political views tied towards hobbies

[tpfkaw]

fans of country music, college football, and the TV comedy show "Friends" favored Republican Bob Dole. 

The "Friends" thing really surprises me. Friends is very much about a stereotypical democratic leaning demographic (young people) who are single or shacking up (also dem leaning) and live in a big city (even more likely to vote dem).

Ah, but it's Gen X, which is probably the most conservative generation born in the 20th century.

[angus]

fans of country music, college football, and the TV comedy show "Friends" favored Republican Bob Dole.

The "Friends" thing really surprises me. Friends is very much about a stereotypical democratic leaning demographic (young people) who are single or shacking up (also dem leaning) and live in a big city (even more likely to vote dem).

Maybe.  I never thought about it that deeply.  I know that it's one of those very shallow shows with lots of easy dialogue, making it the perfect show for English as a foreign language students to watch.  More than one foreigner has told me that she was advised by her teacher specifically to watch Friends. 

As for the politics of the show, I think they were fairly apolitical.  I can't imagine anyone of either party being offended by the show.  "Shacking up" by the way, generally refers to POSSLQ modality, and not to three white, hetero female roomies or three white, hetero male roomies sharing an apartment. 

Or if you're right, then maybe all that gets trumped when you're talking about supporting a guy who refers to himself in the third person.  "Bob Dole is not going to raise your taxes."  "Bob Dole wouldn't do that."  I guess if you like Bob Dole, you probably also like Chandler.

And anyway, I don't think the trend was great.  Just like knitting and sports, it's only a slight preference, just to make a difference if you're on a tight budget and targeting TV audiences, but not enough to make bets and generalizations.

[UpcomingYouthvoter]

Since sports have been done on here, I have a question to ask. Why is sports so geared to conservatives? I was on ESPN once and they were calling Ralph Nader a communist. It has to be the macho John Wayne  type of fans that makes sports more conservative then liberal.

[Username MechaRFK]

I wonder how political views are tied towards big movie and music fans. From all my time lurking on every movie/music forum I've seen most of the users having liberal/Democratic views, not to mention a few libertarians here and there. This doesn't surprise me one bit since I would image American Democrats would have bigger variety of taste when it comes to movies and music. Republicans tend to watch sports and business since most of TV is supposedly bias towards Democrats. There was one idiotic man on this blog one time complaining that NBC was Communist because they showed the Barack Obama job speech over the football game. Republicans are hostile towards the arts compare to Dems/liberals. I would guess that the only movie genre that is fans has slight Republican edge  towards is Action and that about it. The rest I'm assuming is Democratic/liberal leaning.

[Username MechaRFK]

One thing I've been thinking over is if there is a correlation between what sports you watch and you're political views (if any)

I've always assumed that an NFL fan was more likely to be republican than an NBA fan and an NBA fan was more likely to be a democrat than a NFL fan. The reason I see this is because I've always felt football to be Exhibit A of "American Exceptionalism" as it has failed to take hold in other countries. Basketball, while not as international as soccer, tends to have more fans in other countries.

It also seems as if football is more of a 'merkin sport so to speak. Although basketball is popular in rural Indiana or Kentucky, football seems to be much more of a rural sport. Although Odessa is not a rural area, its basically a giant small town. Football also has more of that sort of macho kill all the bad guys attitude a la Chuck Norris or John Wayne.

Basketball seems to be more of an urban sport. It seems like basketball is more popular in the big cities of the northeast, great lakes, and the west coast (LA, NY, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit).

This of course is assuming people at football or basketball games vote at all. But would you agree or disagree with my hypothesis?

For the sports question.

http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/Sports-Stats_900.php

[angus]

Republicans are hostile towards the arts compare to Dems

Really?  Where do you come by that little gem of a factoid? 

I do not know whether museum and opera houses and theaters require their private donors to disclose political ideologies as a precondition of donation, but I'd imagine that they do not.  Still, we know that the main source of the funding of the arts needs to be through philanthropy.  And that happens best in a sound and growing economy.  One could argue that the economy continues to be stymied by the spending of government that frustrates individuals who would otherwise be willing to support the arts.

[Username MechaRFK]

Republicans are hostile towards the arts compare to Dems

Really?  Where do you come by that little gem of a factoid? 

Conservatives on the movie blog I visited said they refused to watch any movie that comes out of Hollywood because of the liberals in the industry.

[Politico]

Republicans are hostile towards the arts compare to Dems/liberals.

I am not so sure when you consider that Ronald Reagan, Clint Eastwood and Jimmy Stewart, three of the biggest names in the history of Hollywood, are examples of staunch Republicans well-known for significant artistic achievements/contributions.

Hollywood is far more conservative than most people realize, but especially when you examine the people who control things behind the scenes. I would go so far as to say there are people in Hollywood who associate with the Democratic Party in order to ensure Hollywood has influence in every sphere of the political realm when they are really closet Republicans behind-the-curtain. Show business is a very cut-throat, what-have-you-done-for-me-lately business behind-the-scenes, perhaps even more so than the most conservative of industries (e.g., the financial industry). The drive for greater and greater profits is on par with Gordon Gekko at his best.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Arts and Hollywood? What have they got to do with each other? They're complete opposites.

[All Along The Watchtower]

Arts and Hollywood? What have they got to do with each other? They're complete opposites.

Ding Ding Ding! We have a winner!

Most Hollywood people, if they have political views, tend to have very superficial ones,  which is reflective of their superficial industry.

[Phony Moderate]

Republicans are hostile towards the arts compare to Dems/liberals.

I am not so sure when you consider that Ronald Reagan, Clint Eastwood and Jimmy Stewart, three of the biggest names in the history of Hollywood, are examples of staunch Republicans well-known for significant artistic achievements/contributions.

