Cyclists are liberals?! (Retry)

[Aggie_Ama]

My car is a confusing one to label. I have a "Please be kind to cyclists" bumper sticker automatically labeling me as a liberal to many, yes I have exactly that yelled at me while riding. I have also been called a tree hugging hippie but I like trees and when mountain biking I even hug them some. I don't think I am a hippie but they seem okay so I guess I could be called worse!

Then I have a "Texas A&M Association of Former Students Century Club Member" sticker. A&M is known as the most conservative (or if you talk those hippies in Austin- redneck) public school in Texas. For pete's sake George Bush (the first one) chose to put his library there. So what am I?

[smilingcat]

Well, what's funny is that what I am is called Liberal, but my ideals are very conservative. Conserve fuel, conserve land, treasure our resources, have less children. but that's a liberal for you.

Yes that is what a real conservatives do.

BTW, if people haven't figured out yet; I consider myself a SOCIALIST. so I picked liberal. Still fiscally very much a conservative though. Maybe this is why I just can't see myself spending mucho buckaroos for a brand new bike. Even though I really want one. There are lot of other things I would like to have but don't. I read alot, no time for TV. Again can't justify even a $700 flat screen TV or any TV for that matter. And my car, I'm hoping it can make it to around 300,000 mile mark. Then I'll get a decent car like the Honda FIT. People here have been saying nice things about it so...

And why a SOCIALIST?? Well I believe in universal health care, unemployment insurance and payment, welfare for the needy, care for the elderly social security, medicare... Care for our soldiers and THEIR families (I find it totally revolting that many of the enlisted families have to live below the poverty line). These are values I hold dearly. And all the other values where we care about welfare of others. This to me is a SOCIALIST. It may not be popular and I don't argue with others. This is just me.

I respect what others believe and of their intelligence (with exception of Idi Amin Dada, PolPot..), so all I ask is to respect my belief and my intelligence. And I sincerely hope, I didn't insult anyone.

[Brandi]

I am at a point where it seems it doesn't matter what you are but who is going to do the best job for our people and our country. And i think just getting out there and voting is the most important thing anyone can do no matter what you believe. Thank you and good night!

[TxDoc]

Proud Republican here

[Tuckervill]

Don't discount that this is the internet too. Though it is not a total bastion of liberalism, it does tend have slightly more left leaning demographics.

It does?

I can't imagine how that would even begin to be measured.

I think it may appear left leaning in some ways, because I think left leaning people are more likely to be hanging in open forums where all kinds of people may happen by. I think more conservative people may be less willing to tolerate jostling around with people who have fundamental ideas different from their own, and thus prefer more private communities. (This is my own personal opinion formed from my experiences of creating forums around a certain lifestyle choice, back when the internet was new.)

Karen

[Biciclista]

yes, true. More young people are liberal. More older people are not. The internet population tends to be a lot younger than the general population.

I am surprised however at how big the percentage difference is here. Part of it is surely the age thing.
Are liberals more apt to be interested in physical exercise? in getting on bikes and riding?
interesting anyway!

[Crankin]

What do you mean the age thing? A good many of us are over 50...
Are we supposed to be conservative because of our age? I have found that political leanings have more to do with 1) what part of the country you live in and 2) the political beliefs of your family. Both of those are generalizations, but ones that I have found are more true than age.
I have lived in the northeast, the south, the west, and back to the northeast.
There's a reason i moved back here!

[Eden]

It does?

I can't imagine how that would even begin to be measured.

I think it may appear left leaning in some ways, because I think left leaning people are more likely to be hanging in open forums where all kinds of people may happen by. I think more conservative people may be less willing to tolerate jostling around with people who have fundamental ideas different from their own, and thus prefer more private communities. (This is my own personal opinion formed from my experiences of creating forums around a certain lifestyle choice, back when the internet was new.)

Karen

I know I've seen studies that back this up. Though at the moment I'm only finding evidence that points in that direction. The largest demographic in internet usage would be described as young, college educated, relatively well off, urban or suburbanite. They also are more likely to live in a "blue" state. High Internet penetration can be found along both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, as well as in the Rocky Mountain States. Meanwhile, in the interior of the country, especially in the Midwest and the South, Internet use lags greatly behind the national average. I'll hazard that people who are in this group are probably more likely to self identify as liberal than conservative. (these statistics come from a Pew Research web site) That is of course not to say that people who do not fit this demographic never use the internet or that all people who do fit this demographic are also liberal- they just are not the majority. I'll see if I can find something more definitive.

Also I'm sure that this will change. People who use the internet today, I think, are still considered to be "early adopters". Once more people begin using the internet and it becomes as ubiquitous as television, the internet community will be much more likely to have the same demographic as the actual community. People will just gravitate to different sites as they gravitate to different tv programming.

[Tuckervill]

You're probably right. I just think the saturation rate is as deep as it's going to get...that we're past the "early adopters" stage. But then, I've been online since 1994. (Compuserve! I chatted with someone in Australia. woowoo!) Even my parents, in their 70s, have been online for 8+ years.

I sense more acceptance and embracing of the internet in that aforementioned community on the conservative side.

The people who are never going to be online are going to die off soon. The people growing up today have always been online. There will always be the ones who eschew technology, and those who have it and don't use it.

I recently got a Blackberry, which means I can get the email and internet virtually anywhere. I used to believe I didn't need this, but it has been very helpful on my current trip (I'm gone from home for a month--starting week 3 today). Even though I have my laptop, I don't have to hunt for a signal to look up directions. I can do it on the fly. This is where I think the big change in the way people use the internet is occurring. I'm by no means an early adopter of this technology!

You're probably right, though.
Karen

[Biciclista]

Crankin, I am 56 and as liberal as they came. I said statistically there are more conservatives our age than there are in their 20's, that's percentages and it doesn't mean YOU are a conservative..

What do you mean the age thing? A good many of us are over 50...
Are we supposed to be conservative because of our age? I have found that political leanings have more to do with 1) what part of the country you live in and 2) the political beliefs of your family. Both of those are generalizations, but ones that I have found are more true than age.
I have lived in the northeast, the south, the west, and back to the northeast.
There's a reason i moved back here!

[smilingcat]

Crankin, I am 56 and as liberal as they came. I said statistically there are more conservatives our age than there are in their 20's, that's percentages and it doesn't mean YOU are a conservative..

I think it was Sir Winston Churhill who snorted "When you are young and not a liberal, you have no heart. And when you are old and not a conservative, you have no brain" Atleast, something like that. The German movie "Edukators" was based on this concept. And as we get older, more people become conservatives. Ein muss sihet Film. Ja? It should have English subtitle. I highly recommend it so do my friends.

[shootingstar]

Use of the Internet at least requires basic literacy of reading and writing. But methinks, that demographics of Internet use has broadened.

Some major North American sources. First 2 resources are one of the best for generic Internet use analyses in North America to begin research.


http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/c/2/topics.asp

http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/080612/d080612b.htm Statistics Canada is a federal govn't agency. They do annual surveys on Internet use habits of Canadians.

Not sure about the quality of this mega-site. Harder to get a grip on their data collection methods.
http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats14.htm