Pew: Liberals most intolerant online

Shady · March 13, 2012

I think Pew's findings are accurate, and are definitely refected in this forum as well.

Liberals are the most likely to have taken each of these steps to block, unfriend, or hide. In all, 28% of liberals have blocked, unfriended, or hidden someone on SNS because of one of these reasons, compared with 16% of conservatives and 14% of moderates.
PEW

The reasons referred to above are the following:

1. Blocked, unfriended, or hidden someone on the site because that person posted too frequently about political subjects.
2. Blocked, unfriended, or hidden someone on the site because they posted something about politics or issues that they disagreed with or found offensive

3. Blocked, unfriended, or hidden someone on the site because they argued about political issues on the site with the user or someone the user knows.

4. Blocked, unfriended, or hidden someone on the site because they posted something about politics that the user worried would offend other friends

5. Blocked, unfriended, or hidden someone on the site because they disagreed with something the user posted about politics

I think #1, #3, and #5 are their most common action/reason in this forum.

j44 · March 13, 2012

I'm blocking this thread because it offends liberals.

Michael Hardner · March 13, 2012

I think that the results are significant, but do they mean what the thread title suggests ?

The title should perhaps be:

"Liberals are the most likely to have taken each of these steps to block, unfriend, or hide."

MiddleClassCentrist · March 13, 2012

I think that the results are significant, but do they mean what the thread title suggests ?

The title should perhaps be:

"Liberals are the most likely to have taken each of these steps to block, unfriend, or hide."

Or maybe it's because conservatives tend to be older and less technologically apt at finding the settings

Shady · March 13, 2012

"Liberals are the most likely to have taken each of these steps to block, unfriend, or hide."

I agree, but based on intolerance.

GostHacked · March 13, 2012

I agree, but based on intolerance.

Intolerance towards learning the tech? Throw in will-full ignorance as well

dre · March 14, 2012

This doesnt suprise me at all. You generally block someone because that person is utterly useless and does not contribute anything of value... not because they disagree with you.

So the poll really just shows that conservatives are more likely to get unfriended. Not sure If thats something to brag about. :lol:

Shady · March 15, 2012

This doesnt suprise me at all. You generally block someone because that person is utterly useless and does not contribute anything of value... not because they disagree with you.

Maybe you, because you probably fit in well with this poll. Liberals usually find somebody that contributes contrary information, not contributing "anything of value." That's the whole point.

Michael Hardner · March 15, 2012

I agree, but based on intolerance.

The study doesn't say why does it ? How would one measure intolerance exactly ?

cybercoma · March 16, 2012

.

Edited March 16, 2012 by cybercoma

Shady · March 16, 2012

The study doesn't say why does it ? How would one measure intolerance exactly ?

The study does say why. There were various reasons.

cybercoma · March 16, 2012

Perhaps it would be fruitful to actually look at the reasons why people were blocked:

9% Frequency of posts

8% Offensive material

8% Friend was argumentative with user or user's other friends

5% Material could be offensive to other friends

4% Disagreed with post

Who gets dropped?

67% of people that blocked someone have blocked a "distant friend or acquiantance" and 31% of people that blocked someone have blocked people they had "never met in real life."

Moreover, the authors offer this caveat "The cohort is so small that it is not possible to do a statistically reliable analysis of trends. But as a rule, there were no ideological differences among those who had dropped someone from their SNS world because of politics."

These statistics seem to paint a very different picture than a bunch of liberals on social networking sites being intolerant of conservatives and blocking them en masse. It would seem that people that block others are most likely to block someone that they don't know very well when that person posts too frequently, posts things that are offensive to the user or things that may be offensive to the user's other friends. These seem like perfectly reasonable situations to block someone on Facebook.

March 16, 2012

It would seem that people that block others are most likely to block someone that they don't know very well when that person posts too frequently, posts things that are offensive to the user or things that may be offensive to the user's other friends. These seem like perfectly reasonable situations to block someone on Facebook.

Liberals being selective, passing judgement, making the choice to censor information they deem personally offensive? How interesting...

Jack Weber · March 16, 2012

This doesnt suprise me at all. You generally block someone because that person is utterly useless and does not contribute anything of value... not because they disagree with you.

So the poll really just shows that conservatives are more likely to get unfriended. Not sure If thats something to brag about.

Pretty much...

dre · March 17, 2012

Maybe you, because you probably fit in well with this poll. Liberals usually find somebody that contributes contrary information, not contributing "anything of value." That's the whole point.

The problem of course is that I don't block anyone ever.

I'm so tolerant that I havent even blocked YOU and your perpetually simple minded nonsense. Im CAPTAIN freakin tolerance!

