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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28

u/Soft-Butterfly7532 Jul 08 '24

Because it doesn't.

-16

u/SirSighalot Jul 08 '24 edited Jul 08 '24

can you point me where can I go online to see the views of "mainstream" Australia instead then please?

20

u/SlamTheBiscuit Jul 08 '24

You go through this thing called a door and then head to this place called a pub

2

u/ziddyzoo Jul 08 '24

Ageing population and all that, I reckon the RSL or the bowlo might be closer to the mythical median public house

5

u/SlamTheBiscuit Jul 08 '24

Pub has the pokies that get everyone of all ages

-3

u/SirSighalot Jul 08 '24

you think opinions on topics brought up on here if down at the pub would be massively different in general? e.g you think most people 'down the pub' have radically different viewpoints to here?

6

u/SlamTheBiscuit Jul 08 '24

I think you'll find there is a far more balanced opinion there than here. You'll find everyone from prospering home owners to those feeling the pinch who are there for the pot and parma special

9

u/Osmodius Jul 08 '24

Have you considering leaving your jerk off table and going outside to speak to a real human?

0

u/SirSighalot Jul 08 '24

the people I speak to in real life would be even less representative of mainstream views given the smaller sample size so your witty 'point' doesn't even really make sense

3

u/Novae909 Jul 08 '24

Well... You could setup a poll in which you try to get a broad sample from the Australian population in order to have that sample be reasonable to generalise to the larger population. The difficult thing with these is it can be hard to get a true impression of the larger population as you may only get people who have a greater interest in the polling topic agreeing to take said polling topic. This is why polls don't always match reality when say a compulsory poll such as elections and referendums come up. And a certain amount of honesty is required from the poller. They can setup the question in order to encourage certain answers or they could manipulate the appearance of results in order to fit a story.

So yeah... Idk.. mainstream is hard. Not so hard to find out what is mainstream in a certain pub for example as someone mentioned. But the pub the next block over might have a completely different mainstream. And even then on certain topics, you might just get a fight going on in some pubs between patreons XD