Gerben42 Posted November 13, 2008 Report Share Posted November 13, 2008 Economic Left/Right: -1.00Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.74 Very few "famous" people in this area. Also no political parties. Strangely enough I'm closest to the Green party on this chart, but when I take the test about the actual issues for the latest German election, I got the liberals by a mile. But... I don't have a vote for Germany's national elections anyway (only local), and I cannot vote for a party that thinks nuclear power is a bad idea, thus endangering my job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickRW Posted November 13, 2008 Report Share Posted November 13, 2008 Analytical/creative: I was surprised to be judged rather extreme to the "creative" side, unlike most computer nerds. I must have some undiscovered talents. Some computer people (often the better ones IMO) are indeed quite creative - not the typical nerdy type at all. Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helene_t Posted November 13, 2008 Report Share Posted November 13, 2008 When they place the European political parties, they generally put the socialists and greenees more towards "libertarian" than the liberal parties. This is strange IMHO because I personally believe in social justice but nevertheless tend to vote liberal because freedom is important to me and I think the socialists and greenees are generally autoritarian. When I read the texts on the site I get the idea that their reasoning is that a free market defeats social justice and thereby defeats freedom for the poor. Or something like that. I beg to differ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickRW Posted November 13, 2008 Report Share Posted November 13, 2008 -1.38/-1.85 - which puts me roughly where they suppose the British Labour party was in 1982 - yuck. Either I don't know my own views as well as I think or this test is a load of junk. Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeh Posted November 13, 2008 Report Share Posted November 13, 2008 Yeah a lot of questions are very weird:economic left/right: -2.88social libertarian/authoritarian: -7.03 I didn't realize I am an anarchist. We appear to be soul-brothers :P I was -2.38/-6.21 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cherdano Posted November 14, 2008 Report Share Posted November 14, 2008 When they place the European political parties, they generally put the socialists and greenees more towards "libertarian" than the liberal parties. This is strange IMHO because I personally believe in social justice but nevertheless tend to vote liberal because freedom is important to me and I think the socialists and greenees are generally autoritarian. It is fair to consider the German Green party as libertarian (in their strange authoritarian/libertarian scale), and more libertarian than any other German party. They oppose making wiretaps for the police easier (more generally are always on the side of individual liberties versus expanding police power), are in favor easier paths to citizenships for immigrants, for transparency in government. They differ a lot to the social democrats which would be rather high up on the Authoritarian scale (well, from my perspective at least...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elianna Posted November 14, 2008 Report Share Posted November 14, 2008 Left/Right: 1.25. So next to Elianna, Jimmy and I are the most right-winged here so far. At least you have company! I'm still alone in my quadrant. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helene_t Posted November 14, 2008 Report Share Posted November 14, 2008 Thanks Arend, I realize I don't know much about German politics. BTW the Dutch Green party is also quite liberal on the issues you mention. I should probably have limited my rant to socialists and not included the green parties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MickyB Posted November 14, 2008 Report Share Posted November 14, 2008 I just gave the test to my housemate, who is possibly the most right-wing person I know. He scored -1.5, -0.15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jikl Posted November 14, 2008 Report Share Posted November 14, 2008 Economic Left/Right: -4.62Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.64 Sean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P_Marlowe Posted November 14, 2008 Report Share Posted November 14, 2008 Currently the German Liberals are trying moving back to their "Liberal" roots, but between 1982-1998 they were heavily focused on ecomics. They still had "real" Liberal in their party, but most of the time those got overruled.I would have put them in the bottom right corner. In my opinion, it is no coincidence that the Green partygot created in the early 80s, I dont know for sure, justguessing, but I think that lots of peoble belonging to the left wing of the Liberals joined the Greens at this time. With kind regardsMarlowe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helene_t Posted November 14, 2008 Report Share Posted November 14, 2008 I just gave the test to my housemate, who is possibly the most right-wing person I know. He scored -1.5, -0.15 Yes, I think this site has an agenda. Convince everyone that he/she is to the "left" (whatever that means) of all politicians with the possible exception of Nelson Mandela. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helene_t Posted November 14, 2008 Report Share Posted November 14, 2008 Another American/European terminology issue: "Social issues" seems to be the American term for what I would call "traditional values vs personal freedom". This is not much of a left/right issue in Europe or at least those countries with which I am familiar. When it comes to gay marriage, for example, you will find both traditionals and liberals in most parties. Those parties who are strongly traditional (Christian Union in the Netherlands, Christian Dems in Denmark) or strongly liberal (D66 in the Netherlands, RV in Denmark) are both considered centrist on the left-right scale. Thanks Arend for pointing me to the fact that the Green party in Germany (which rates as left) is liberal on such issues. In European terminology, "social issues" relate to "socialist" or "social democrats" and are about downwards redistribution of wealth. Government departments of "social welfare" or "social affairs" deal with related policies. I concede that there is a trend towards aligning individual freedom with downwards redistribution of wealth, especially in countries where the electoral system favors big parties so the right has become monopolized by conservatives, and liberals (such as myself and presumably Elianna) have become politically homeless. Nevertheless, I think few would consider individual freedom as defining for the left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimG Posted November 14, 2008 Report Share Posted November 14, 2008 I just gave the test to my housemate, who is possibly the most right-wing