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Are you conservative or liberal?

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Is there a correlation between political orientation and love for classical music?

40K views 183 replies 71 participants last post by  Art Rock 
#1 ·
We already had a similar thread about possible connection between political/religious beliefs and musical taste, here. I thought it would be interesting to include a poll on this issue. I'm asking you whether you are politically coservative or liberal. I presume classical music lovers tend to be more conservative. We will see what results the poll will yield.
 
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#141 ·
There's an idea gaining traction that the new paradigm is outward-facing v. inward-facing (rather than left v. right). I wonder how this plays out regarding CM and the tendency towards older people being quite reactionary in their attitudes.
 
#142 ·
I'm not only conservative - I'm right-wing. I don't believe in any of the fallacies of modernity: equality, democracy, toleration. Egalitarianism is an affront against beauty and truth.

I listen mostly to classical music, but occasionally to good jazz and hard rock.

Most classical listeners belong to first-world societies that have been prosperous and peaceful for too long, thus becoming decadent, frivolous and indolent - in a word, liberal. In a couple of generations when you become a minority within your own countries and racial wars erupt perhaps you will be stirred to life (and creativity) anew.
 
#143 · (Edited)
Egalitarianism is an affront against beauty and truth.
Whose truth? Not mine. Here's the truth: We live on a round world with limited resources, and humans are members of the same species. The sooner everyone understands this - be they conservative, liberal or religious extremists - the better it will be for all of us.
 
#144 ·
They say you start out more liberal and as you get older you become more conservative. For me it's the opposite. The older I get and the more I learn about culture, economics, sociology and psychology; the more I understand multiple realities, different ways of looking at things. When it comes to ethnic and religious minorities here in America, gays and lesbians, women and especially the poor, my attitudes have changed, have become more inclusive of others. Along this line, it's clear to me that up until now, the power, at least here in America, has always been with White, wealthy, male, Christian heterosexuals.

I also have learned to recognize that the world's resources are limited and if we want to leave behind a better world for our children and grandchildren, that we may all have to learn to live with less, and the older I get, the more I've recognized the limits of capitalism, that while a free market is better than communism, capitalism in it's purist form leads to a society where greed prevails over morals.

For me classical music is nearly a religious experience. While some composers and the musicians who've played the music might have been scoundrels, the music itself is proof to me of the beauty that still exists in this very flawed and weary world; and where there is still beauty there is still some hope.

As for a correlation, I don't know, while I've known classical music lovers in my own life who fall all over the political spectrum, there are a wide variety of notable political figures who had certain classical music preferences that seem to leave us wondering:

Adolf Hitler (Known for liking Wagner, but a friend and Wagner expert told me that Hitler chose Lehar while spending his last days in the bunker)
Nelsen Mandela (Read in a book on Mandela that he liked Beethoven and Tchaikovsky)
Vladimir Lenin (A professor in Russian history told me that Lenin's favorite was Beethoven)
Richard Nixon (In a TV interview, identified Liszt as his favorite)
Dwight Eisenhower (I have an old LP called "The President's Favorite Music" that indicates Ike's penchant for Beethoven, Gershwin and the soprano, Marion Anderson)
 
#147 ·
Adolf Hitler (Known for liking Wagner, but a friend and Wagner expert told me that Hitler chose Lehar while spending his last days in the bunker)
Nelsen Mandela (Read in a book on Mandela that he liked Beethoven and Tchaikovsky)
Vladimir Lenin (A professor in Russian history told me that Lenin's favorite was Beethoven)
Richard Nixon (In a TV interview, identified Liszt as his favorite)
Dwight Eisenhower (I have an old LP called "The President's Favorite Music" that indicates Ike's penchant for Beethoven, Gershwin and the soprano, Marion Anderson)
Stalin loved Mozart and Tchaikovsky. Was he left wing or right wing? I don't believe there's any correlation between political views and musical taste.
 
#149 · (Edited)
What about questioning the poll? It has only two political categories and not everyone identifies with them. But some are Independents and do not label themselves as Conservatives or Liberals. Independents view each situation, well, independently and realize that a black and white approach to anything can be limited and that political parties tend to group around their desire for power rather than trying to solve anything. Both primary parties have their strengths and weaknesses, which each are loathe to admit, and yet they will so often try to demonize the opposition. This country needs healthy political parties on both sides, which actually requires consciously working together for the benefit of the whole. Right now it's the Conservatives self-righteously demonizing the Liberals, and before that it was the other way around as the pendulum swung in that direction. An Independent is someone willing to vote outside of gang party politics when he feels he is right and either the party Liberals or Conservatives are wrong. I don't go along with the idea that party politics are necessarily more realist economically or morally, because too often they can seem to be corrupted by self-interest only. The only correlation I see with music is that there is a tendency for some to take a black and white approach to such things as Modern music as a whole and never budge an inch. But I'll end here because so few seem to think outside of the box, and that can be true in music as well as politics. The people I respect the most are those who cannot be easily identified as being either liberal or conservative in their taste (no capitals). They can probably be counted on one hand out of hundreds. The poll was flawed from the beginning.
 
