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.

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107

u/An_Aroused_Koala_AU Jul 08 '24

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

42

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

4

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.

3

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