Suprised by # of conversative here, thought most Tech geeks would be liberal!

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cybrsage

Lifer
Nov 17, 2011
13,021
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Money corrupts. If you have ever been around someone who didn't have money and they came into money you would personally witness a change in their personality.

It is the love of money that corrupts.

IMO, the very purpose of money is to better the lives of others around you. Once your own life becomes comfortable, the extra money is to be used to help others reach that same point.

Sponsoring children in impoverished nations, for example, not only has the immediate effect of helping that child, but will also help the offspring that child has one day. It helps the family of that child care for the siblings of that child, since they now have more resources to use on the others.

Money is not evil, it is not bad. It is a gift once can give to others if one chooses to love something other than money.

:)
 

Icepick

Diamond Member
Nov 1, 2004
3,663
4
81
I think it has more to do with that many more young people frequent forums like this one than do older people. Younger people tend to be more liberal than conservative, if for no other reason than that their parents are conservative and they want to be different.

And I'm not sure what part of the forums you're reading OP, but it seems to me that this place is a veritable haven for liberals, just like [H] is.

When I was in my first few years of college I listened to Rush Limbaugh every day. I actually registered myself with the Conservative party for a while. I was still living at home, of course. It wasn't until after I graduated and moved into my own apartment that came to my senses and began to lean towards the left. It took me another 8 years until I voted for my first Democrat presidential candidate.

I disagree with you about Anandtech being a haven for liberals. In my years of perusing these forums they seem to be overwhelmingly Conservative. Then again, perhaps my observation is skewed due to a "few" Conservatives spamming threads much more heavily than left-leaning types.
 

CallMeJoe

Diamond Member
Jul 30, 2004
6,938
5
81
It is the love of money that corrupts.

IMO, the very purpose of money is to better the lives of others around you. Once your own life becomes comfortable, the extra money is to be used to help others reach that same point.

Sponsoring children in impoverished nations, for example, not only has the immediate effect of helping that child, but will also help the offspring that child has one day. It helps the family of that child care for the siblings of that child, since they now have more resources to use on the others.

Money is not evil, it is not bad. It is a gift once can give to others if one chooses to love something other than money.

:)
Silly me, I thought the purpose of money was to establish an efficient vehicle for the exchange of goods and services in a community too complex for simple barter to work well.
 

FoBoT

No Lifer
Apr 30, 2001
63,089
12
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fobot.com
you must be reading a different P&N forum if you view this one as 'balanced' or maybe it is my anti-Statist bias that makes me see it so unbalanced. yet another reason to avoid P&N for me, i guess
 

FoBoT

No Lifer
Apr 30, 2001
63,089
12
76
fobot.com
You're confusing conservatives with Luddites.

score! there are definitely liberal Luddites, for sure

er, i mean Liberals that seem to favor many of the positions the Luddites stood for , to be more precise (most/all environmental issues etc)
 

nehalem256

Lifer
Apr 13, 2012
15,669
8
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Economically I imagine Tech geeks would tend to skew middle/upper middle class, and so have enough money that liberals dont care about them, but dont have so much money that they can waste it on left-wing "causes".

They also skew male, which is a conservative leaning group.
 

Moonbeam

Elite Member
Nov 24, 1999
72,327
6,040
126
Only a douchebag of Craig234's magnitude would think it is a bad idea to be less judgmental of people and to let go of a bias, and have the nerve to say so and then try to justify it. That is would be terrible to replace being judgmental towards your political adversary with understanding. That might lead to compromise!! :rolleyes:

Thinking conservatives would not be interested in tech is like thinking liberals would not be interested in guns. The other day I posted some graphs and articles showing that simply isn't true, would it be a bad idea to hold onto that false bias as well Craig?

OP, I am guessing you are late teens to early twenties? Maybe age of your friends has something to do with it? Or perhaps since you are liberal, you are more likely to have liberal friends. Just a thought.

I love people like you who are reasonable. I am a leftist. I work for the devil to enslave mankind mind and body. I aim is the destruction of American liberty and the imposition of a Communist state. By the time you realize my purpose it will be to late. Unfortunately most conservatives are not as naive as you and would never compromise with me because they have the insight to recognize me for what I am. I worm my way into power till it's too late for you to stop me. Then when I have the power, it's off with your heads.

I hope you can see that no matter how pliant I might be willing to be, conservatives, real ones who can see, will never compromise with me. That is why my only option is to destroy you before you destroy me. Sound familiar?
 

Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
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score! there are definitely liberal Luddites, for sure

er, i mean Liberals that seem to favor many of the positions the Luddites stood for , to be more precise (most/all environmental issues etc)

So, if Luddites were in favor of puppies being cute, everyone who says puppes are cute is a Luddite? Not wanting the environment destroyed isn't only a Luddite position.
 

cybrsage

Lifer
Nov 17, 2011
13,021
0
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Silly me, I thought the purpose of money was to establish an efficient vehicle for the exchange of goods and services in a community too complex for simple barter to work well.

That was the intention of the creators of money, but it moved well past that point and is now something else. Much like when someone's intention is to eat the rest of the hamburger later...but after 3 weeks it has moved well past that point and is now something else.

:)
 

dwell

pics?
Oct 9, 1999
5,189
2
0
Centrism is the only intelligent choice. I don't believe anyone can be liberal or conservative without brainwashing from their parents or peers.
 

Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
38,548
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Centrism is the only intelligent choice. I don't believe anyone can be liberal or conservative without brainwashing from their parents or peers.

Which only shows the 'brainwashing' and deep ideology you are under the influence of - not any rational support for 'centrism', just ideology.

I've often said 'centrism' is the label for many of the most ignorant peopeople, a 'safe choice' who can mostly just be against both 'sides'.

Of course one basic flaw is how meaningless it is and easy to manipulate, simply by moving the goalposts of what 'right' and 'left' are.
 

Hayabusa Rider

Admin Emeritus & Elite Member
Jan 26, 2000
50,879
4,265
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Centrism is the only intelligent choice. I don't believe anyone can be liberal or conservative without brainwashing from their parents or peers.

Any of this is irrelevant to me. I ask if a thing is right, if it is well considered, if it is proper. Left and right are meaningless constructs.
 

monovillage

Diamond Member
Jul 3, 2008
8,444
1
0
Reading this politics forum, I am really surprised that it seem like conversation are balanced between conservatives and liberals. I have always assumed any tech geek, who know how build a PC, would be actually liberal. Probably, because everyone I know who build their PC are liberal.

I will be pretty honest, I just didn't anyone with conservative philosophy would be curious/enthusiastic about high tech stuff. Always imagine most Republican/Conservative as not having clue about computers, smart phones, etc. Of course, really consider them as people who loved old tech, like typewriters, and hated technological advances!

Guess that means I be less judgmental about conservatives and maybe let go of this bias...

As you get older and accrue wisdom you'll find yourself moving to the right politically. It's only the ignorant or the stupid that remain liberal past their 30's.
As examples you just have to read this thread.
 

CallMeJoe

Diamond Member
Jul 30, 2004
6,938
5
81
As you get older and accrue defective synapses you'll find yourself moving to the right politically. It's only the mentally active and healthy that remain liberal past their 30's.
As examples you just have to read this thread.
 

dmcowen674

No Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
54,894
47
91
www.alienbabeltech.com
When I was in my first few years of college I listened to Rush Limbaugh every day. I actually registered myself with the Conservative party for a while. I was still living at home, of course. It wasn't until after I graduated and moved into my own apartment that came to my senses and began to lean towards the left. It took me another 8 years until I voted for my first Democrat presidential candidate.

I disagree with you about Anandtech being a haven for liberals. In my years of perusing these forums they seem to be overwhelmingly Conservative. Then again, perhaps my observation is skewed due to a "few" Conservatives spamming threads much more heavily than left-leaning types.

Did you have any inkling that you were brainwashed?

Do you think that strictly because you were no longer surrounded by the outside influences that you were able to un-brainwash yourself?

Was in frightening?
 

nehalem256

Lifer
Apr 13, 2012
15,669
8
0
As you get older and accrue defective synapses you'll find yourself moving to the right politically. It's only the mentally active and healthy that remain liberal past their 30's.
As examples you just have to read this thread.

Im sure that is why it is was the Democrats who decided to recall the governor of Wisconsin... and then complain that he was spending time on the recall instead of job creation :\
 

Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
38,548
348
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Did you have any inkling that you were brainwashed?

Do you think that strictly because you were no longer surrounded by the outside influences that you were able to un-brainwash yourself?

Was in frightening?

In my opinion, people who are 'brainwashed' generally have no idea they are.

