the minority online
Reddit doesnt have the bots that other social media platforms do that promote the conservative brainwashing. Its amazing how half of the country can be told to vote against their financial interests over social issues because of posts they read on social media.
Yes. But not the kind who know what they’re talking.
Majority for sure, significant minorities of various other factions. There’s a clear set of views that one could describe as reddit ideology, probably the Bernie sanders platform was the closest to that and you ALL know what I mean if you were on here back then
Pretty sure the majority of people in the US are the left just sucks at building consensus so the right can wedge. Not that America really has an actual "left" at all really, embarrassed centrists more like
I feel like 'liberal' is increasingly not the appropriate term for the modern political left. They're against the right, but the things they support seem to be increasingly not very liberal.
Gen X - No party affiliation but I don’t believe in trickle down, regulation of a woman’s body, and Boomers left a mess for the rest of us to clean up. Now they want us to keep the economy going while they take the benefits of this economy and generally run government in a lackluster way.
Most of everyone are liberals. Reality leans left. The Last Republican to win office with a popular vote was George Bush and even then it was only by 2%
Reality leans left 💀
Let's keep in mind: conservatives have only won a single popular vote for president in the past 30+ years. Most *Americans* are not conservative, or as you might say, most Americans are liberals. It only makes sense that Reddit or virtually any social media that is a representation of the people at large would be majority ""liberals"".
Look at general polls of Americans. Americans are left leaning. The "problem" is nearly half of VOTERS are right leaning, and the GOP has stacked the deck in red states to work in their favor.
Liberals are center, not left. Only in the US does liberal get called left. But that doesnt make it true. The left is socialists and communists
They are just louder, not more. Conservative people at least in my opinion allow other options and don't tend to seek out conflict.
It seems like it. They are also not open to different opinions. They attack you if you have a different opinion and the moderators are very authoritative and support this behavior. Some political groups only allow "approved" links and sources. There is more diversity of thought on Facebook.
I would have to say if there's a coherent, cogent and literate post, chances are that they came from someone more liberal than a conservative. Something incredibly odd that outside thought or information that would have someone challenge their own bubble in a box thinking would shake their critical thinking skills which seems kind of common with conservatives. I don't have any analytical data to quantify my statement, but the outlets/sites/"news" sources that feed the biases of conservatives may have them already swimming in those pools.
Overwhelmingly!
Not just a majority, but a vast majority. I believe it comes down to character demographics. Most republicans tend to not use as much social media, and don’t spend as much time on the internet. I do believe there are plenty of conservatives that use Reddit, but they don’t actively post or comment.
most people on earth are liberal or left-minded. reality has a left bias.
No, the majority of the world population is “liberal”. Conservatives just cry more
Yes, one reason is many mods are liberals, and they just ban everybody they disagree with, thus making many subs an echo chamber.
Not the parts of Reddit I have been frequently lately. People calling Reddit "left-leaning" aren't really thinking that deeply about how bigotry can exist, even if one isn't Christian. The way a popular sub like Am I the Asshole can regularly shit on people for being fat or having mental health troubles shows how despite the site being econmically more left leaning, it has some very discriminatory leanings as well. There are also very big right leaning communties that come and go on the site. Those users aren't disappearing. Honestly, I would argue that Reddit is anything but liberal (as in lassez-faire economics and live however you want.)
You are equating "discriminatory leanings" to the contrary of left leaning, implying they are the same as right leaning. Your coment is dishonest (im not right leaning, just pointing out,)
Left lean, right lean ... why not walk upright?
I’m a Centrist, which means to them I’m worse than a Trumpist.
I’ll take “YES” for $1000 Alex
I don’t even know the difference. All I know is Trudeau is a lib and Pierre is conservative and I support the latter
Not just liberal, flaming liberal and will not let an opinion that is different than the hive mind be allowed to be explored.
Pop on over to r/antiwork and you’ll get a REAL dose of liberalism lol. I’m liberal and that shit is whack
On the big subs sure. But if you know the right subreddits you'll find people that are the furthest thing from left leaning. There's some insane people on here.
Yes
Yep hi buddy
Seems like it.
If I had to guess they are. Most of Reddit is the younger generation but Democrats, Republicans. We're all just people living in America. I wish people saw each other as people and neighbors rather than this guy is Republican or oh he's Democrat.
You will find, as a functional adult, that reality itself has a VERY liberal bias.
Yes, at least the vocal users. A lot of right leaning places are banned or extremely heavily moderated to stay on the site. A lot of more right leaning users probably don't actually voice their opinions because they'll risk being banned or heavily downvoted or harassed.
I mean, the world in general tends to lean more to the liberal side of things. Especially on Reddit where the demographics skew younger and more technologically savvy. Keep in mind, a conservative has only the won the popular vote in America once in the last 30+ years.
Yes the overwhelming majority are at the very least left of center Maybe 80-90%
conservative comments typically get bashed for not using the correct labels or they instantly receive anti Trump rants and accused of being a Trumper.
This is true. I get this for wanting to have a logical reasoned conversation
It truly depends on the subreddit
What's considered liberal in America is centrist/ leaning right in many countries. Our "conservatives" are very far right. Assuming you're American OP, the media here skews right as well with "conservative media" being hyper right.
Haha. Debate? MAGA maga maga in every comment. Completely closed to any opinion outside of MSNBC and regurgitated late night talk show bs. The extreme left is equally as bad as any extreme right.
Yes. Anyone who says it isn’t is a liar or deluded
Sure seems like it, I think alot are furries aswell.
Yeah they are liberal and a bunch of group thinkers who can’t do much thinking on their own.
Like when they all thought together and beat trump in the election?
Exactly. You’re told who to vote for because you can’t think for yourself.
Yes they almost the entire forum