Pirate's Cove

Let’s face it, most people on-line can get a bit nasty at times, especially when discussing politics. I remember my first foray into on-line politics, where I skirted the rules at NJ.com discussing 9/11 with a liberals who thought we not only deserved it, but that 9/11 was no big deal. We all get snippy. A new Pew poll, though, shows that those on the Left are the ones who aren’t able to deal with opposing viewpoints the most (via Hot Air)

Politics can be a sensitive subject and a number of SNS [social networking sites] users have decided to block, unfriend, or hide someone because of their politics or posting activities. In all, 18% of social networking site users have taken one of those steps by doing at least one of the following:

• 10% of SNS users have blocked, unfriended, or hidden someone on the site because that person posted too frequently about political subjects
• 9% of SNS users have blocked, unfriended, or hidden someone on the site because they posted something about politics or issues that they disagreed with or found offensive
• 8% of SNS users have 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
• 5% of SNS users have blocked, unfriended, or hidden someone on the site because they posted something about politics that the user worried would offend other friends
• 4% of SNS users have blocked, unfriended, or hidden someone on the site because they disagreed with something the user posted about politics

Of course, that means that 82% of SNS users have not taken any steps to ignore or disconnect from someone whose views are different – or have not encountered any views that would prompt such a move.

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.

I’ve run a blog since July, 2004, and in all that time, I’ve blocked two or three people/blogs (not counting spammers). I’ve only requested one person be banned from Right Wing News, and that was primarily due to an outcry from multiple commenters, including a liberal. But, I’ve also been blocked from multiple liberal sites, one of which is obviously Little Green Footballs. Why? Because I disagreed with Chuck. I’ve been blocked at multiple liberals sites that use Disqus. I was shocked that I was blocked at Shakesville, even though I have almost never commented there. Many Warmist sites have blocked myself, along with many Climate Realists. Heck, the UK Guardian moderates my comments because I’ve called them out for their climate alarmism articles. That said, I’ve also been blocked at a few Libertarian sites, one of which is possibly more unhinged than LGF.

And, yeah, I delinked LGF after he went bat guano crazy. I have been blocked from seeing Chuck’s Twitter feed, though. The lengths he goes through to block and ban are amazing.

Personally, I like debating with Liberals, even when they become unhinged. Lots of them do not enjoy debating with people who disagree with them, even if they are liberals themselves. DUmmie Funnies has lots of posts on the subject of Democratic Underground posters being “tombstoned” for disagreeing, including this one. When all is said and done, we see that liberals are the least tolerant of divergent viewpoints.

This isn’t to say that all liberals are like this, but, there are certainly more according to the poll than Conservatives and moderates, statistically.