Why do American SubSimmers more often than not..

[Torvald Von Mansee]

..seem to be right of center, even far right of center, politically?

Is it just the nature of the beast, i.e., who might have an interest in military history and simulations?

[Méo]

Just for asking, i bet some are gonna call you a communist!

Seriously though, i've been wondering the same.

[antikristuseke]

I'd venture to guess it is a coincidence more than anything else.

[Aramike]

Originally Posted by Torvald Von Mansee

..seem to be right of center, even far right of center, politically?

Is it just the nature of the beast, i.e., who might have an interest in military history and simulations?

I don't see that. I think its about an equal distribution ideologically.

Besides, think about it: people rarely take note of ideas they agree with, having made that their political landscape. On the other hand, when that landscape of green brush suddenly finds itself amongst blue bushes, those bushes tend to stand out and dominate the landscape, regardless of how prevailant they are.

And finally, do understand that even much of the American political left is far more to the right of your average European.

Originally Posted by Torvald Von Mansee

..seem to be right of center, even far right of center, politically?

Is it just the nature of the beast, i.e., who might have an interest in military history and simulations?

Well war kind of polarizes opinions. Men tend to think of politics through war. In the US war is a kind of nice and externalised thing, US has never really had warfare on it's soil, or at least not in the modern time if counting civil war and the wars with the native Americans, so their attitude toward war is kind of lighthearted.

[PeriscopeDepth]

On any military sim forum right of center is going to be the norm. All the hippies are out doing whatever it is hippies do.

PD

[onelifecrisis]

Originally Posted by PeriscopeDepth

On any military sim forum right of center is going to be the norm. All the hippies are out doing whatever it is hippies do.

PD

Labelling all left-wingers "hippies" (something I see often here) is like labelling all right-wingers "fascists". I think in most cases neither is true. Good point about military sims though.

Also +1 to what Aramike said about the US left-wing being a lot more right-wing than most of Europe.

[PeriscopeDepth]

Originally Posted by onelifecrisis

Labelling all left-wingers "hippies" (something I see often here) is like labelling all right-wingers "fascists". I think in most cases neither is true. Good point about military sims though.

Also +1 to what Aramike said about the US left-wing being a lot more right-wing than most of Europe.

I was being facetious. Probably considered a hippy myself by many of my fellow citizens' standards.

And like you said, I would probably considered a fascist by many of the Europeans here.

The world is a funny place.

PD

[Torplexed]

Originally Posted by Torvald Von Mansee

..seem to be right of center, even far right of center, politically?

Is it just the nature of the beast, i.e., who might have an interest in military history and simulations?

I bet 95% of the Americans who post on subsim never display their political stripes being far more interested in the subject of naval games and simulations. The same goes for Europe and other nationalities. Usually, just the most politically outspoken left and right show up in GT.

[JU_88]

Originally Posted by Torplexed

I bet 95% of the Americans who post on subsim never display their political stripes being far more interested in the subject of naval games and simulations. The same goes for Europe and other nationalities. Usually, just the most politically outspoken left and right show up in GT.

Yeah I'm with you on that,
I been thinking I will stay out of future political threads on this forum, since my dirty center-left liberal views tend to go down like a lead balloon amongst some of our neo-conservatives friends here.
Its pointless to argue anyway, Its not like anyone is willing to be educated by anyone where politics are concerned.

Most of us are so stubbon and proud in the politics department, at the end of the day we will believe what we have been conditioned / brought up to believe.
Even if solid evidence is presented that we are somehow how wrong, we will just go in to denial mode in order to defend our views.
Human nature....

meh -Stick to submarines and everything is just fine

[Torplexed]

Originally Posted by JU_88

Yeah I'm with you on that,
I been thinking I will stay out of future political threads on this forum, since my dirty center-left liberal views tend to go down like a lead balloon amongst some of our neo-conservatives friends here.
Its pointless to argue anyway, Its not like anyone is willing to be educated by anyone where politics are concerned.

Most of us are so stubbon and proud in the politics department, at the end of the day we will believe what we have been conditioned / brought up to believe.
Even if solid evidence is presented that we are somehow how wrong, we will just go in to denial mode in order to defend our views.
Human nature....

meh -Stick to submarines and everything is just fine

What's funny is that it's sometimes easy to forget how new all of this is. How many of of us were regularly conversing everyday with people on political matters in nations oceans or continents away twenty or thirty years ago? We may find each others opinions jarring at times, but I venture to guess that there is some subtle cross-pollination of ideas and opinions going on as well. Time will tell.

[CaptainHaplo]

Most data available indicates that when it comes to US military members, former members and retirees, the split is about 60% / 15% when asked to identify themselves as Republican / Democrat. Most of this data comes from polled Officers, though anecdotal data (always suspect) puts the number for enlisted at around 50/20.

Overall, the reasoning is fairly straightforward. On average, democrats are seen as "weak" on military spending and related issues. I am not saying this is an accurate view, or innaccurate - only how it is generally viewed. It is statements such as "I voted for it before I voted against it" by Sen. Kerry, as well as historical party positions, that lead to this perspective. Republicans however are seen as willing to spend on average more for the military. Again, historical party stances and votes, as well as individual leaders (such as Reagan) demonstrate why this view is generally accepted.

Just like any other group, if a particular party is more apt to give you a bigger slice of the pie, you are more likely to support them. This is the same logic used by those who pander to illegals, or lobbyists.

[Skybird]

the military shows a traditional trend towards the conservative side of the political spectrum, and to some degree that may see kind of a parallel in the field of military simulations, too, but I would not bet on it. this board had seen 37+ thousand members over the past 10 years, I think - but how many of these do post or did post in GT? A very small fraction only. Thus, the impression you gain from the GT forum, statistically-methodologically is not representative. GT sees an audience were interest in general politics, history, and other non-subsim-related stuff is overrepresented.

[Torvald Von Mansee]

Originally Posted by PeriscopeDepth

On any military sim forum right of center is going to be the norm. All the hippies are out doing whatever it is hippies do.

PD

Probably over at JamBase, posting in their forums (except they're not posting, as they're all high!!!! )

[Biggles]

Originally Posted by Skybird

the military shows a traditional trend towards the conservative side of the political spectrum

Aye, or that what people seem to think. I remember I was labeled as an extreme conservative just because I was extremely interested in history. Don't really see the connection tbh.