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> I can be immediately connected with the most knowledgeable and enthusiastic people on virtually any subject I care about. Politics on Reddit seems to fall in

by collyw 8y ago

> I can be immediately connected with the most knowledgeable and enthusiastic people on virtually any subject I care about. Politics on Reddit seems to fall into either The_Donald or "Orange man bad" with very little objectivity in the middle in my experience.

jhall1468 8y ago
/r/politics is fairly left-leaning by US standards, while The_Donald and /r/conservative are hardly about politics anymore. Furthermore, I'd say on a global scale /r/politics is pretty much dead middle, while subreddits like /r/latestagecapitalism represent the far left. Frankly, Democrats are being pulled to the left by the progressives and Republicans went hard right years ago with the tea party, so the reason there's no middle-of-the-road discussion is because there isn't one anymore. Luxuries of a two-party system.
- crowdpleaser 8y ago
  >Frankly, Democrats are being pulled to the left by the progressives and Republicans went hard right years ago with the tea party The democrats have moved further left than republicans have moved right since 1994/2000: http://www.people-press.org/interactives/political-polarization-1994-2017/ http://www.people-press.org/interactives/political-polarizat... What's interesting is that most democrats want a more moderate party and most republicans want a more right/conservative party: https://www.minnpost.com/eric-black-ink/2019/01/gallup-poll-majority-of-democrats-want-more-moderate-party/ https://www.minnpost.com/eric-black-ink/2019/01/gallup-poll-... Interestingly, the GOP probably contains the conservative and right wing impulses of the base. And it certainly feels that way, among my friends, we hate that illegal aliens are entitled to health care at ERs. I want to see their countries billed for the care / or I want to see the illegals dumped at the embassy rather than hooked up to medicine. I'm certainly not going to get my wish granted by the GOP. However, should the party fail, there's a chance I could get the representation I want.
  - sneakernets 8y ago
    I really think "The illegals" needs to be erased from the discourse. Unless they have a distinct species moniker, they're still human beings located in the wrong place politically (in the geographical sense).
    - SlowRobotAhead 8y ago
      And rapists are just humans that would up with the body in the wrong place? Sorry man, I don't buy the "words can hurt" argument for people who for noble reasons or not break the law. People who overstay Visas or sneak across boarders, are breaking the law. They are illegally existing someplace they shouldn't be according to the laws of that land. I fully support your rights to argue for open borders. I'll vote against that, but I'll support your 1A to petition the government.
      - meko 8y ago
        You don't think language has an impact on perception? You think the Nazi effort to dehumanize jews with rhetoric didn't work? What a simple world you must live in.
        SlowRobotAhead 8y ago
        It'll only took you one post to get to Nazis.
        sctb 8y ago
        Please stop.
    - crowdpleaser 8y ago
      There's a simple solution - legalize everything and see how it pans out.
      - sneakernets 8y ago
- samdoidge 8y ago
  >Furthermore, I'd say on a global scale /r/politics is pretty much dead middle I know these things are terribly subjective but that subreddit seems more to the left. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/adjw5h/sweden_has_a_70_tax_rate_and_its_just_fine/ https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/adjw5h/sweden_has...
- SlowRobotAhead 8y ago
  >Furthermore, I'd say on a global scale /r/politics is pretty much dead middle, You have either not been there enough to see it for what it is, or been there too much. /r/politics is far-left. I'm sorry if that offends you. /r/latestaecapiatlism is extreme-left. The middle is in the controversial comments on these places.
  - jhall1468 8y ago
    The most common topics there are higher taxes on the wealthy and universal healthcare. Neither of these things are far left on a global scale: they are standard in most industrialized countries.
- dmode 8y ago
  T_D is about basement dwellers and Russian bots displaying their idiotic meme skills
- collyw 8y ago
  r/politics is definitely in the "orange man bad" camp. There are a few objective posters on there but they are not the majority.
  - newen 8y ago
    I'd say the vast majority of the global population is in the orange man bad category.
kbenson 8y ago
For all the good and enjoyment I get out of Reddit, sometimes it seems like it's just various angry mobs that coalesce and split as needed to maximize the amount of angry voices present at any one time for any one topic.
- guildan 8y ago
  I'm an avid gamer, but honestly I can't read popular gaming subreddit (wow and halo for game specific sub), it's almost depressing. There's so much flames and complaints that you can even appreciate something without getting a lot of flake.
komali2 8y ago
Leave subreddits that are just as lousy with shills as Twitter, there are subs for a decent political conversation (at least, as decent as is possible in 2019).
save_ferris 8y ago
Centrism has fallen out of favor in our political discourse, largely because of the polarization of the current administration and culture. Maintaining a centrist position can't work when both parties see the other as actively undermining/destroying the fabric of our system (i.e. Trump packing the courts with activist judges, dems raising taxes to Vietnam era levels.) Identity politics largely doesn't permit nuanced political opinion because you're cast out if you don't subscribe to all of the major tenants of the party you're trying to loosely align with.
rndmize 8y ago
There's a decent amount in the middle, but it's not as well known and will never hit the front page - 3 second memes are easier to process and upvote. https://www.reddit.com/r/NeutralPolitics/ https://www.reddit.com/r/NeutralPolitics/ https://www.reddit.com/r/PoliticalDiscussion/ https://www.reddit.com/r/PoliticalDiscussion/ CMV and ELI5 also have decent political discussion at times I think; askHistorians often seems to provide insight into current political issues; there's probably more I don't know.
- barberousse 8y ago
  Not surprising that if you want to understand political issues, you need to askHistorians given all political issues are historical in composition
  - asdff 8y ago
    iirc they have an age limit, like the topic must be 15+ years old or something.
vvillena 8y ago
Personally I've found lots of quality discussion outside the usual places. /r/europe tends to have nice debates every now and then. I'm sure other regions or subjects have nice communities where people discuss things without insulting each other.

