Politics for a Tuesday

[pauraque_bk]

The best evidence suggests that LJ is much more liberal than the general population. My own election poll, primarily answered by fandom people, went even more overwhelmingly for Kerry. (I also asked only US citizens to participate; if I'd opened it up to everyone, I'm sure we'd've seen even more Kerry votes.)

Based on these polls, LJ fandom resembles a strongly Democratic-voting city, like Philadelphia or Washington, DC. That gels with my subjective experience of what the political views of online fans are like -- we're a big bunch of liberals. It feels much like my real life, and I live in Berkeley.

There are conservatives in fandom, of course, and they seem to be well aware they're in the minority, as the success of therightfangirl should attest.

So, my question of the day is: Why is online fandom so liberal? When this comes up, I usually hear variations on two different answers:


1. The internet as a whole is liberal.
We've already seen that LJ is liberal, and it seems to make sense that the internet would be, because so many internet users are sub/urban (or at least were in 1998). Then again, many users are also financially successful, which could indicate greater conservatism.

And there are online services that more accurately reflect the politics of the general population than LJ. AOL polls, for example, usually seem close(r) to national polls. I'm also reminded of that online newspaper poll on gay marriage some months back that we all encouraged each other to go vote in. It was a pretty even split. (But are conservatives better at organizing? Well, that's another topic.)

If there are any fandom oldbies listening, what were politics like before fandom got online?


2. It's the slash, baby.
Can this possibly be a major factor? Do conservatives really go looking for fanfic online, notice slash, and take their business elsewhere? Surely there are enough het and gen fandom outlets to make this a non-issue, except for the most savagely anti-gay individuals. (Ooh, has anyone polled the politics at the Sugar Quill?)

Or maybe it's the other way around. Are liberals attracted to fandom in greater numbers because of the gay-friendly atmosphere?


Responses from conservatives would be especially welcome.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

... perhaps the conservatives and middle-of-the-roaders don't talk about their political convictions as much?

I think that's because sometimes people feel that if they voice their conservative opinion in a heavily liberal fandom and/or area, one or two of the more intolerant people might just come attack them with obscenities and character insults (ie. Republican bigot, right-wing idiot, etc.). They might bring some of their friends, too, who might be intolerant of other opinions as well, so the insults keep multiplying until it becomes a big waste of time and energy.

Like me, I'm keeping this post anonymous because I don't want people gravitating to LJ and start asking me why I think this or that. A couple of weeks ago I was randomly attacked for supporting/honoring someone which, in their minds, my party obviously disagreed with.

[thepouncer.livejournal.com]

I agree with this - I don't want to have to justify my political beliefs to anyone, and any time I get the yen to comment on some issue, I know that I'd have to provide so much background that it becomes laborious and off-putting. Also, the post-election attacks on conservatives were frightening enough that the chances of me commenting on anything political was lessened significantly.