# Are Blind People More Conservative Than Most Folks?

Category: Let's talk

## Post 1 by Godzilla-On-Toast (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Wednesday, 28-Feb-2007 5:43:07

I've mainly noticed this in the land of e-mail lists, since that's kind of the territory I know, but I would suppose you can find it elsewhere. Now, is it just me, or do most blind folks who are at least outspoken in their opinions and tastes a pretty conservative lot? Now, I just don't mean politically conservative, but I find many blind folks tend to have rather mainstream and mundane tastes and points of view. It's hard to find the ones who are more eclectic, liberal, or just plain eccentric sometimes, which bothers me I guess because as a person who is not conservative politically, tastewise or in my world view, it's hard to find like-minded folks. I know I'm not the only one who thinks this because I've run into others who also notice this. Now, is this just a reflection of society at large, or is there something about being blind that just makes you want to not be too eccentric or eclectic or liberal. Am I even making any sense this late at night?

## Post 2 by blbobby (Ooo you're gona like this!) on Wednesday, 28-Feb-2007 12:43:18

I've never noticed that, but, I've never thought of it before.
Many of the blind people I know are more liberal than their sighted colleagues. I always assumed it was because they had dealt with social services at some time in their lives.
I, for one, am one of the most liberal (politically) people I know.
Should be interesting.
Bob

## Post 3 by SingerOfSongs (Heresy and apostasy is how progress is made.) on Thursday, 01-Mar-2007 5:40:17

I think some of the view of the conservative blind has more to do with the fact that a lot of blind people are older. (Senior citizens that have gone blind.) This is a bit of a stereotype, which I normaly avoid like the plague, but I think as a whole the elderly tend to be more conservative than the younger people. (before anyone says it, yes I definitely know that this is not always true. I can think of a couple that don't fit that right off the top of my head.) I'd also say most of the blind people I know who are younger vary a good deal though more seem to be at least semi liberal. Thoughts on that?

## Post 4 by retrieverdog (when I'm in seventh hour, my work does show.) on Monday, 12-Mar-2007 12:16:34

I really don't think tazt blind people are more conservative than most folks but then again it is possible. blind people don't see things to make them get off track as easilly and that could make us more so I suppose.

## Post 5 by bisco_42 (I can't call it a day til I enter the zone BBS) on Tuesday, 13-Mar-2007 2:30:52

I've definitely noticed this and agree with the original post. Although I'm pretty much the polar opposite politically, in terms of tastes (music, food, etc.) and general points of view/outlook on things. But yeah; I do think the majority are conservative which IMO, is unfortunate.

## Post 6 by The Roman Battle Mask (Making great use of my Employer's time.) on Tuesday, 13-Mar-2007 8:46:53

I have not had a lot of experience with older blind people so can't judge on that. But I've noticed blind young adults tend to be more liberal, although I'm conservative and proud of it.

## Post 7 by CrazyMusician (If I don't post to your topic, it's cuz I don't give a rip about it!) on Tuesday, 13-Mar-2007 11:48:33

would you be willing to define these terms a little bit for me. WHat do you mean by conservative? Liberal? "Eccentric"?

## Post 8 by jessmonsilva (Taking over the boards, one topic at a time.) on Tuesday, 13-Mar-2007 12:26:25

I'm as liberal as they come, lol. I also think in some ways and maybe I'm wrong for thinking this, but if a blind person got sheltered for whatever reason as well they would be more likely to be conservative, because they were just brought up to conform to what is acceptible, I suppose.

## Post 9 by DancingAfterDark (I just keep on posting!) on Tuesday, 13-Mar-2007 15:23:21

I, too, agree with the original poster. I've noticed it a lot, both online and off. The majority of the blind people I know are super-conservative, both religiously and politically. Most of my blind friends are also this way in terms of musical interests and such, but in my opinion that comes from wanting to fit in with their sighted peers and be accepted in the mainstream world. An attempt not to stand out any more than they already do, in other words.
As for myself, my musical tastes are all over the place. I try to appreciate every genre of music in some way, even if I don't necessarily enjoy listening to it. Most of the music I listen to on a regular basis is stuff no one I know has ever heard of. And I don't follow the Christian faith or any other traditional one that I'm aware of, and I'm liberal to the extreme where politics are concerned.