person I know. He scored -1.5, -0.15 Yes, I think this site has an agenda. Convince everyone that he/she is to the "left" (whatever that means) of all politicians with the possible exception of Nelson Mandela.I think it is a matter of degree. One of the early statements was: "I'd always support my country, whether it was right or wrong." I suspect that many people "strongly disagreed" with this statement. But, I also suspect that there aren't many people doing much about it when they are in disagreement with their country's policies. We may spout off in the water cooler or express our opinion at the ballot box, but I doubt many of us are actively involved in getting policy changed. "Possessing marijuana for personal use should not be a criminal offence." We may feel strongly about this, but again, I doubt any of us feels this is an issue of vital importance, or one that would get us out to knock on doors. I live in Maine where there have been three referenda regarding gay rights in the last decade or so. This is an issue I feel strongly about, but the most I have done (besides vote) is make a contribution. In short, I think it's easy to strongly agree or disagree with statements even if the issues are not important enough to us to move us away from our keyboards. The political compass questionnaire would be much more interesting if the options were: "I have taken action against this", "I have voted against this", "I have done nothing", "I have voted in support this", and "I have taken action in support of this". I suspect strongly that we'd all be closer to the center. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helene_t Posted November 14, 2008 Report Share Posted November 14, 2008 Yes. The only politically correct things I have done during the last year is to spend two hours collecting signatures for more money to bicycle bridges. Put me two hours of work to the right of the center (as the alternative use of the money was some welfare project). Anyway, I am not quite sure what they are trying to measure. If I am pro choice it may be because I think the World is overcrowded, or because I think it would be better for most of the children in question not to be born. It could also be that I think abortion is generally immoral but that I don't trust political or judicial authorities to make the decision on the woman's behalf. Or that I don't see it as a moral issue at all. Or that I just weigh the concern for the woman higher, or that I think a ban on abortion in infeasible. There is a lot of difference wrt core values which you don't capture by asking me about abortion in simple yes/no terms. And then my pet peeve: "It is natural for children to lye to their parents". This is partly a semantic issue (what does "natural" mean?) and partly an issue of factual belief. But even the more meaningful "good parents sometimes spank their children" is not the same as "good governments sometimes spank their citizens". True, you can be consistently authoritarian and answer "yes" to both questions, but some will believe in governments' authority without believing in parents' authority or vice versa. Is it interesting when everything gets cooked down to one "authoritarian" scale? Maybe, but they have to add apples to oranges on some arbitrary scale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickRW Posted November 14, 2008 Report Share Posted November 14, 2008 Maybe, but they have to add apples to oranges on some arbitrary scale. That problem exists of course, but I think you're now rationalising the fact that the test is skewed. Put it this way, nearly all of us have scored below zero on both the numbers they give. That means we pretty much are all a bunch of left leaning libertarians or there is a skew in the test. It is possible, of course, that we are mostly left leaning - we aren't a random cross section of the population after all - but I seriously doubt that bridge players are any more left inclined than any other group of people. I definitely doubt that I am left of centre - which is what the test said I was - certainly not by European standards anyhow. Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cherdano Posted November 14, 2008 Report Share Posted November 14, 2008 If economic globalisation is inevitable, it should primarily serve humanity rather than the interests of trans-national corporations.Is that supposed to ask "are you a knee-jerk conservative that will stop parsing a sentence as soon as he finds 'interests of corporations' in there, or are you someone who can actually read and knows what the word 'humanity' means?" My views on globalization are closer to conservatives than to lefties, I would think, but I am sure the test put me in the left corner. There were a lot of other weird questions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mycroft Posted November 14, 2008 Report Share Posted November 14, 2008 I have a feeling that politics self-selects for authoritarians...it certainly self-selects for those who want power, and without subjects, power doesn't mean much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cphastrup Posted November 14, 2008 Report Share Posted November 14, 2008 Yeah a lot of questions are very weird:economic left/right: -2.88social libertarian/authoritarian: -7.03 I didn't realize I am an anarchist. We appear to be soul-brothers :) I was -2.38/-6.21 -2.75-6.62 Anyone up for a party? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helene_t Posted November 14, 2008 Report Share Posted November 14, 2008 If economic globalisation is inevitable, it should primarily serve humanity rather than the interests of trans-national corporations.Is that supposed to ask "are you a knee-jerk conservative that will stop parsing a sentence as soon as he finds 'interests of corporations' in there, or are you someone who can actually read and knows what the word 'humanity' means?" Yes. The only way a sane person could be "against" that one is if he considers it a cliché that in fact means that freedom for corporations is against humanitiy's interests. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pclayton Posted November 14, 2008 Report Share Posted November 14, 2008 Purple (3.62 / -4.00) Happy the famous dad of one of our posters is in my grid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helene_t Posted November 14, 2008 Report Share Posted November 14, 2008 hey, Elianna has company! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pclayton Posted November 15, 2008 Report Share Posted November 15, 2008 Kimi is -2.75 / -1.54. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sceptic Posted November 15, 2008 Report Share Posted November 15, 2008 This morning econo -5.88liber 0 Early evening econo -6.38Liber -0.92 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skjaeran Posted November 15, 2008 Report Share Posted November 15, 2008 -5.38/-5.28 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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