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

[juice-squeezer.livejournal.com]

Here via QQ.

This has always been something I've wondered about too and I think it's quite a combination of factors. The age factor is definitely one of them, I think. The high female factor - not necessarily. Australian studies (am an Australian politics major) tend to suggest women are more likely to vote conservative actually. But maybe that's not the case in the US. As for net users in general being liberal, this may be true because of the tendency for liberals to be progressive and embrace new technologies and cultures more easily whereas, in threory, liberals tend to favour tradition and traditional modes of communication.

Another factor to consider is that because of the themes of Harry Potter (which brought so many people to LJ) tend to turn off many hardcore socially conservative types because of the witchcraft etc.

But I guess it's a pretty complex question and these are just my 2 cents.

[mlle-petal.livejournal.com]

hey there australian politics major, i'm an australian politics major. gawd, the people you run across in fandom, hey? :)

do you know, i had no idea that most aussie women voted Lib. (although, it seems that everyone is voting Lib these days. sigh.) i forget how overwhelmingly big 'L' liberal this country is becoming (but then, that probably comes from attending perth's leftiest uni and mixing with all small 'L' liberals!)

as for the witchcraft thing, i don't think that is actually much of a factor, really. i know there is a section of the christian community that believes that satan works through the boy with the lightning bolt scar; but there is such a strong tradition in children's literature of telling stories about witches, wizards and magic that most people are pretty blasé about the magic in potterverse.

i'm thinking it's mainly just a net thing. most conservatives i know don't like the internet; it gives them the heebie-jeebies :)

[juice-squeezer.livejournal.com]

Hey there - Uni campuses provide such a haven for small 'L' liberals from the scary big 'L' Liberal mania gripping the country.

Believe it or not, I've met real people who won't read Harry Potter because their church doesn't approve. So I guess if they won't even read it, they're less likely to end up in fandom.

But whatever the reason, I like that fandom is fairly liberal :)