What is it about conservatives that they perceive bias anytime one of their outstandingly brilliant ideas get challenged? Or better still, that they are crucified for their beliefs socially and economically? From Mashable's Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins :
I’m going to come out and say it here, brand me how you like, but I lean libertarian to conservative in my political beliefs, and on my personal blog and podcast, have made no bones about that. It’s given me a unique opportunity to meet other folks in high tech, folks that you know and have heard of from big time reputable companies and Web 2.0 startups, and who’s services you likely use. Many of these same folks have in confidence have told me that as a conservative, they don’t really feel comfortable publicizing their political affiliations for fear of it affecting their business negatively.
Folks on the left seem to have no problem with that. Not but a couple months ago on John Dvorak’s Cranky Geeks, Marc Canter cut loose with harsh words for anyone who’s ever voted Republican in their life, with the comment “Republicans have cornered the market on criminal activity,” and then later said that all Republicans deserve to go to hell. Granted, it’s a slightly extreme example of what I’m talking about, but demonstrates the willingness by many in tech to express their liberal leanings without qualm. Perhaps this is why conservative business leaders might be hesitant to express their politics?
Or maybe it’s because of this that conservative politicians shy away from fully utilizing Web 2.0 in their campaigns. If the impression that the old geezers inside the beltway have of tech-folks is that we’re a bunch of polemic, wingnut liberals, then I can understand their reticence (because let’s face it, regardless of political affiliation, if there’s one thing politicians of all stripe have demonstrated, it’s a lack of understanding of technology and anything more than surface familiarity with its culture).
How about this alternate explanation - in the marketplace of ideas, where anyone can contribute, and anyone can evaluate, conservatives consistently deliver inferior products. Even more importantly, the longer and greater their ability to peddle their wares, the stronger and more extreme the public rejection of them.
Historically, the only way conservatives have been able to get a fair hearing is to speak to the choir. I'm looking at you, FOXNEWS, along with the usual cadre of partisan subjects, such as Rush Limbaugh, the Washington Times, and the gaggle of other wingnut welfare recipients. CNN and MSNBC are too liberal? Launch a conservative cable channel. Wikipedia has a liberal bias? Launch Conservapedia. Theonly place where bad ideas get considered is when there is a monopoy on ideology, a complete lack of balance, and an audience that dare not challenge the party-line.
Don't blame the medium for the public's rejection of your products. It's not because they are horribly biased by the liberal press-media-academia-and now internets, it's thatyour ideas suck, and that they pander to the lowest common denominators of our society. Conservative media are affirmative action for bad ideas.
5 responses so far ↓
1 Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins // Nov 4, 2007 at 2:33 pm
I never once made mention of a bias in the media, or spoke to the validity or debate on the value of liberal or conservative ideals.
I spoke about the vociferous nature of liberal willingness to alienate conservatives, but the unwillingness for conservatives in tech to speak up. You completely missed the point of my article, and in so doing, shotgun blast insulted all conservative ideals.
You prove my point, rather than disprove it.
2 rzklkng // Nov 4, 2007 at 2:44 pm
Likewise, I never said you did (mention media bias). What you did say is that conservatives are anxious about displaying their ideology for fear of rejection, both economically and socially. Opposition of conservative ideas (and conservative outcomes) does not equal liberal tendencies.
3 Progressive Dispatches // Nov 4, 2007 at 9:21 pm
4 Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins // Nov 5, 2007 at 12:55 am
You’re playing a silly game of semantics now, rzklkng. The way you’ve spun your blog post is such that it makes me look like a cry-baby, afraid of opposition from within my own culture of techies.
Nothing could be further from the truth. I am, however, trying to make a point that not all of us are in fact group-think liberals. As much as those in my culture with leftist tendencies would like to believe that we all think alike, we don’t.
I could give you a list of names that would completely disprove your theories that conservatives deliver inferior ideas in the marketplace. Folks that engineered and created tools that you likely use in your daily life. Your arrogance and inability to percieve that fact (and apparently perceive the entirety of my article where I make mention of that fact) shows exactly the attitude I point to existing within the tech culture.
I never once posted or used as an example opposition to conservative ideals. I used overbearing exertion of liberal ideals in arrogant manners as examples. You spinning that out of context, again, proves my point.
5 rzklkng // Nov 5, 2007 at 9:32 am
Let me clarify what I meant (and didn’t mean)…
When I say “conservatives deliver inferior products [in the marketplace of ideas]”, that DOES NOT MEAN in the online sense. I’m referring to deficit spending, or privatization, or imperialism.
My entire rant on “a separate but equal web 2.0″ was a response to my own internal dialog to what you wrote. Your observation, as written, is that liberals have no compunction as to wearing their colors, whereas conservatives, in your experience, do not.
First, let me make a concession - there are many conservative ideas that I can accept. I don’t have a problem with fiscal conservatism. I have a problem with the way conservative politicians say it but don’t practice it.
Based on this post from Political Base, yes, high-profile techies lean-left. But you’ll also notice many of them hedge their bets. Those donating large dollar amounts and in positions of leadership have to be fair-and-balanced in their donations. I don’t think money is the end of the story, however.
Now, no one ever said “all techies are [fill in the blank]”. That would be ludicrous, wouldn’t it? Just like saying “all CEOs are [fill in the blank]”. We are in a polarized environment. That’s just the way it is.
If we look at ideals, Web 2.0 is a natural fit for liberalism, and is in dis-alignment with the conservative machine. One is true bottom-up, with change coming from an authentic, diffused grassroots, whereas the other is top-down, with the message and instructions coming from party leaders through think tanks, the conservative press, and talk radio.
Let me re-frame it for you a different way - Conservatives have successfully reframed “liberal” to be a dirty word - gay marriage, tax-and-spend, cut-and-run, etc., so much so that the repeated narrative can overpower any facts.
In a sense, to say that Republicans have perfected crime, graft, and perversion isn’t that much of a stretch, is it? Foley, Cunningham, Ney, Abramoff, Craig, etc.? That’s certainly not to say that the GOP has a monopoly (see Jefferson, Murtha, and I’m certain others). But that’s not the whole story…
The luxury liberals have right now is the gift of George W. Bush, and the weight his presidency and legacy will have on the conservative movement, particularly with Iraq. The conservative movement lashed itself to terror, Iraq, and 9/11. And now, their legacy is tied to Bush’s.
Point is, if this was October, 2001, conservative ideals, at least as far as terror is concerned, would be “right”. Note the G-Dub had 90% approval ratings. Operationalizing those ideals in the past six years, has shown those ideas to be wrong. Note that 74% of Americans want us to take a different course than that of the past six years. When the conservative brand is associated with that remaining 26%, don’t be suprised when there’s fallout. You are judged by the company you keep. Now that the conservative ideology, or at least W’s interpretation of it is a failure, it’s very easy for pundits to jump on board. I think you seem to forget instances where the patriotism of anyone who disagrees with the war was questioned…
6 rzklkng // Nov 5, 2007 at 12:05 pm
And on second thought, are you kidding me? Liberals alienate conservatives? Really?
You apparently don’t consume the mainstream darlings of conservia - like Limbaugh, Hannity, and Coulter?
You start with a strawman, that the assumption is that all Web-people are liberals - who gets invited to the White House that are bloggers? How about courted by the Pentagon? Who is making those assumptions.
I (and scores of others) spoke our convictions post-9/11 while being called traitors worthy of execution. Stand up for what you believe, and be judged by the company you keep.
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