Bonam · March 17, 2012

The problem of course is that I don't block anyone ever.

I'm so tolerant that I havent even blocked YOU and your perpetually simple minded nonsense. Im CAPTAIN freakin tolerance!

Same... I only ever blocked one person, and that was charter.rights back when he had that giant font size 500 bold red signature, and I used to read this site at work.

Shady · March 19, 2012

Same... I only ever blocked one person, and that was charter.rights back when he had that giant font size 500 bold red signature, and I used to read this site at work.

You're not necessarily intolerant just because you block somebody. That's not what the study is about. However, it just illustrates that the greater percentage of people that use blocking online, are liberal, and are for reasons in which they don't like to hear another point of view.

It's basically the cyber version of them shouting down somebody that they don't want to be allowed to speak. Which is a common occurance at colleges and universities.

dre · March 19, 2012

You're not necessarily intolerant just because you block somebody. That's not what the study is about. However, it just illustrates that the greater percentage of people that use blocking online, are liberal, and are for reasons in which they don't like to hear another point of view.

It's basically the cyber version of them shouting down somebody that they don't want to be allowed to speak. Which is a common occurance at colleges and universities.

As I said before its really just about filtering out NOISE. The whole point of participating in an online forum is to talk to people with other views... thats not the issue. The real issue is posters that basically just troll, dont stay on topic, make stuff up, refuse to argue honestly etc. Theres lot of those guys on both the left and right and THEY are generally the ones that get blocked.

I bet you that if they published everybodys block lists here at MLW you would find that almost nobody has been blocked for simple differences in views. The people getting blocked will generally be either consistantly bombastic, or just generally pointless posters, or people that just have personality conflicts with another poster. Or people that are just rigid ideologues and waste peoples times with posts like "Conservatives suck dude!", or "Liberals are more intolerant!!". :lol:

cybercoma · March 19, 2012

You're not necessarily intolerant just because you block somebody. That's not what the study is about.

*looks at the thread title*

*looks back at this post*

*looks at the thread title again*

I must be missing something.

Jack Weber · March 19, 2012

As I said before its really just about filtering out NOISE. The whole point of participating in an online forum is to talk to people with other views... thats not the issue. The real issue is posters that basically just troll, dont stay on topic, make stuff up, refuse to argue honestly etc. Theres lot of those guys on both the left and right and THEY are generally the ones that get blocked.

I bet you that if they published everybodys block lists here at MLW you would find that almost nobody has been blocked for simple differences in views. The people getting blocked will generally be either consistantly bombastic, or just generally pointless posters, or people that just have personality conflicts with another poster. Or people that are just rigid ideologues and waste peoples times with posts like "Conservatives suck dude!", or "Liberals are more intolerant!!".

"Complete nonsense!"

:lol:

Shady · March 19, 2012

As I said before its really just about filtering out NOISE.

So-called noise can just be an excuse to hide behind.

As the study illustrates, what you're suggesting was just one of the reasons why blocking was used. It was actually a small percentage. Blocking because of someone posting something that was disagreed with, or because they argued about a political issues doesn't automatically mean filtering because of noise, or because somebody's being annoying. It's because of interolerance, and an inability to deal with hearing a differing point of view.

Smallc · March 22, 2012

"Complete nonsense!"

:lol:

kraychik · July 10, 2012

This absolutely mirrors my experiences. I have been blocked, "unfriended", ignored, and banned from websites and "social media" websites because of my conservatism. There is absolutely no question that the left is far more likely than the right to behave in such a matter, and this is also reflected in leftist politics. Consider moves to curb freedom of speech, they are virtually exclusively leftist policies. Whether it is disastrous "hate speech" regulation or the so-called "Fairness Doctrine", attacks on freedom of speech and expression are virtually exclusively leftist, and this makes sense considering their subscription to the fantasy of "group rights".

Michael Hardner · July 10, 2012

This absolutely mirrors my experiences. I have been blocked, "unfriended", ignored, and banned from websites and "social media" websites because of my conservatism.

Are you sure that is why ? There are plenty of conservatives on here that manage to get their point across without being banned, and in fact that engender threads of good discussion that go on for many pages.

There are also posters of left- and right- who have trouble playing in the sandbox, and end up taking their ball and going home.

kraychik · July 10, 2012

Are you sure that is why ? There are plenty of conservatives on here that manage to get their point across without being banned, and in fact that engender threads of good discussion that go on for many pages.

There are also posters of left- and right- who have trouble playing in the sandbox, and end up taking their ball and going home.

I am absolutely sure that is why. There is no question that leftists have much less respect for freedom of speech and expression than conservatives. Is is natural, given their lack of respect for the individual. It's true in politics and it's true on the internet.