WC fans are Republicans?

Status
Not open for further replies.
How many connections are needed to get a book included on one of Amazon's "also read" links, though?

Serious question.

(As for Coulter, like small children she should be seen, and not heard. "Shrill" is the nicest thing to say of her commentary.)
 
I guess that's a tough question -- I mean, the voting population is pretty much split down the middle, isn't it?

The easiest answer is that Dr. Forstchen, who wrote the better Wing Commander novels, is a noted Republican, which is quite probably how the connection gets made on Amazon. (Although, I'd imagine the book you're linking to is just a cheap stack-of-books-at-the-front-of-Borders publicity pitch than it is any kind of serious political commentary.)

(Forstchen is a Civil War historian -- my guess is that his political view is common to such scholars, who have a unique historical view of how the two modern parties came to be.)

There's a huge cult-of-personality assosciated with politics on the internet that largely doesn't exist outside of college campuses and nursing homes in real life. The actual difference between the two parties ultimately comes down to things like what kind of tax code they favor. (Which is to say, despite all you've probably read on the internet, there is no inherent war v. anti-war debate between the two parties.)

Anyway, that is to say that you have lots of internet forums where it's only cool to be liberal (and to a lesser extent, communities where the reverse is true). I would say that in general, the Wing Commander community doesn't have the 'one side or else' mentality. We've got people from both "sides" who are welcome to express their opinion in places like #WingNut. That doesn't make it 'more Republican' than the average population sample... but it does make it smarter.
 
Bandit LOAF said:
I guess that's a tough question -- I mean, the voting population is pretty much split down the middle, isn't it?

The easiest answer is that Dr. Forstchen, who wrote the better Wing Commander novels, is a noted Republican, which is quite probably how the connection gets made on Amazon. (Although, I'd imagine the book you're linking to is just a cheap stack-of-books-at-the-front-of-Borders publicity pitch than it is any kind of serious political commentary.)

(Forstchen is a Civil War historian -- my guess is that his political view is common to such scholars, who have a unique historical view of how the two modern parties came to be.)

There's a huge cult-of-personality assosciated with politics on the internet that largely doesn't exist outside of college campuses and nursing homes in real life. The actual difference between the two parties ultimately comes down to things like what kind of tax code they favor. (Which is to say, despite all you've probably read on the internet, there is no inherent war v. anti-war debate between the two parties.)

Anyway, that is to say that you have lots of internet forums where it's only cool to be liberal (and to a lesser extent, communities where the reverse is true). I would say that in general, the Wing Commander community doesn't have the 'one side or else' mentality. We've got people from both "sides" who are welcome to express their opinion in places like #WingNut. That doesn't make it 'more Republican' than the average population sample... but it does make it smarter.
Click to expand...

a very well written post

i dont know how the two parties exactly came to be as Im Irish, and we dont really learn that in school, however I did read a book called The Boston Irish, and the Republicans attitude towards Papists and especially Irish in the early 1900's , emm wudnt exactly make me their biggest fan (althou that was a long time ago eheh)
 
Hmm... looking at Wing Commander, I cannot discern aspects of it that would really appeal more to a Republican or a Democrat. In many ways, Democrats and Republicans are quite similar (though if you say this to them, they don't seem to think so).

However, as LOAF mentioned, they do have areas in which there is a great divide (wellfare, borders, abortion, military spending, etc...). As far as I am aware, the only "rift" issue upon which WC really touches is that of military spending (now I haven't read all of the novels, so I may be missing something), and both Democrats and Republicans have been willing to get together and increase spending in the face of a clear and present threat. So, I don't see that the WC universe would particularly resonate with members of one party versus the other.

I guess other possible areas include WMD, postwar reconstruction, etc... but I don't recall WC really taking a controverial stance on any of these. You could correct me if I am wrong, though.
 
Maj.Striker said:
I'm a Wing Commander fan and I'm a Republican...so that's at least one.
Click to expand...

And I'm not, so there's the balance LOAF talked about. But the Amazon thing very much just has to do with William Forstchen. He cowrites books with people like Newt Gingrich and has a variety of alternative history civil war novels under his belt. His core audience is definitely more Republican, and some of them will be buying his other books because they like him as an author. So you have a body of people connected in this way. Amazon notices the link and automatically creates an assertion that isn't really there.
 
Well.. Amazon didn't really create the assertion. Amazon just has a "people who bought X bought Y" feature, not a "people who are fans of the video game X is based on are more likely to think Y" feature.
 