That's what propaganda genrally is - 'one' plausible set of views that is internally consistent - and 'makes sense' if you don't cratch the surface too much.

I could name hundreds of examples - it's why Vietnam was a 'good war' to stop the 'domino theory', and as was just posted here today the 'reason for losing' was the politicians.

The process for understanding their error is a process of education - at which point they understand they were wrong and why on that issue, but nothing else would have fixed it.

If you had tried to talk to them, they have a series of views why you are wrong and they're right, to dismiss the water you lead their horse to but can't make it drink.

That's why I have a long series of posts here flagged about '95% of what's posted here about the left is wrong or lies and I can't remember the other 5%'.

Interestingly even if you educate someone on one issue, it doesn't help them on other issues; and sometimes, 'more education' can actually lead to brainwashing.

A complicated issue can have a great case that's wrong for one side. Someone who is very ignorant can hear the one side and fall for it thinking they have a better opinion.

That happens a lot with a group like Libertarians - and is the bases of the saying 'a little knowledge is dangerous'. It's why they latch on so hard to a few nuggets of truth.

Some of the most stubborn people who are wrong can be those who have gotten that 'little information', so they've 'corrected' one wrong view but not realized they've gotten a better informed but wrong position. And to make it worse there are legions of propagandists who are paid exactly to fool people this way, by persuading less informed people of a wrong position by creating a plausible argument.

'Everyone knew' that Vietnam was a stage for the Soviet-US conflict, and that if we didn't defend South Vietnam, they'd simply eat it up and then we'd have to fight in Thailand.

It's rational and plausible - and drove us to be behind millions of people being killed and politically derailing our own progressive government. And it was wrong.

It's not as if 'one side' was right; JFK eventually was, but most of his party was not. The Democrats were faster to switch positions, but they were late to do so.

It was not easy to explain to someone in the early 1960's why Vietnam was a mistake. How long has it taken our country to stop viewing gays as monsters deserving jail or worse?

To answer your questions, imagine someone who saw the real horrors of the USSR and felt they were a threat to the planet, it was freedom or their tyranny. While they put Vietnam into that forumla, it was clear what the right thing was to do; and until they got educated, 'oh, it was about people not wanting to be colonized', 'oh, we only had options to back corrupt regimes', and so on - despite there being some truth to the North being terrible, communists, murderous thugs, torturers and moral criminals - they supported it.

And these things take on a life of their own - once the political decision has been made to go to war, simply protecting political power means continuing to defend the war.

See my sig, 'ideology is the enemy'.

Save234
 

Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
38,548
348
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Im sure that is why it is was the Democrats who decided to recall the governor of Wisconsin... and then complain that he was spending time on the recall instead of job creation :\

How many Democrats have attacked Walker for spending time on the recall? Provide evidence.

Of course, given the fact that 2/3 of his contributions in the election have come from out of state; that he's apparently illegally diverted funds to his legal defense fund; there's plenty to criticize. If he's not just spending some time on the recall but going around the country funraising and not doing what he should as governor, he deserves criticism.
 

Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
38,548
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As you get older and accrue defective synapses you'll find yourself moving to the right politically. It's only the mentally active and healthy that remain liberal past their 30's.
As examples you just have to read this thread.

It's one thing to be wrong, but another to be perversely, ironically wrong like saying 'learning to read and write makes you less well informed'.

Of course, all of our older conservative Fox viewers who are the only ones to really get that Obama is a foreign-born Muslims could back you up.
 

schneiderguy

Lifer
Jun 26, 2006
10,769
52
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I'd explain it to you but you are not ready to understand the answer.

Isn't a strict Democrat or Republican the most likely person to be brainwashed? I don't see any TV news station shoving Libertarian ideology down people's throats.

It seems like the third party/moderates would be the least brainwashed and people like yourself who parrot the party line (that they're fed from watching FOX/MSNBC/CNN/whatever) would be the most brainwashed.

Save234
 
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nehalem256

Lifer
Apr 13, 2012
15,669
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Of course, all of our older conservative Fox viewers who are the only ones to really get that Obama is a foreign-born Muslims could back you up.

That is still an improvement over liberalism, whose ideology promotes single motherhood, and then complains when they end up in poverty. :colbert:
 

feralkid

Lifer
Jan 28, 2002
16,397
4,455
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Suprised by # of conversative here, thought most Tech geeks would be liberal!



Of course people here are conversative...it's a forum; that's what it's for.