Where are you on the Political Compass?

[Jammer]

Found this link in a thread on the Straight Dope boards. Found it pretty interesting. I know some folks thinks it's a little biased, but I enjoyed taking it. Here's a link:

The Political Compass (http://www.politicalcompass.org/)

My score came out disturbingly close to John Kerry, so I need to go back and lie on several questions to fix that. ;)

I came up with Economic: 4.00 and Social: 0.56, so I guess I really am one of those "Socially Moderate Conservatives."

So, what's your political compass?

Jammer

[ArdryMcArdry]

Oops.

I landed directly on top of Gandhi.

Edit:
Economic Left/Right: -4.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.69

[Jammer]

His bald head could be considered pretty sexy, so I guess that's not all bad. :)

Jammer

[Figtoria]

OMG Ardry - so did I!! Well - he was the closest - I was -5.88 Economic and -1.13 Social.

Ghandi's cool - but can I still eat steak?


The only problem with the test was that some of the questions were phrased in a way that I found them hard to answer.

Like - "Mothers may have careers, but their first duty is to be homemakers"

Personally - I think a mother's first duty is to care for her children. Not be a homemaker - as in - just stay home to take care of the home. It wasn't clear enough.

Cool site Jammma - thanks

[Allison]

I think I'm too analytical for my own good. I go nuts doing these tests because I try to respond based soley on the specifics of the question, and not on the knee-jerk response that some of the buzzwords are designed to solicit, or the assumptions you're supposed to make about the questions.

For example, the "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need ..." question. Yes, it's a well-known creed of communism. But, if I define "need" as food and shelter. And if I think a hard-working man who puts in 40 hours a week should be able to afford food and shelter, that doesn't neccessarily mean I support the re-distribution of wealth. I support honest wages and relatively low inflation. So, how do I answer that question? No, it's not a good idea to massively redistribute wealth in a communist fashion. Yes, it's a good idea for working families to not be homeless.

Then there's the issue of theory vs. practice. For example, the assertion that religion is closely tied with morality. In theory, I don't believe it is. But in practice, it most certainly is. So how do I answer that question?

Or the statement that asserted anything good for a major corporation is good for society. Yes, I think successful corporations are good for the economy, but everything good for the corporation is not good for society. What if dumping massive amounts of chemicals into a stream is good for the corporation?

Or the statment that people are ultimately divided more by class than nationality. Are we talking about the peoples of differing nations and cultures, or the peoples of a single nation, or state ... or what?

Or the statement, "The freer the market the freer the people." I agree a free market is good, but it doesn't neccessarily follow that the peoples of a free market are more free simply because of that market. How do I answer that one?

"I'd always support my country, right or wrong." What does "support" mean?

"The businessman and the manufacturer are more important than the writer and the artist." More important to what? The economy? A day of leisure? What?

"An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth." Sometimes yes. Sometimes no.

Ugh.. I hate these things.

Edit: Oh, my result was Economic: -1.50; Social: -2.31

I think my social score is fairly accurate.

[Figtoria]

Yeah....I agree Ailia....that's what I meant - they aren't worded very well and there don't seem to be "corrective" questions which would clarify those variances.


As an aside - EVERYONE taht I have given this to today - i.e. everyone at work (about 10 of us so far) have all ended up roughly at Ghandi. Except teh original Schaddenfraude who scored farther left and libertarian than anyone in history.

:)

[spyder913]

haha "What's good for the most successful corporations is always, ultimately, good for all of us." yeah RIGHT

[spyder913]

I also ended up near Gandhi, which is where I was last time I took this kind of thing.

The 2 axis is way more useful than the single axis at stereotyping by the way ;)

Edit: Economic Left/Right: -3.62
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.41

[Eiru]

Yeah, I ended up in the company of Nelson Mandela and Ghandi. Woot for me! Libertarian and Left for me, please! Give me socially progressive policies AND a free market! Reminds me of the Illuminatus Trilogy where you had hard-core anarchist libertarian captialists and hard-core anarchist socialist free-marketers.

Love a full spectrum of thought!

EDIT: Whoops! Scratch Ghandi. I'm between Nelson and the Dali Lama. Quite good company really, as long as it's the modern peace-loving Nelson and not the old communist-violent-overthrow-of-the-state Nelson. AND I just checked the primary candidates. I'm with Dennis Kucinish and Al Sharpton :eek:

[Sparky]

If economic globalisation is inevitable, it should primarily serve humanity rather than the interests of trans-national corporations.

Who wrote this? Apparently they haven't read / don't believe in Adam Smith. Geeze... (False Dilemma too)

I agree with Alli... I hate these questions that are designed to lead you, or make you feel bad about your current beliefs.