## Post 10 by Godzilla-On-Toast (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Wednesday, 14-Mar-2007 5:50:54

I think I'll delegate and leave it up to others how to define conservative and liberal. I wish I could but I'm not always the best person to ask to come up with clear definitions of things. Let me make a few examples, one that has more to do with religion and politics, and one that has more to do with things like tastes and such. OK, I was on an e-mail list last summer, and one of the posters had a signature which basically bestowed God's blessings upon America, its president and the troops fighting the war. At some point, somebody replied to a topic where that person wrote observing that the president would be the last thing that God would bless. This started a big flame war that lasted most of the rest of the day, with pretty much everyone taking the side of the person with the sig and criticizing the one who was critical of the president and the war. That person was even threatened with being taken off the list for their comments and such, and I've seen similar responses to people who had e-mail signatures criticizing the president and the war. So it can seem you are more likely to find fellow travellers if you take a pro-war, pro-Bush stance rather than one critical of same.
Now, some shorter examples based on my own observations. It seems you're more likely to find blind people who are Christian, and I mean very vocally Christian, Bible-reading, into all the Christian music and etc, than to find a blind person who will loudly and proudly proclaim they are agnostic or atheist, let alone finding somebody who is, let's say pagan or perhaps who just has a faith system that's unique to themselves. Wanna talk about music? OK, you'd better be into very mainstream oldies, country and soft rock. Good luck finding any fellow fans if you like things like Philip Glass, Tangerine Dream, Dead Can Dance, Negativland, or the Residents, just as examples. You're more likely to find said fans amongst the sighted and you might hear such music on local college radio stations. I guess it bothers me because here are a group of people who really enjoy music, yet they stick to such mainstream things when they might get a kick out of a lot of non-mainstream stuff. I bet blind heavy metal fans or fans of punk rock are as rare as hen's teeth. LOL! Again, just a few examples of what I've seen, and I could be totally out of it. I also wonder if the blending-in theory is valid, though. OK, I grew up being told not to display blindisms but I was never encouraged to adjust my tastes so as not to stand out just because I didn't like most of the stuff everybody went crazy for. I've always just been myself from what I can tell.

## Post 11 by DancingAfterDark (I just keep on posting!) on Wednesday, 14-Mar-2007 9:39:53

Damn it! I just had this whole longish post explaining what I said above, but the site ate it, so here's the condensed version.
I was never encouraged to adjust my tastes so that they would better fit and be accepted by the mainstream sighted community, and I never did. Still don't. My point, though, is that at least in my bit of the world, hip-hop/R&B/rap/pop/country is what's played on mainstream radio, and it's what the majority of the sighted community listens to. As a result, the blind people who've grown up and gone to school here have realized that in order to fit in and have something in common with their sighted peers, it's a good idea to listen to that sort of thing. That's not to say that some of them don't genuinely enjoy that music (I guess somebody's got to); just a generalization.
I also think that the being sheltered excuse, while annoying and often times overused, is a valid one here. I have a friend who listens to mainstream music, is a very vocal Christian, et cetera, and she's never heard of most of what I listen to, so I show her some of it from time to time and she usually likes what she hears. We have similar music tastes, it's just that she's never ventured outside of her box and her siblings listen to mainstream music, so she does, too.

## Post 12 by CrazyMusician (If I don't post to your topic, it's cuz I don't give a rip about it!) on Wednesday, 14-Mar-2007 11:35:52

Hey
I think I understand whatcha mean.
I am a Christian, proudly so, but am still trying to figure out a lot of things in regards to my faith. Anyone who thinks they know everything is wrong...
Politically? I'm not a follower of a particular party, though I do feel strongly about certain issues - some more liberal than others.
Musically, I'm definitely more liberal... I'm not big into genres, but more bands. Do I listen to Christian music? Sure, but I listen to different styles, not just the fluff that's played on the radio. I listen to country, classical, rock, pop, even getting into some dance.
I don't fit the complete mold, but you can see a few outlines, and others that are waaaaaay out there.

## Post 13 by bisco_42 (I can't call it a day til I enter the zone BBS) on Friday, 16-Mar-2007 0:56:46

Just look at the "jam session" board to see what godzilla was talking about in terms of musical preference. ;)
This isn't at all a knock on anyone who likes anything in the mainstream; I like some mainstream acts although they're few and far between but reading through the threads on the first page of that board does substantiate some of godzilla's claims.
DancingAfterDark, I could be wrong but aren't you pretty much the only other person on here who's heard of the Elephant 6 collective (neutral milk hotel, olivia tremor control, of montreal, etc.)? I remember that coming up in a thread a while back; the thread didn't last long after that. :)

## Post 14 by Telemachus (Death: the destroyer of worlds.) on Friday, 16-Mar-2007 4:09:13

The... elephant... who? *blinks* that caught my attention, because you mentioned Of Montreal.
Right. Politically, I'd say I'm pretty liberal. Religiously.. I'm still trying to figure that out. But concervative Christians who are pushy bug me. I can get along with concervatives who let me be, though.
I'll write more when I'm ore awake.