by collyw 8y ago

jhall1468 8y ago

/r/politics is fairly left-leaning by US standards, while The_Donald and /r/conservative are hardly about politics anymore. Furthermore, I'd say on a global scale /r/politics is pretty much dead middle, while subreddits like /r/latestagecapitalism represent the far left. Frankly, Democrats are being pulled to the left by the progressives and Republicans went hard right years ago with the tea party, so the reason there's no middle-of-the-road discussion is because there isn't one anymore. Luxuries of a two-party system.

crowdpleaser 8y ago
>Frankly, Democrats are being pulled to the left by the progressives and Republicans went hard right years ago with the tea party The democrats have moved further left than republicans have moved right since 1994/2000: http://www.people-press.org/interactives/political-polarization-1994-2017/ http://www.people-press.org/interactives/political-polarizat... What's interesting is that most democrats want a more moderate party and most republicans want a more right/conservative party: https://www.minnpost.com/eric-black-ink/2019/01/gallup-poll-majority-of-democrats-want-more-moderate-party/ https://www.minnpost.com/eric-black-ink/2019/01/gallup-poll-... Interestingly, the GOP probably contains the conservative and right wing impulses of the base. And it certainly feels that way, among my friends, we hate that illegal aliens are entitled to health care at ERs. I want to see their countries billed for the care / or I want to see the illegals dumped at the embassy rather than hooked up to medicine. I'm certainly not going to get my wish granted by the GOP. However, should the party fail, there's a chance I could get the representation I want.
- sneakernets 8y ago
  I really think "The illegals" needs to be erased from the discourse. Unless they have a distinct species moniker, they're still human beings located in the wrong place politically (in the geographical sense).
  - SlowRobotAhead 8y ago
    And rapists are just humans that would up with the body in the wrong place? Sorry man, I don't buy the "words can hurt" argument for people who for noble reasons or not break the law. People who overstay Visas or sneak across boarders, are breaking the law. They are illegally existing someplace they shouldn't be according to the laws of that land. I fully support your rights to argue for open borders. I'll vote against that, but I'll support your 1A to petition the government.
    - meko 8y ago
      You don't think language has an impact on perception? You think the Nazi effort to dehumanize jews with rhetoric didn't work? What a simple world you must live in.
      - SlowRobotAhead 8y ago
        It'll only took you one post to get to Nazis.
        sctb 8y ago
        Please stop.
  - crowdpleaser 8y ago
    There's a simple solution - legalize everything and see how it pans out.
    - sneakernets 8y ago
samdoidge 8y ago
>Furthermore, I'd say on a global scale /r/politics is pretty much dead middle I know these things are terribly subjective but that subreddit seems more to the left. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/adjw5h/sweden_has_a_70_tax_rate_and_its_just_fine/ https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/adjw5h/sweden_has...
SlowRobotAhead 8y ago
>Furthermore, I'd say on a global scale /r/politics is pretty much dead middle, You have either not been there enough to see it for what it is, or been there too much. /r/politics is far-left. I'm sorry if that offends you. /r/latestaecapiatlism is extreme-left. The middle is in the controversial comments on these places.
- jhall1468 8y ago
  The most common topics there are higher taxes on the wealthy and universal healthcare. Neither of these things are far left on a global scale: they are standard in most industrialized countries.
dmode 8y ago
T_D is about basement dwellers and Russian bots displaying their idiotic meme skills
collyw 8y ago
r/politics is definitely in the "orange man bad" camp. There are a few objective posters on there but they are not the majority.
- newen 8y ago
  I'd say the vast majority of the global population is in the orange man bad category.

kbenson 8y ago

For all the good and enjoyment I get out of Reddit, sometimes it seems like it's just various angry mobs that coalesce and split as needed to maximize the amount of angry voices present at any one time for any one topic.

guildan 8y ago
I'm an avid gamer, but honestly I can't read popular gaming subreddit (wow and halo for game specific sub), it's almost depressing. There's so much flames and complaints that you can even appreciate something without getting a lot of flake.

komali2 8y ago

Leave subreddits that are just as lousy with shills as Twitter, there are subs for a decent political conversation (at least, as decent as is possible in 2019).

save_ferris 8y ago

Centrism has fallen out of favor in our political discourse, largely because of the polarization of the current administration and culture. Maintaining a centrist position can't work when both parties see the other as actively undermining/destroying the fabric of our system (i.e. Trump packing the courts with activist judges, dems raising taxes to Vietnam era levels.) Identity politics largely doesn't permit nuanced political opinion because you're cast out if you don't subscribe to all of the major tenants of the party you're trying to loosely align with.

rndmize 8y ago

There's a decent amount in the middle, but it's not as well known and will never hit the front page - 3 second memes are easier to process and upvote. https://www.reddit.com/r/NeutralPolitics/ https://www.reddit.com/r/NeutralPolitics/ https://www.reddit.com/r/PoliticalDiscussion/ https://www.reddit.com/r/PoliticalDiscussion/ CMV and ELI5 also have decent political discussion at times I think; askHistorians often seems to provide insight into current political issues; there's probably more I don't know.

barberousse 8y ago
Not surprising that if you want to understand political issues, you need to askHistorians given all political issues are historical in composition
- asdff 8y ago
  iirc they have an age limit, like the topic must be 15+ years old or something.

vvillena 8y ago

Personally I've found lots of quality discussion outside the usual places. /r/europe tends to have nice debates every now and then. I'm sure other regions or subjects have nice communities where people discuss things without insulting each other.