[Jammer]

A lot of the folks on the Straight Dope boards had similar complaints about the questions, Ailia, so you are in good company. There is a guy over there who is starting a new thread every week or so to debate every single question individually. It's actually a pretty good idea. This week they are working on the Marxist credo of "...each according to need." Here's the link to that debate for any interested: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=251262

Jammer

[Sparky]

Hahaha, i'm all alone with Milton Friedman, I could have told you that :P

Economic Left/Right: 6.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.46

[Eiru]

Shparky, the point is not to feel bad about your beliefs. The point is to answer the questions and then get a measurement. Our guild has a TON of differing beliefs and I for one wouldn't want it any other way.

[Eiru]

HAHA! Ailia, you are too analytic. I had the same qualms. I decided to base my answer on my interpretation of the question which, I think, is also part of the process.

[Sparky]

Shparky, the point is not to feel bad about your beliefs. The point is to answer the questions and then get a measurement. Our guild has a TON of differing beliefs and I for one wouldn't want it any other way.
It's not that, it's just that the questions are worded very poorly for my beliefs :P

[Sparky]

haha "What's good for the most successful corporations is always, ultimately, good for all of us." yeah RIGHT

As we approach 'perfect knowledge' (the media's job) companies will become more socially responsible. They will use it as a sort of advertising in front of they eyes of the public. Chevron and Phillip Morris (sp?) are starting it already.

[Allison]

HAHA! Ailia, you are too analytic.
Lol ... my sister-in-law gave me a personality test a month or so ago. The results showed me stradling the fence on a couple of personality types. We agreed that some of the results weren't representative of my personality, and she explained how some people aren't represented well on some of these tests. Among the reasons why this can happen is that some people are jsut too analytical. When I tried to explain the trouble I had answering the questions, my "theory vs. practice" troubles, she and her friends started laughing at me, saying, "Yep, I think we know what personality type she is." (One of the examples I gave in my rather long argument was a section of the test that gave you a choice of words and then asked you to choose which one was more "appealing." For example, between the words "compassion" and "logic," which is more appealing to you? WTF does appealing mean? In everyday life I know I'm more logical than compassionate, but because of this, I strive to be more compassionate and have an appreciation for those who are more compassionate than I. In some cases compassion is more important and in some cases logic is more important. Again ... wtf is "appealing" supposed to mean?)

But I digress. ;) If I'm not borderline on a personality test, I always fall heavily into the logic/analytical/introvert categories. I always longed to be more like those people that fall into the extrovert/people-person categories, but I guess we all have natural inclinations in certain areas, and I've decided that's a good thing. :)

[Canidae]

Interesting thingie. Heh. Some of them I was like.. beats me. Heh

I ended up as:

Economic: 1.75
Social: .15

Umm... litterally riding the line to the right, about 2 lines from the middle. Heh



OMG. I just looked at the candidates and I am way too freaking close to Kerry. Gah. I must have answered something wrong.

[Hammer]

Hmmm. 6.5 economic 1.69 social. Agree about the questions. Kept looking for none of the above;)

[Jammer]

I always longed to be more like those people that fall into the extrovert/people-person categories

And I bet the part that makes your head hurt is that you reached that conclusion via a very thorough, logical analysis process. :p

Actually, I find your self-assessment interesting, because, having known you for a while now, I consider you a great "people" person. At the same time, your debating style betrays your skill and talent for logical analysis at a level only appreciated by those of us who didn't nap our way through Logic II class. Either that means you are actually a very balanced person and don't realize it or Grundy does a good job of bringing out the best in you when y'all are in public. :)

As far as the bias introduced by the phrasing of the questions, the more I think about it, I do believe it affects the outcome. In hindsight, I think my social score probably should be somewhere below the midpoint axis, but I think some of the questions were worded in a way that caused more of my Dad to come out in the answers. :eek:

Jammer

[Hammer]

I'm sure I lost major points on the spanking question Jammer;)

[Swifty_Johnson]

Economic Left/Right: 2.38
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 2.00

I am by Tony Bliar!

Swifty

[Allison]

And I bet the part that makes your head hurt is that you reached that conclusion via a very thorough, logical analysis process. :p
:p

I like to line things up into neat little rows, too. :D

Either that means you are actually a very balanced person and don't realize it or Grundy does a good job of bringing out the best in you when y'all are in public.
You're confusing social skills with Jim Beam. ;)

[Jammer]

It was Wild Turkey, damnit!!

I chose that through a very thorough process, too. :rolly:

Jammer

[spyder913]

I wonder where Jesus would fall on here? I'm guessing somwhere below the x asis, but I don't know much about his economic views so he could be left or right...

[Figtoria]

I'm sure I lost major points on the spanking question Jammer;)


I voted yes for spanking.


:cheese:

[Allison]

It was Wild Turkey, damnit!!

I chose that through a very thorough process, too.

:rolly:

All I remember is I nearly broke a tooth trying to open those tiny little bottles in the bathroom stall!

[Jammer]

OMG...LOL

I'll never be able to shed the mental image of Ailia trying to bite the top off a bourbon bottle now. :laugh:

Jammer

[]LoL[Harm]

I also had some problems with the questions, but all tests are flawed :) so I just went with it. As expected I'm way down there with the Dalai Lama.

Economic Left/Right: -4.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.56