## Post 15 by DancingAfterDark (I just keep on posting!) on Friday, 16-Mar-2007 9:55:54

Lol, yeah, I remember that thread. Neutral Milk Hotel, Of Montreal, and I think Apples in Stereo might've been mentioned there as well. That's the kinda stuff I mean. And it saddens me to see the number of people who have no idea about the majority of the bands on the Coachella board--the Decembrists, Regina Spektor (although she's slightly more popular because of the "On the Radio" song), et cetera. I agree that I'm not knocking anyone who listens to mainstream music, although I'd be hard-pressed to come up with even a handful of mainstream artists I really genuinely like, I just wish people would venture further than the radio and MTV.
And now that I've successfully gone off topic, I'll depart now.

## Post 16 by Godzilla-On-Toast (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Friday, 16-Mar-2007 13:55:49

I'm not familiar with the band's work or sound, but I've heard of Olivia Tremor Control, believe it or not. I'm sure there's a lot of good stuff out there that's more underground or has a cult following that I don't know about. But my thing is that I'm willing to investigate it if somebody seems to think they're interesting. But I guess I'm unusual because even when I was a kid who only took passing interest in music, I always like the unusual songs and the weird sounds. Standard pop music or country or even standard hard rock wasn't interesting unless it was fairly unique. I'm not into knocking people for having mainstream tastes either, just because it's a waste of time and is kind of immature, even though this 42-year-old makes no claim to be mature at all. LOL! But I guess it just seems both surprising and frustrating to find most folks pretty much stick to what's very mainstream musically and so on. Also, I find it surprising that a lot of blind folks are conservative politically when we're a minority and should ideally concerned with things that affect us like human rights and various other causes instead of going on about traditional values. Hey, for all we know, these so-called traditional values might state that the blind and disabled should be kept hidden from public view as the sight of them might shame the family. This is what people believed in the past and it seems conservative folks love to wax romantic about what a good place the past was until the Sixties ruined everything. LOL! Oh, and if I can be off-topic in my own thread, so can you. so don't sweat it. I'm not a topic cop.

## Post 17 by tara (the Zone BBS remains forever my home page) on Friday, 16-Mar-2007 21:25:31

hi,
Well this is a really interesting topic in fact. It's something I haven't thought of before really but, here goes.
I'm not a conformest, I listen to rock, heavy metal, and don't listen to mainstream stuff unless it's a rock band, I like less well known artists or guitar based bands, like, Michael Hedges, Tommy Emmanuel, even stuff like Ozric Tentacles, some Porkupine tree, (sorry about spelling), also like heavy stuff like Trivium and Deftones etc. I'm Agnostic, I dislike religious groups I haven't a problem if people want to follow that sort of thing but I hate all the double standards, and people who go on about their religious beliefs really annoy me. I am also anti-monarchy, however I am a traditionalist when it comes to the question of the Euro in Europe, I disagree whole-heartedly with it, and I am capitalist. I am also of the belief that people should stop messing around with the British education system, a.levels are fine, none of this IB rubbish. The problem their is the curriculum and the teaching standards, not the a.level system itself. Anything else? Well can't remember but will post if I do.

## Post 18 by tara (the Zone BBS remains forever my home page) on Friday, 16-Mar-2007 21:29:16

oh, yeah! and getting drunk is just great sometimes! lol

## Post 19 by bisco_42 (I can't call it a day til I enter the zone BBS) on Saturday, 17-Mar-2007 0:03:25

"The... elephant... who? *blinks* that caught my attention, because you mentioned Of Montreal."
Yeah Of Montreal is one of many Athens, GA based bands that often colabborate with one another and whose members overlap.
Check here for more info:
http://www.elephant6.com
There was a record label that went by the same name on which these bands/artists released material but I don't think that exists any longer.
Wow now this thread's really gone off-topic. :)

## Post 20 by jamesk (This site is so "educational") on Saturday, 17-Mar-2007 2:39:24

Interesting topic!
I am personally a conservaive, but in my experience withthe blind people I've met, most of them are very liberal, both politically and otherwise.

## Post 21 by Senior (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Tuesday, 20-Mar-2007 9:10:55

In answer to post 1, I have noticed that there are very conservative blind people around, there's a few of them in the town where I live. However, there's a lot of left-wing visually impaired do gooders, and I have come across more of those than I have conservative blind people. As for me, I have a few right-wing views, but unlike a lot of blind people, I care a lot about my freedom and the freedom of others to do what they want to as long as it's not harmful to anybody else or anybody else's property. A lot of blind people will not resist unfair treatment, even if they oppose it, whereas I will and have successfully. A lot of blind girls are do gooders or left-wing, and most conservative blind people I've come across are male.

