Political Compass

[idesign]

I saw this on

another forum I read, thought it was interesting.

http://www.politicalcompass.org/index

As you'd

expect from the name, its a four-point spectrum rather than just Left-Right. It uses L-R as the economic scale, and

"Authoritarian" and "Libertarian" as the north-south axis, indicating social beliefs.

I took the test and found

myself a lot closer to the center of both than I thought I'd be.

[belgareth]

Gee, what a surprise. I'm a

left wing libertarian. But by this test, so was Ghandi. Not a bad person to think like.

[Mtnjim]

Gee, what a

surprise. I'm a left wing libertarian

That's what I got too!

Economic Left/Right -4.00
Social

Libertarian/Authoritarian -3.64

[idesign]

I'm a little off from you guys.

I was dead 0.00 on the social aspects, and +2 on the economic. Its a fun exercise, and I really thought I'd be

further right on both.

[belgareth]

I'm a

little off.

You could have stopped right there

[idesign]

:rofl:
Why state the

obvious????

OTOH, I stand on my offal, even if it stinks to some. :)

I'd really love to see my perfume and

political pal DST take this test. Could be a fun comparison Doc, you out there?

[belgareth]

Why state more than necessary?

:)

Yeah, Doc! Please take the test and tell us where you stand. It would be interesting.

I was actually

surprised at my results in some ways because I have always felt that government is more a burden than anything else

and have yet to find any real purpose for the vast majority of it. More than anything, the function of government is

self perpetuation which is done through lies and propoganda.

[idesign]

And where is KoolKing? Come out

of the woodwork fella, you're always good for some reliable commentary.

[DrSmellThis]

Economic

Left/Right: -6.62
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.87

So that puts me slightly more libertarian

and left than the Dalai Lama. I guess I should be happy with that. Well hello, Dali, oh hello, Dali...

But this

test is obviously useless if it shows me and Bel in the same quad. I demand a recount. ;) Ironically, I might be

more libertarian than Bel, which is pretty bad. That's like being more authoritarian than Atilla the Hun. Who

wins, Bel? I mean I know you always win, but who wins?

I'd really hate to meet the upper right guy who thinks

multinational corporations should beat his kids like nappy headed stepchildren.

I don't know about idesign being

in the middle of the road on everything. Maybe he's a left winger locked insider a right winger, a veritable

cornicopia of contrast, the iron sheik of irony. But middle of the road? Too much traffic. Maybe idesign owns the

road and can get away with it.

[belgareth]

It does seem a bit skewed,

doesn't it?

Come on now, doc. We may disagree in many areas but I have taken a lot from what you have argued

over the years. That you don't seem to understand where I stand is always an issue. I can stand outside and watch

and have opinions about what others do. But unless somebody is directly impacting my areas of rights and

responsibility I will do nothing other than watch and form opinions. I have no right whatsoever to force any change

on another person so long as they grant me the same courtesy. By the same token, I believe you are entitled to

believe any way you like, so long as you do not try to force me to believe or act in the same manner. Personal

rights and responsibility for ones actions is the very core from where I do everything. Often I embrace other

thoughts and idea so long as they do not ty to change that core belief. Is there some form of winning or losing in

that stance? Not from my perspective but possibly from the perspective of one who would try to force changes or

their beliefs on me. I'm not competing with anybody so cannot win or lose.

[Rbt]

These simple tests are sometimes fun

to try, but I find, like with many of them, there are too many open interpretations of terminology in the questions.

But then again I can be a semantic nit-picker.

Like the one "are you religious" one. What is "religious?" Does

one need to be a don't do anything till you clear it with the parish priest mass twice a day ritual bound Roman

Catholic? Or can you be "religious" if you follow any set of rules laid down by a major "organized religion" (and

how closely do you need to follow those rules). Are you "religious" if you consider yourself Wiccan? How about if

you just live you life based on Shinto, some Native American beliefs, Voodoo?

I consider "religion" to be "that

set of rules and guidelines you use to live you life by" sorta thing, so even being an athiest is a form of

religion, or belief.

Anyway, enough end of workday rant.

I ended up in the area of -2.5 -3 (lower left

quad). Interesting that in their example the lower right quad had no sample names... Wonder who would fit there?

[DrSmellThis]

It

does seem a bit skewed, doesn't it?

