Mac Users More Liberal Than Windows Users 638
adeelarshad82 writes "A recent survey conducted on 400,000 people — in which 52% of respondents were self-described PC (Windows) people, 25% were Mac users and 23% were neither — showed that Mac users are more politically liberal than their PC-using counterparts. 58% of Mac users were 'liberal,' as compared to 38% of PC users. Amongst other things, the survey also indicated that Mac users were, on average, more urban, younger and more educated than PC users, which could potentially be a contributing factor toward being more liberal."
From the department of fucking pointlessness (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously, who the fuck cares?
Homosexuality (Score:0, Insightful)
I would expect higher incidence of homosexuality among mac users to contribute to this? Possibly in a statistically significant numbers?
Distasteful (Score:5, Insightful)
That's five minutes I'll never get back (Score:5, Insightful)
No, not really. What would be more interesting is in looking at what the distribution for those attitudes looks like. I'd guess Mac users would represent a classic bell curve while PC users would have a much less predictable pattern. But then I wouldn't expect the people who do this kind of "research" have any interest beyond trolling in the first place. No questions about conformity or deference to authority either. That'd be an interesting outcome...
Suprising no. (Score:2, Insightful)
Conservative (not to be confused with republicans, religious folk, or the other things that they statically are) are people who prefer that status quo. PC are the status quo for a computer purchase. If you are going to switch to a Mac, then you realize that you want to change.
Re:And... (Score:4, Insightful)
But only under the old fashioned proper definition of the word, not the modern one.
Since the term was high-jacked the term "Libertarian" has come up to replace the good version of Liberal.
Fits my preconceptions. (Score:5, Insightful)
That's not surprising at all. Here, am I talking politics or electronics?
"Just spend enough to make it work. What's the most common solution? Let's do that."
"I want to spend as much money as necessary to get what I'm told is the best and shiniest system possible."
Then there are the Linux libertarians: disgusted by the major parties, trying hard (sometimes too hard) not to become cynical about their tiny minority. "Of course it's a viable solution! People will get it someday..."
Re:Distasteful (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:This is kind of stupid/obvious (Score:3, Insightful)
OSX's walled garden (good or bad) approach extends far beyond the hip and young crowd. I'm in my early 40s and nearly all my friends are Mac users. This is not due to us being young and hip, rather us being white-collar working professionals with disposable income.
Re:And... (Score:4, Insightful)
The "good" old fashioned liberals are today's economic conservatives. No thanks, they've done enough damage to the world. Social democrats are the good liberals these days. Libertarians are just scary in their slavish devotion to market solutions as the be all end all tool for every problem.
ALSO (Score:1, Insightful)
LINUX users are Communists so THERE! Fuck liberals those bourgeois wankers.
Re:CNN story (Score:2, Insightful)
It could be that children who grow up in middle, upper-middle, or higher incomes tend to be more materialistic and grow up needing certain premium-priced merchandise in order to conform and be accepted by peers. This leads to adoption of Macs for cool/style factor.
I have owned Macs before because I like the stability, ease of use, and the form factors as well - but for most people it's just a fashion accessory.
Comment removed (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:And... (Score:4, Insightful)
Wrong. Being a balanced individual, who can think for themselves is a good thing. If you are going to be brain dead enough to say I am Liberal or I am Conservative really means that you really didn't spend any time on thinking about the issues and if they fit into your personal philosophy or not. They are things in life that needs to be changed that needs a liberal view to help bring to into play. There are other things in life which are not perfect but are at an optimal or near optimal state and any changes will negatively effect it. You should based your opinion on every issue that comes up and prioritize them in order of importance so when you go to elect an individual you choose the one who stands for most of your highest priority items.
Re:And... (Score:2, Insightful)
The "good" old fashioned liberals are today's economic conservatives. No thanks, they've done enough damage to the world. Social democrats are the good liberals these days. Libertarians are just scary in their slavish devotion to market solutions as the be all end all tool for every problem.
Social liberals are far more frightening in their slavish devotion to government as the be all end all tool for every problem.
Re:hmm... (Score:2, Insightful)
At least a contract between Ferengi is a contract. We can't say the same for most of the US corporations and the citizens of the US.
Re:Homosexuality (Score:3, Insightful)
I would expect higher incidence of homosexuality among mac users to contribute to this? Possibly in a statistically significant numbers?
If you are so desperate to pull, why don't you post your name, address and a photo?
Re:That's five minutes I'll never get back (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh so THIS is the reason so many people lash out at Apple users anytime we mention something nice about Apple products. They don't like the fact we are affluent and educated. And here it was I thought they just didn't like Macbooks and iPads.
I believe you got that backwards. For a long time it's been very difficult to say anything critical about Apple or Apple products without hordes of very annoying supporters defending Apple, attacking you, telling you to shut up, telling you that you could just buy something else (an inane argument, as if you couldn't possibly be critical to parts of products/company policies and want them to change through public critisism).