## Post 22 by bisco_42 (I can't call it a day til I enter the zone BBS) on Wednesday, 21-Mar-2007 0:56:52

I wonder if there is a correlation between a person's political leanings and his/her taste in music I.E. conservatives usually stick to stuff that's been widely accepted while experimental/lesser known/possibly intimidating stuff is appreciated to mostly by liberals.
And godzilla, from what you've posted here, I think OTC may be up your alley.

## Post 23 by Godzilla-On-Toast (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Wednesday, 21-Mar-2007 2:20:17

I dunno if it's quite cut and dried as that. I think it depends on a lot of things. I find the blending-in theory kind of interesting, although I never followed it. But it depends on what you want from music, who you hang out with, how much and what kinds of music you're exposed to at home, and perhaps even if you really give a damn about music in the first place. Also depends on whether you are one who really likes to actually pay attention to music or whether all you care about is a strong beat and easy singable lyrics. I can chalk my taste up to just spending most of my free time alone at home. I discovered that I'm an introvert so I'm probably not as subject to pressure to be like everybody else as much as more extroverted people are. So I had all kinds of time to twist the knobs on my radio and listen to anything that was interesting, including stuff on short wave and that sort of thing.
Still can't understand why being all right-wing and straight-laced is so attractive, though. But then again, I haven't quite figured out if American society in general is more liberal or more conservative. The problem is, you get a different answer depending on who you ask because it's fashionable these days to play the persecuted majority, whoever you might be. So if you're conservative, everybody else seems too liberal and if you're liberal the reverse is supposed to be true. I guess in the end the only real true answer about everything is 42. LOL!

## Post 24 by bisco_42 (I can't call it a day til I enter the zone BBS) on Wednesday, 21-Mar-2007 2:53:59

Yeah I was definitely over-simplifying it a bit.

## Post 25 by cattleya (Help me, I'm stuck to my chair!) on Wednesday, 21-Mar-2007 10:24:17

I'd have to say I'm libral. My music taists range from the "norm" to the not so norm. I like all kinds as long as it has words and I can understand the words. I'm more into words than simply a beat... And, though I've never heard of the groups mentioned here; I'm going to check them out. :) I'm willing to listen to anything once. Besides music, I'd still have to say I'm libral. From religion (I'm Pagan) to sex, and everything in between, and yes, I'm proud to be libral. I hate to be "normal", it's to boring!

## Post 26 by blbobby (Ooo you're gona like this!) on Wednesday, 21-Mar-2007 10:39:09

I've read some where that a person is more likely to adopt their parents' political view, but I'm not sure I believe it.
And, it's not all conforming or nonconforming.
I was in college during the sixties, but hated hard rock, but liked singers with something to say, with words you could understand, like simon and garfunkle, joan biez and peter paul and mary.
Just never liked music solely for the beat or the music. I always liked music that had something to say (not scream).
Bob

## Post 27 by Munkey (Veteran Zoner) on Thursday, 22-Mar-2007 12:56:27

I've red some of the postes on this topic. I could not agree more with lonestar. I Think that Blind people who are brought up in public schools are more liberal verses the ones who are brought up in instatutions.Every year I go to this blind bolling weekendI Myself find that I get along with the blind people who are liberalThe conservative ones I just try to avoid all together because I just can't identify with them .

## Post 28 by DancingAfterDark (I just keep on posting!) on Thursday, 22-Mar-2007 14:45:02

Just for the record, that's a silly generalization. I went to a school for the blind for nine years, and this is how I turned out. Lol.

## Post 29 by blbobby (Ooo you're gona like this!) on Thursday, 22-Mar-2007 14:49:59

Yeah, I went for twelve years and am as liberal as they come.
Bob

## Post 30 by Reyami (I've broken five thousand! any more awards going?) on Monday, 02-Apr-2007 5:37:40

never thought about it before

## Post 31 by bisco_42 (I can't call it a day til I enter the zone BBS) on Sunday, 20-May-2007 1:53:41

"So I had all kinds of time to twist the knobs on my radio and listen to anything that was interesting, including stuff on short wave and that sort of thing."
Ever listen to Merzbow? He's a Japanese musician (I guess you can call him that) who put out countless albums dedicated to experimenting with static, feedback, other found sounds similar to what you'd hear when playing with a short-wave radio, etc.
Also, you should definitely check out Animal Collective; they're one of the more interesting experimental/psychedelic bands going right now.
Here are a couple good youtube clips of them playing live:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzVOpJGW9bg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnlMxPXoRoI