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> Talking to people is a very skewed sample, because anyone you personally talk to from country X is unlikely to be representative of the general population cou

> Talking to people is a very skewed sample, because anyone you personally talk to from country X is unlikely to be representative of the general population country X. The argument you present does not match reality. Having traveled to about twenty countries and lived in two continents I can tell you, with nearly 100% certainly that the vast majority of people are fiscally conservative. There are degrees when it comes to social issues, some having to do with the differences in cultures around the world. If I can claim the hypothesis, I’ll say that fiscal conservatism and social liberalism (or tolerance) are a necessary average normal from an evolutionary perspective.

skissane 5y ago
> Having traveled to about twenty countries and lived in two continents I can tell you, with nearly 100% certainly that the vast majority of people are fiscally conservative That's not a representative sample. Whether you are travelling for business or pleasure, the people you meet as a foreign visitor are unlikely to be representative of the country as a whole. You probably spent most of your time in big cities, or tourism sites–how many rural villagers did you meet? The people to whom you spoke were more likely to be bilingual/multilingual, more likely to associate with (and hence be influenced by) foreigners, quite possibly even of above-average socioeconomic status. And the 20 countries you visited are probably not a representative sample of the world's population either. Are there surveys on the percentage of people identifying as "fiscal conservatives", or supporting fiscally conservative policies, across different countries? I think survey data would be far more convincing than anyone's personal anecdotes. > There are degrees when it comes to social issues, some having to do with the differences in cultures around the world. You claimed the "The vast majority of people, anywhere in the world, are... socially liberal". As the term "socially liberal" is normally defined in Western societies, that clearly isn't true. Here is a recent survey on acceptability of homosexuality worldwide – https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2020/06/25/global-divide-on-homosexuality-persists/ https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2020/06/25/global-divide-... – they asked people "should homosexuality be accepted by society?" Unfortunately, they only surveyed four African countries – 7% of Nigerians said "yes", 9% of Tunisians, 14% of Kenyans, 54% of South Africans. If they had surveyed more, I am sure most African countries would have produced results much closer to Nigeria/Tunisia/Kenyan than to South Africa. Similarly, they only surveyed three Middle Eastern countries – Lebanon (13%), Turkey (25%), Israel (47%). Even in Israel, social acceptance of homosexuality is a minority view, and the average Middle Eastern country is going to be closer to Lebanon or Turkey than to Israel. Obviously on LGBT issues, the average African or Middle Eastern person is not socially liberal – and if we looked at other social issues, such as abortion rights or gender issues or criminal justice reform, I doubt the average African or Middle Eastern person would be socially liberal on those issues either. Unless you are trying to argue that the average African, while not socially liberal by Western standards, is socially liberal by African standards. If that's your argument, how do you know what constitutes social liberalism by African standards?
- robomartin 5y ago
  Oh, please.
  - skissane 5y ago
    What does that mean?

skissane 5y ago

> Having traveled to about twenty countries and lived in two continents I can tell you, with nearly 100% certainly that the vast majority of people are fiscally conservative That's not a representative sample. Whether you are travelling for business or pleasure, the people you meet as a foreign visitor are unlikely to be representative of the country as a whole. You probably spent most of your time in big cities, or tourism sites–how many rural villagers did you meet? The people to whom you spoke were more likely to be bilingual/multilingual, more likely to associate with (and hence be influenced by) foreigners, quite possibly even of above-average socioeconomic status. And the 20 countries you visited are probably not a representative sample of the world's population either. Are there surveys on the percentage of people identifying as "fiscal conservatives", or supporting fiscally conservative policies, across different countries? I think survey data would be far more convincing than anyone's personal anecdotes. > There are degrees when it comes to social issues, some having to do with the differences in cultures around the world. You claimed the "The vast majority of people, anywhere in the world, are... socially liberal". As the term "socially liberal" is normally defined in Western societies, that clearly isn't true. Here is a recent survey on acceptability of homosexuality worldwide – https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2020/06/25/global-divide-on-homosexuality-persists/ https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2020/06/25/global-divide-... – they asked people "should homosexuality be accepted by society?" Unfortunately, they only surveyed four African countries – 7% of Nigerians said "yes", 9% of Tunisians, 14% of Kenyans, 54% of South Africans. If they had surveyed more, I am sure most African countries would have produced results much closer to Nigeria/Tunisia/Kenyan than to South Africa. Similarly, they only surveyed three Middle Eastern countries – Lebanon (13%), Turkey (25%), Israel (47%). Even in Israel, social acceptance of homosexuality is a minority view, and the average Middle Eastern country is going to be closer to Lebanon or Turkey than to Israel. Obviously on LGBT issues, the average African or Middle Eastern person is not socially liberal – and if we looked at other social issues, such as abortion rights or gender issues or criminal justice reform, I doubt the average African or Middle Eastern person would be socially liberal on those issues either. Unless you are trying to argue that the average African, while not socially liberal by Western standards, is socially liberal by African standards. If that's your argument, how do you know what constitutes social liberalism by African standards?

robomartin 5y ago
Oh, please.
- skissane 5y ago
  What does that mean?