Hollywood is far more conservative than most people realize, but especially when you examine the people who control things behind the scenes. I would go so far as to say there are people in Hollywood who associate with the Democratic Party in order to ensure Hollywood has influence in every sphere of the political realm when they are really closet Republicans behind-the-curtain. Show business is a very cut-throat, what-have-you-done-for-me-lately business behind-the-scenes, perhaps even more so than the most conservative of industries (e.g., the financial industry). The drive for greater and greater profits is on par with Gordon Gekko at his best.

So who would you say is genuinely left-wing in Hollywood?

[Insula Dei]

Arts and Hollywood? What have they got to do with each other? They're complete opposites.

Ding Ding Ding! We have a winner!

Most Hollywood people, if they have political views, tend to have very superficial ones,  which is reflective of their superficial industry.

On the contrary, like most 'superficially' political persons, their political views are almost etched into their soul.

[Politico]

Republicans are hostile towards the arts compare to Dems/liberals.

I am not so sure when you consider that Ronald Reagan, Clint Eastwood and Jimmy Stewart, three of the biggest names in the history of Hollywood, are examples of staunch Republicans well-known for significant artistic achievements/contributions.

Hollywood is far more conservative than most people realize, but especially when you examine the people who control things behind the scenes. I would go so far as to say there are people in Hollywood who associate with the Democratic Party in order to ensure Hollywood has influence in every sphere of the political realm when they are really closet Republicans behind-the-curtain. Show business is a very cut-throat, what-have-you-done-for-me-lately business behind-the-scenes, perhaps even more so than the most conservative of industries (e.g., the financial industry). The drive for greater and greater profits is on par with Gordon Gekko at his best.

So who would you say is genuinely left-wing in Hollywood?

Probably Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, and Susan Sarandon for those living. I am not sure anybody else in Hollywood is genuinely left-wing. That includes Warren Beatty, whom I have always suspected of being far different from what the public persona displays.

Things are not always what they seem.

[dead0man]

Conservatives on the movie blog I visited said they refused to watch any movie that comes out of Hollywood because of the liberals in the industry.

Yes, all those huge movie fans that refuse to watch Hollywood movies for political reasons....there must be literally a dozen of them worldwide!

(and before anybody says it, yes I know they make movies in other places, but I'm sure you can understand why that fact isn't important here)

Republicans are hostile towards the arts compare to Dems/liberals.

I am not so sure when you consider that Ronald Reagan, Clint Eastwood and Jimmy Stewart, three of the biggest names in the history of Hollywood, are examples of staunch Republicans well-known for significant artistic achievements/contributions.

Reagan was a Dem when he was still a working artist.

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Subtle.....

[Phony Moderate]

Probably Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, and Susan Sarandon for those living. I am not sure anybody else in Hollywood is genuinely left-wing.

Oliver Stone? Richard Gere? Matt Damon? George Clooney?

[Politico]

Probably Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, and Susan Sarandon for those living. I am not sure anybody else in Hollywood is genuinely left-wing.

Oliver Stone? Richard Gere? Matt Damon? George Clooney?

I forgot about Oliver Stone because he's been such a useless disappointment the past two decades. Even he lives quite the lifestyle of the rich and famous, though, but I do believe he has guilt about it. I would probably put him in the category of those other three noted above.

Gere, Damon and Clooney are not genuine. They would not only sell their mother to make a buck, they would send her COD. They are all about the fame and money.

[Username MechaRFK]

Action movie stars tend to be the exception to "liberal Hollywood" stars, with most who tend to consider themselves political are in the conservative spectrum. Chuck Norris views are 180 from the Oliver Stones of the world.

[Swedish Rainbow Capitalist Cheese]

I'd say that in Sweden where the two big sports are Hockey and Football (real football) Hockey is probably quite left-wing being much more popular in Northern and Central Sweden. Football I'm more unsure about, it's more popular in Southern Sweden, but on the other hand it's also the most popular sport with immigrants...

Golf in Sweden at least is definatley the most right-wing sport.   

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Golf in Sweden at least is definatley the most right-wing sport.   

Shocking, simply shocking.

[Hash]

This chart from Wikipedia is pretty interesting:



Unsurprisingly, the loons who play petanque are right-wing. I'd wager they're far-right Le Pen voters, given how much that idiotic "sport" is played by crabby old white males in the south who probably want to kill browns. Those who watch football regularly are probably pretty much split, maybe a slight lean to the left in the old days and the far-right now. They tend to be pretty dumb.

[Username MechaRFK]

Golf in Sweden at least is definatley the most right-wing sport.   

Shocking, simply shocking.

It's also the same here in America. That or NASCAR.

[Politico]

This chart from Wikipedia is pretty interesting:



Unsurprisingly, the loons who play petanque are right-wing. I'd wager they're far-right Le Pen voters, given how much that idiotic "sport" is played by crabby old white males in the south who probably want to kill browns. Those who watch football regularly are probably pretty much split, maybe a slight lean to the left in the old days and the far-right now. They tend to be pretty dumb.

That's a great piece of pseudoscience. Let me guess: It's by a French sociologist who could not handle a real science.

[Bacon King]

Actually, Pierre Bourdieu was a philosophy major who switched his area of study when he realized philosophy was grandiosely pointless. I don't think you can assume someone is in a social science field because they "can't handle" studying the hard sciences; that's just a silly thing to say.

Also, for the record, that chart reflected survey data taken in the 1960's, and the French wiki article explicitly mentions that these things have changed considerably over time. Most of the chart isn't really applicable today.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Bourdieu was an incredibly intelligent man, more so than anyone posting here I suspect.

[Insula Dei]

a) What Al/Realpolitik said
b) How's sociology not a 'real' science? What's with you Americans and the disdain for sociology? Never ever noted anything simmilar to that here in Europe.