NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/comp/org/eff/talk/8238

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-02 | 3.5 KB

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From: [e-mail] (William Kaufman)
Subject: Re: [misc.activism.progressive]  Clinton Office Requests Comments
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Date: Sat, 2 Jan 1993 18:15:28 GMT
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In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Glenn S. Tenney) writes:
] In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Elliott Mitchell) writes:
] >
] >Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that political conservatives seem
] >more likely to take up new technology than liberals.  Liberals seem to be
] >neo-Luddites in this respect.

    Well, there was Mr. Bush who, in his term of office, a) learned to
turn on a computer; and, b) was startled by the existence of supermarket
bar code scanners.  On the other hand, Mr. Gore has long been a strong
advocate for technology.

    But, I don't think this has much to do with political affiliation.
Gender, race and experience play a role, but the most important factor
seems to be *age*: a thirty-year-old will, almost certainly, be more
comfortable/familiar with high-tech than a sixty-year-old.

[ 1. email use....]
] 2. re: conservative viewpoint would dominate
]    My experience says no.  Well, sort of no.  Well, it's like this...
]    I received gobs of email during my campaign.  Of course, some of it
]    was quite thoughtful, and some was flaming (from rare to well done).
]    A vast amount of the flames were from people who fell into the rough
]    camp of:  All taxes are theft; almost all government is wrong; etc.
]    I don't think I would classify those as 'conservative', but perhaps
]    the conservatives I've met just hadn't flamed that way in person.

    That's the libertarians, who try not to classify themselves as
either liberal or conservative, because the conservative, Barry
Goldwater-style ones would get into small arms fire with the anarchist,
Emma Goldman-style ones, and wreck the party.

    If Usenet is any reasonable sample, though, there *does* seem to be
a relation between being a programmer and a libertarian.  I don't think
anyone can prove a definite correlation; but my guess is that the two
are related by the fact that programmers are overwhelmingly white,
educated and (currently or soon-to-be) upper-middle-class.

] p.s.
] No, I didn't win the primary this time.  I got 11%, though.

    Good luck next time!  (Myself, I've given up on Democrat/Republican
distinctions, and am losing faith in liberal/conservative; but, anyone
who knows how to work a calculator has to be better for the deficit than
someone who doesn't.)

                                           -- Bill K.

Bill Kaufman,          | "Maybetheyhadaridiculousstatementtomakeaboutsomethingt
Corporate Lackey       |  heyhadntexperiencedPossiblySamhadadifferentopiniontha
[e-mail] |  tnobodyeverconsideredimportant."  -- the Meat Puppets