It has turned a bit back on the Apple supporters, yes, which they seem to be very touchy about. While this might not be you, as a group they created this themselves.
More educated (Score:5, Insightful)
I love the term "more educated". Without strict definition, it is completely useless. How is it measured?
I have several dozen friends and associates who only have a high-school diploma, but are far "more educated" than many (most) who have masters degrees. They are self-educated, but still have a far larger body of knowledge, and integration of that knowledge.
"more educated", as popularly used, has -zero- to do with intelligence. It has everything to do with opportunity, privilege, and money. Congratulations, wealthy folk are more likely to own Macs. They are also more likely to own a Rolex or drive an over-priced car. Sometimes the things they purchase truly are of higher quality or are inherently better. Sometimes the pricing is solely based on exclusivity and perceived status, and the product is inferior.
BTW, I have a master's degree. I spent 10 years working full-time and self-educating, but needed to "check the box" for employment opportunities later in life. A complete waste of time and money, other than it opened some employment doors.
Re:This is kind of stupid/obvious (Score:5, Insightful)
OS X is a certified UNIX on which one can install just about any third-party proprietary app (made by, for example, Adobe and Microsoft) as wells as tons [macosforge.org] of open-source software [opensourcemac.org]. Much of the underpinnings of OS X is itself open source [apple.com].
What precisely do you mean by "walled garden" given these facts? Oh, you were trolling. Never mind, then. Carry on.
Re:Cue the flame wars (Score:4, Insightful)
You should probably be using a Modern Difference Engine:
http://acarol.woz.org/difference_engine.html [woz.org]
Re:Distasteful (Score:5, Insightful)
What is even more distasteful is that somehow some political views are viewed automagically as "bad". Having different options should be a GOOD thing.
Some political views are bad. There's no way around this. There are policies which are generally good for people, and supporting these policies is good; there are policies which are generally bad for people, and supporting these policies is bad. Holding different political positions is not akin to liking different flavors of ice cream.
Your .sig illustrates this nicely. I'm guessing that you, like I and (I'm going to go out on a limb here) the majority of /.ers, understand that the PATRIOT act is a bad thing, a policy which hurts a lot more than it helps. Supporting it is therefore also bad. Anyone who supports it, no matter how good they may be in other ways, is to a certain measurable degree lowering themselves down the moral scale. They have the right to their opinion, to be sure -- and the rest of us have the right to criticize them for it.
Re:No Springtime for Hitler (Score:4, Insightful)
There is nothing racist about stating something like "blacks commit more crimes than X", as long as it is factually true.
Re:And... (Score:4, Insightful)
Agreed. I tire of the "the market will sort itself out" garbage of the Libertarian movement. The market inherits all the societal inequities around it, thus being a completely unfair market that most certainly will not "sort itself out". It will only perpetuate the inequities of society.
Re:Cue the flame wars (Score:5, Insightful)
Obviously you don't understand genetics. Humans are have few if any 'genetic inclinations'. It's one of our hallmarks.
From your link:
"In reflex tests of 46 political partisans, psychologists found that conservatives were more likely than liberals to be shocked by sudden threat."
An alternate interpretation of their results would be that liberals were too dull to respond. Lot depends on how you frame the results.
One last aside: You're aware there's no actual definition for liberal and conservative, right? This means the paper your link linked to is premised on fantasy, not fact.
Re:And... (Score:5, Insightful)
Socialists want to replace capitalism, not attempt to stabilize it.
Eh, as a socialist, I disagree. I don't mind capitalism.. What bothers me is corporatism. Government is a necessary evil; Walmart is an unnecessary evil.
Re:And... (Score:5, Insightful)
The "good" old fashioned liberals are today's economic conservatives... Libertarians are just scary in their slavish devotion to market solutions as the be all end all tool for every problem.
A push towards extreme capitalism is not "conservative" and I really wish people would stop applying that term. Moving to tax absurdly less progressive taxes than we had even under Reagan isn't conservative, it's extremist. Literally it is pushing the balance of economics to an extreme not seen since the days of old. Both Libertarians and Republicans (regardless of whether or not one agrees with their economic policies) are advocating for extremist economic policies in relation to historical norms for the last 50 or 100 years. Do not make the mistake of thinking they are pushing the status quo. For the last 20 years the economic balance has been skewing further and further to the extreme end of wealth consolidation.
Re:This is kind of stupid/obvious (Score:2, Insightful)
rather us being white-collar working professionals with with more money than sense.
there fixed it for ya
Re:Liberalism in the US (Score:5, Insightful)
If the patient is diseased you do not kill the patient.
You do not kill the village to save it.
If some entity is too powerful you can't reduce its power by neutering the only challenger strong enough to temper it.
In short, you're swallowing the shit hook, line and sinker. The intention in the past 3 decades has been to corrupt government precisely so you can then say, "Look! Gov is corrupt! You don't want gov! Let us take over!"
The correct response is, "Yes! You corrupted it! Now it's time to remove corrupt elements."
Re:Liberalism in the US (Score:2, Insightful)