What I meant was that the phrasing "Customers who bought this item also bought" is technically accurate, but it implies something extra. The original poster has the idea that Wing Commander fans disproportionately buy a certain book, when it's the other way around. People shopping for Forstchen's books who also happened to be science fiction fans probably snapped up a bunch of Action Stations.
 
baphomet_irl said:
[Republicans'] attitude towards Papists[,] and especially Irish[,] in the early [1900s]...[wouldn't] exactly make me their biggest fan ([although] that was a long time ago...[.])
Click to expand...
Well, being a nation initially settled, largely, by puritans, Popery wasn't really well regarded by anyone.

In other news, I like Wing Commander, am a Republican, and do not like Ann Coulter, crazily unbalancing the whole thing for everyone. Take that, voter equilibrium.
 
True enough...just because I am a Republican doesn't mean I like all other republicans. I weigh each politician (Republican or Democrat) based on criteria that are important to me. I could list the criteria but I'm sure no one is interested.
 
Very few Republicans and Democrats these days represent conservative or liberal ideologies. The RNC and the DNC are both funded by corporations and indivduals that in many situations are lobbying for their voice in the legislature.

In fact, politics these days is more or less a money game with slogans attatched to it like, 'save the buck-tooth horn beak spotted Owl' or 'viva Bush'.

Real issues are best left to University campuses and think tanks. Most people vote on who has the cooler hair, the better smile, or which side their parents voted for traditionally. Advertising and fund-raising is the name of the game today.

So, in the end, does it even matter what political party you support?
 
when asked whether i am republican or democrat, i usually say.... i am an anarchist... then the next statement is usually .... well, who would you vote for as president.

i reply, "well, me of course!!"

T
 
I think I'd have to agree with LOAF on the plausible cause of Amazon's visitors' tie-in between Forstchen and literature perhaps appealing more to Republicans.

For me personally, I'm definitely a Wing Commander fan, but strictly in movie and game media format (haven't read any of the books, but own and have played through WC 1-4 & Prophecy).

I was born, raised, and still live in the same state of the U.S., am a registered Independent, and typically vote more for Democrats than Republicans.

As for the reasons I vote the way I do, I'm going along with Maj. Striker's explanations even if they ultimately boil down to us voting differently.

Anyway, interesting topic and I hope more fans get around to posting. It'd be interesting to see exactly how it's split, but once again, I agree with LOAF that it's probably a mish-mosh of varying political allegiances, beliefs, etc. all bringing up different topics, analyzing different subject matters, and (much more often than not from what I've seen in recent history when I started frequenting this page) objectively discussing a variety of things pertaining to Wing Commander among other topics. I make it a point to visit the WC News page at least once a weekday to see who's talking about what and to offer anything additional that comes to my mind that I think is worth mentioning. But I don't really find any kind of propaganda or leanings towards any particular viewpoint on any threads here...just a collection of ideas from a variety of people with different backgrounds all sharing their opinions and slants on things in a generally civil manner.

So yeah...I'm an independent typically voting for Democrats who likes seeing people that might be polar opposites objectively conversing with one another over issues pertaining to Wing Commander and/or anything else. And I think most people involved in such issue discussions generally walk away with more of an appreciation and a broader view of things because of it.

In the end, I think LOAF is right - the Wing Commander fanbase is probably split right down the middle (or as close to it as is randomly statistically possible). :)

- FireFalcon ~};^
 
Dragon1 said:
Very few Republicans and Democrats these days represent conservative or liberal ideologies. The RNC and the DNC are both funded by corporations and indivduals that in many situations are lobbying for their voice in the legislature.
Click to expand...

Exactly, that's why I refuse to associate myself officially with either party. I'm an independently registered conservative who just happens to vote for the Republican 90% of the time because it was the best choice or at least the least evil choice. Sometimes the Democrat and Republican are so indistinguishable that I can't bring myself to vote for either of them, and in that case I figure it's usually safe to go with the Libertarian.
 
McGruff: Heaven won't take him because he's too stupid and... well, thats Hell's excuse too.
 
I'm happy to see political debates taking a back seat on forums pertaining to a politically-neutral topic such as this. Honestly, too many people are willing to base their personal opinion on someone based on how they vote and what party they align themselves to. I've lost a lot of friends because they couldn't believe how I could vote for so-and-so.

95% of the time I like to keep my politics confined to the voting booth.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top