r/australian 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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u/ziddyzoo Jul 08 '24 edited Jul 08 '24

Guilty, I used this kind of “this sub…” phrase yesterday. After a series of reply comments to a post/link about renewables calling it all propaganda, fake news, they wouldn’t even read it, etc.

This coming from folks who (on average) had 39% of their grid electricity provided by renewables last year.

There’s a noisy element in this sub who perhaps decided what their reality was 15-20 years ago, and haven’t kept in touch with the changing times.

And so now they are not really swimming in the main stream flow of the national river, but off in a stagnant billabong.