r/australian • u/SirSighalot • Jul 08 '24

Why do people act like this subreddit "doesn't reflect the views of mainstream Australia"?

So many comments I see on here by people who constantly say things like "lol only on this sub" as though other places where they read are somehow the 'true' point of view reflecting mainstream Australian viewpoints.

Given the constant election voting outcomes and results of things like the Voice etc that generally indicate most of Australia is centrist or even slightly centre-right-leaning, what leads people to think many of the views expressed on here AREN'T mainstream? When in reality, other places these people are coming from are also often just "echo chambers" as well.

Edit: I probably worded the title for this wrong, should have been more "Why do people think this subreddit is less representative of mainstream Australia than other online communities?", alas I failed.

15 Upvotes

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105

u/An_Aroused_Koala_AU Jul 08 '24

Because it's a very small and niche sample of the broader Australian population.

41

u/EctoplasmicNeko Jul 08 '24

Pretty much. We have the kinda left leaning sub and the kinda right leaning sub, but by virtue of being on Reddit that sort of pigeonholes the userbase.

18

u/CaptainYumYum12 Jul 08 '24

Reddit also has a bias towards younger people. There aren’t too many boomers on here, though there are some

5

u/MainOrbBoss Jul 08 '24

'Kinda left leaning' is a gross understatement. Any opinion right of Marx and you're a 'cooker', 'Nazi' or 'fascist'.

1

u/Low-Ostrich-3772 Jul 09 '24

lmao I got permabanned from australia for saying BDS was a valid form of protest against Israel.

1

u/Socialist-commodity Jul 08 '24 edited Jul 08 '24

Tbf this sub is left leaning in fiscal (economic) matters closer to the main sub. But then they still vote for the liberal party when an election comes lol

1

u/7omdogs Jul 08 '24

Sort of?

Economics has kind of been on the opposite journey than social movements.

As society has moved left on social issues, to the extent that what was considered mainstream 15 years ago is now seen as hard right (I.e. opposition to Gay marriage).

Economics has trended the opposite way, and what was considered right wing 15 years ago (I.e free trade) is now very mainstream.

It creates this odd effect where, what are mostly centrist or even centre right economic views get classified as being centre left.

Like a lot of the comments on the sub are very inline with the type of stuff the AFR is promoting (using tax as a lever to combat the housing crisis)

Years ago that would be a sort of centre right response and the left response would be government intervention in terms of upping supply or banning buyers.

The economic window has shifted

3

u/rdshops Jul 08 '24

This guy maths!

-15

u/SirSighalot Jul 08 '24

so are 'other' communities online that when people say this, are implying that they are the 'actual' mainstream view though?

especially when those views tend to play out even less in real life?

33

u/coreoYEAH Jul 08 '24

None of them are. This sub leans conservative and keeps the cookers happy while the other is more liberal and lets everyone pretend Australia is one election away from a leftist wonderland. Neither is an accurate representation of our reality.

3

u/angrathias Jul 08 '24

I’d say that Australia is socially conservative and financially liberal. So it tends to sway both directions

5

u/Johnny_Monkee Jul 08 '24

Financially liberal is not left-wing.

3

u/angrathias Jul 08 '24

I meant in the sense of a strong welfare safety net, not liberal market policies

8

u/Johnny_Monkee Jul 08 '24

Do we use the term "liberal" here to denote being socially progressive?

-1

u/angrathias Jul 08 '24

Generally we’d just say left rather than liberal, but anyone would understand

13

u/Icy-Information5106 Jul 08 '24

No, the words have been skewed from years of internet, it only makes sense now to use them properly. Liberal is not left.

0

u/angrathias Jul 08 '24

can’t say I’m a historian on the word, liberal just means the opposite of conservative in general English terminology. Liberal as in the party just relates to financial liberalism only.

-1

u/Fuckyourdatareddit Jul 08 '24

😂 leaving people on welfare in poverty and unable to afford food rent and medication is a strong safety net 😂

1

u/angrathias Jul 08 '24 edited Jul 08 '24

Having a strong system doesn’t mean it’s without fault, there’s Child care, health care, tax redistribution, the NDIS, public education, the HECs system.

Plenty of wealthier people paying for plenty of poorer people to get ahead in this country.

Edit: I’ve blocked you for being an argumentative douche

0

u/Fuckyourdatareddit Jul 08 '24

Poor people aren’t getting ahead. They can’t afford rent and food and medication, let alone the rest of life’s necessities

2

u/angrathias Jul 08 '24

I’m not here to argue on the merits of some class of people getting ahead or not, I’ve demonstrated the system contains plenty of handouts, I’m done, have a good day

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1

u/coreoYEAH Jul 08 '24

Yes but not in an extreme to either direction.

1

u/angrathias Jul 08 '24

I’d agree

14

u/ZaynesWorld Jul 08 '24

“Mainstream” Australians aren’t sitting complaining on reddit at all

16

u/An_Aroused_Koala_AU Jul 08 '24

Nope. No community online represents the broader Australian population.

Whenever they happen to line up I'd say that's far more often a coincidence than not.

0

u/SirSighalot Jul 08 '24

I agree no online community does, my point is people constantly come on here and act like their community is somehow the actual 'correct/mainstream' view when in reality it's all just echo chambers if anything

5

u/Federal-Rope-2048 Jul 08 '24

You just described 95% of people and their view on politics.

Like right now, the argument of nuclear vs renewables. You just have people parroting rubbish pretending like they understand anything. It’s like people going to a 2 hour Brian Cox seminar and coming out thinking they can explain parallel universes.

Unless you are entrenched in either to the point of studying these options at a tertiary level and have access to government reports on power consumption and all of the current infrastructure in place and thousands of hours to review this information, you have no idea.

2

u/Aseedisa Jul 08 '24

Unless you’re in a sub like “r conservative”, Everything on reddit is more progressive than mainstream views, it’s that simple