#152 · (Edited)
...Both primary parties have their strengths and weaknesses, which each are loathe to admit, and yet they will so often try to demonize the opposition. This country needs healthy political parties on both sides, which actually requires consciously working together for the benefit of the whole. Right now it's the Conservatives self-righteously demonizing the Liberals, and before that it was the other way around as the pendulum swung in that direction...
Agreed. Twenty years ago so-called liberals and feminists were supporting one of the most notorious womanizers in American political history: one former President Bill Clinton. Now it's the other way around where all these so-called pro-family-values, good-Christian-type conservatives have suddenly found it in their hearts to forgive the most prominent womanizer of our times: one President Donald Trump. Whether or not you're a man who objectifies, harasses and uses women, I guess depends upon the political bias of whoever makes the judgment.
 
#150 · (Edited)
I think it is a form of insanity & low intelligence for a person to be liberal on all issues across the board, just as I think it's insanely dumb for a person to be conservative on all issues across the board. That many staunch liberals & conservatives might vehemently object to my saying so, gives good indication of just how unhinged the world is today, and why our government in the states has become so ineffective & gets nothing done, as the fate of our country has become all about bickering & political oneupmanship by those seeking ever increasing power.

My favorite composers are Perotin, Leonin, Machaut, Ciconia, Dufay, Ockeghem, Dunstable, Binchois, Josquin Desprez, Lassus, Du Caurroy, Corelli, Handel, J.S. Bach, Mozart, F.J. Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Brahms, Sibelius, Debussy, Ravel, & Prokofiev. But I don't have the slightest idea how that may relate to my contempt for politics and the falseness of politicians. Though I do greatly admire the founding fathers of the United States, who were men of genius, & certainly giants when compared to the corrupt fools that pass themselves off as politicians today.
 
#153 ·
...I don't have the slightest idea how that may relate to my contempt for politics and the widespread falseness of politicians. Though I do greatly admire the founding fathers of the United States, who were men of genius, & certainly giants when compared to the corrupt fools that pass themselves off as politicians today.
I think that we've done a lot here in the United States to mythologize the so-called "founding fathers". They allowed a good deal of filth to exist in the nation they founded; the enslavement of African-Americans and the planned genocide and destruction of the Native American. There's no getting around it.

If anything, and despite the gridlock and obvious flaws in our system, and even the election of Donald Trump; I think that there's much to hope for regarding the younger generation who seem to be much more attuned to human rights. Maybe because of technology, the global world they live in, apart from the ethnic enclaves us older ones grew up in; or maybe because they are so much smarter because technology has allowed them to access and organize information so much more efficiently than those of us who were bound by the card catalogue, the typewriter and white out; the millennial generation seems to be so much more open-minded and accepting of others.
 
#155 ·
I don't think that liking classical music has much to do with political affiliation as much as our notions of introversion and extroversion. My guess is that people who genuinely like classical music (not the posers, the snobs, the wine and cheese crowd) but real honest-to-goodness people who love classical music, are naturally people who are more introverted, contemplative, prone to spending time with just a few friends, or one friend, or no friends, as opposed to being part of a wall-to-wall party.

At least that's true in my case. It's not that I don't like people because I do. I like people a lot; love talking to people; getting to know them; but there are also times when I don't mind being alone.

I remember that as a teenager, my Dad once chastised me, told me that the only thing that mattered to me was my collection of LP records; that my records always came first, ahead of my others "priorities". My Mom, on the other hand, encouraged me, even though she knew nothing about classical music and didn't seem to like it very much when she heard me listening to it, but I guess she thought that there were worse things a teenager could do than spend his time and money on classical music. In those days, I worked a part time job washing dishes in an Italian restaurant for $2 an hour and spent every last dime on classical records:

YOUTH WELL SPENT!
 
#160 ·
The unanswered question in polls that offer only two options is how the middle ground votes, if it bothers to vote at all. My guess is that if a middle ground option had been included the sizes of each of the three categories would be fairly even. But since it wasn't included, many of the potential middle ground voters probably haven't voted, so therefore the results are dubious.
 
#165 ·
For me there is no correlation whatsoever but I'm not what I'd consider as one of (what I refer to as) the 'sheep' of society, blindly following Group A or Group B. I'm rarely fooled by publicity, influenced by social trends, swayed by social media or peer pressure, etc. Some people are. I suspect that for some they will say they like a certain kind of music because they are expected to like it. Personally I think social class is far more influential.
 
#168 ·
It's a miserable, rainy day here, so I took the test:



So what does this prove about Classical Music?
 
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#178 · (Edited)
Well, I knew a pianist who was as liberal as one could be, even being affiliated with the University of California at Davis with a PhD in Musicology from Cornell University-one can't get more liberal than being affiliated with those two bastions of liberalism. She was the mirror image of everything I believe in and stand for. I am and always have been ultra-conservative.

Both of us are addicted to classical music.

So, who knows?
 
#179 ·
Conservative here, baby................
 
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#184 ·
This thread was started long before we decided to not tolerate any political discussions unless in the right sub-forum (which this one is), and then only if clearly related to classical music. That connection is missing too much in the discussion (which is more on a general personal level, regardless where classical music would play a role or not). Leaving this open gives the wrong impression about what we want with the board in 2023. Closing the thread.
 
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