Come on now, doc. We may disagree in many areas but I have taken a lot from

what you have argued over the years. That you don't seem to understand where I stand is always an issue. I can

stand outside and watch and have opinions about what others do. But unless somebody is directly impacting my areas

of rights and responsibility I will do nothing other than watch and form opinions. I have no right whatsoever to

force any change on another person so long as they grant me the same courtesy. By the same token, I believe you are

entitled to believe any way you like, so long as you do not try to force me to believe or act in the same manner.

Personal rights and responsibility for ones actions is the very core from where I do everything. Often I embrace

other thoughts and idea so long as they do not ty to change that core belief. Is there some form of winning or

losing in that stance? Not from my perspective but possibly from the perspective of one who would try to force

changes or their beliefs on me. I'm not competing with anybody so cannot win or lose.Just kidding around,

Belgareth. I definitely know you believe all that. I was talking about winning in terms of who had the higher score,

and just threw in some kidding for fun.

FWIW, there is a weird element (OK, elements) to my sense of humor that

is a little edgy; OK, a lot edgy; and I typically accept that there will be a certain percentage of

misunderstandings because of it. Y'all get the restrained version here, with a few exceptions. God forbid you have

more than two beers with me, though.

[belgareth]

Sorry for misunderstanding you,

Doc. That's always the trouble with the written word, its sometimes hard to discern intent when you can't see

facial expressions or hear tone of voice.

[idesign]

Economic Left/Right: -6.62
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.87



So that puts me slightly more libertarian and left than the Dalai Lama. I guess I should be happy

with that. Well hello, Dali, oh hello, Dali...

But this test is obviously useless if it shows me and Bel in the

same quad. I demand a recount. ;) Ironically, I might be more libertarian than Bel, which is pretty bad. That's

like being more authoritarian than Atilla the Hun. Who wins, Bel? I mean I know you always win, but who

wins?

I'd really hate to meet the upper right guy who thinks multinational corporations should beat his kids

like nappy headed stepchildren.

I don't know about idesign being in the middle of the road on everything. Maybe

he's a left winger locked insider a right winger, a veritable cornicopia of contrast, the iron sheik of irony. But

middle of the road? Too much traffic. Maybe idesign owns the road and can get away with it.

Funny

comments Doc! For the sake of controversy, I can definitely see you and Bel in the same quadrant, but also

definitely see the manner of degree in which you differ.

Bel only seems to win because he's immovable. Kind

of like the statue of liberty before the apocalypse. You're the anti-apocalypse, trying to arrest the sinking sand

by force of idea. Winning and losing is not much of an issue now. Waiting is the new optimism.

You're right

Doc, I'm a Porsche motor stuck in a Honda Civic. Neither one of those is happy right now.

[belgareth]

An interesting/amusing story

goes with the statement about being unmovable. Misunderstood is a much better description. I've been described as a

liberal, a conservative and so on but deny all the labels because they are too generic.

But, the story. When

they were young I wouldn't let my daughters get tattos, piercings or dye their hair...or so they thought. I have

good reasons for my beliefs but also have the ability to teach. My second daughter finally caught on when she walked

up to me one day and said "Dad, it's my hair and I can take care of it myself. I know the problems with too much

hair dye and I know how to take care of it. Now, can I please dye my hair." My replay was, completely accurate then

and now "I never said you couldn't. All you had to do was discuss it with me like a responsible adult and you would

have figured it out a long time ago." After the shock wore off she bought hair dye and dyed her hair. She also took

very good care of it and didn't leave a mess for somebody else to clean up.

I don't win or lose and I'm not

immovable. But I do like to make people think and I do a lot to teach others. I'd also bet that nobody on this

forum really understands where I'm coming from. It happens to me all the time.

Or, to be more accurate, if I

can make somebody think, introduce a new thought or help them grow, I win.

[idesign]

Sure Bel, we're all

misunderstood to some extent, hence Doc's surprise about me being in the middle of the road. I was surprised too

and, as you say, there's no way to succinctly categorize the complexities of beliefs, understandings, positions or

other calculations of life on earth.

Its all fun though, and now I can call Doc a flaming liberal with a brain,

you an incomprehensible yet stolid weirdo, and myself even more of a flaming politically cross-dressing weirdo. But

what I've learned from you guys has nothing to do with a "compass", its interaction. Debate with someone who

disagrees is, obviously, what debate is all about.

As in all discussions of this nature, on these forums, we

should accept others' positions as their positions, and call each other full of shit with some level of comradarie.

What we don't want to do is emulate politicians.