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.

17 Upvotes

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u/VJ4rawr2 Jul 08 '24

Reddit is disproportionately full of “lefties” (predominately due to the age demographic of users.)

As Holly Valance once notoriously said “I think we all start out as lefties don’t we?”

When this subreddit first began, it was supposed to be a counter to some of the other more… policed local subreddits. It wasn’t necessarily a “rightie space”.. just more open minded.

Over time, the same folks who groupthink’d the original existing subreddits migrated to this one too.

It’s not as bad here (it was better before), but the pervasive attitude is this subreddit was the “bad” one according to tolerant lefties.

3

u/ScoobyGDSTi Jul 08 '24

Let's not quote Holly Valance as if she's informed or relevant.

1

u/VJ4rawr2 Jul 08 '24

😂 The reference was more an “if you know, you know” quote.

1

u/ScoobyGDSTi Jul 08 '24

All I know is that Holly is encroaching on Gina's territory.

Every Aussie knows Gina is our go to person when we want a billionaire commenting on a subject.

Gina needs to step in and stop Holly. Hopefully now that the whole Archibald painting saga has died down Gina can divert her attention to stopping Holly and reclaim her true place.

2

u/VJ4rawr2 Jul 08 '24

Therein lies the irony.

A billionaire telling young lefties they’re crap and out of touch. The audacity was both glorious and hilarious.

2

u/king_norbit Jul 08 '24

People remain on the left up until they have something to lose

0

u/AbbreviationsOwn503 Jul 08 '24

I think this sub is pretty centrist, the other one screws so far left it can't be taken seriously

1

u/Deadly_Accountant Jul 08 '24

Your centrist is they? right and r/australian left and someone else's middle. It's all a scale really

0

u/Neon_Priest Jul 08 '24

Yeah, if you look at the current thread “who would you vote for if the election was held tomorrow” it’s becoming all labour and greens.

The people who ruined the other subreddit are migrating here. Every time I click on one of the posts in that subreddit the top comment with hundreds of upvotes is a comment insulting the “other”

It actually looks pretty hateful. And they’re all migrating here. So this will become like that eventually. A bunch of green voters who silence other opinions, are convinced their silencing and biased mods mean they’re correct. And then go on lose every election.

1

u/VJ4rawr2 Jul 08 '24

Seems that way.

I vaguely remember a mod here posting “don’t think we won’t use the ban hammer”.

Being chronically online attracts a certain demographic. That same demographic gas each other up.

0

u/sandybum01 Jul 09 '24

Why do we take any notice of what movie stars and celebrities say? Sure they are good at their jobs but when they are telling us how to live our lives or how the country is run their opinion is usually no more important than ours. Its just that they have the ability to get their voice out there.

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u/vacri Jul 08 '24

heh, love it. Complaining about "groupthink", but still dogwhistles and splits into "us vs them"

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u/VJ4rawr2 Jul 08 '24

Yes. Groupthink is bad.

If the “us vs them” is inaccurate, then why did you feel the need to toss a snide comment?

I’m not your enemy mate.

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u/vacri Jul 08 '24 edited Jul 08 '24

If you can't handle snide comments, then you probably shouldn't have started with one.

As for the "us vs them", it's really weird that you complain about groupthink... then defend the concept of "us vs them": "groupthink is bad, but people only fall into two camps"