Monday, July 10, 2006
Political Compass
Here is a neat page that administers a quick telemarketer style test to try to determine where you fit on the 'political compass' - which is something the people at this website seem to have made up, by using the typical left-right political spectrum and adding another axis to take social factors into account.
After you're done the test, be sure to read the page explaining how the compass works. It's very interesting. I think it's a good way of thinking about classifying these ideas (in as much as classification is useful...).
In case you wanted to know, I scored -9.13 on the left-right axis, which is almost all the way to the left, and -4.77 which is less than halfway down on the libertarian scale. I think it's probably pretty close. I'm almost right on top of Nelson Mandella's dot.
Let me know how you guys all score too! I'd be really interested to see where Dan scores (maybe not as far to the left, I have no idea where on the social factors scale) and of course all the rest of you. I won't expect anyone to post their results as I understand this can be a personal thing. People on the left often wear their politics on their sleeve, so that's maybe why I'm okay with sharing my scores.
After you're done the test, be sure to read the page explaining how the compass works. It's very interesting. I think it's a good way of thinking about classifying these ideas (in as much as classification is useful...).
In case you wanted to know, I scored -9.13 on the left-right axis, which is almost all the way to the left, and -4.77 which is less than halfway down on the libertarian scale. I think it's probably pretty close. I'm almost right on top of Nelson Mandella's dot.
Let me know how you guys all score too! I'd be really interested to see where Dan scores (maybe not as far to the left, I have no idea where on the social factors scale) and of course all the rest of you. I won't expect anyone to post their results as I understand this can be a personal thing. People on the left often wear their politics on their sleeve, so that's maybe why I'm okay with sharing my scores.
Comments:
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WEll you will be glad to know that I score somewhere between Hitler and Stalin. A bit lower on the scale however. Just kidding, I did score here but I wasn't answering the test truthfully. The reason for this is because I think this test is just garbage. Besides, how would we really know where hitler would be on the 'compass'? Did hitler come back from the dead( or from his hiding place in Argentina) to take the test?
Its a fun tool to play around with but the political compass has been a joke in Poli Sci circles for a while.
Still take it, you might be suprised, like I was, which intellectual company you hold.
Here is my score:
Economic Left/Right: -4.38
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 6.51
Dan
Its a fun tool to play around with but the political compass has been a joke in Poli Sci circles for a while.
Still take it, you might be suprised, like I was, which intellectual company you hold.
Here is my score:
Economic Left/Right: -4.38
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 6.51
Dan
# posted by 
: 10:08 a.m.
: 10:08 a.m.
Right on Dan-o!
I didn't figure this thing would be a completely accurate test, but it is an interesting tool to model some simple things with.
I think I'll do some reading on this 'political compass' thing sometime to find out some more about it and its shortcomings.
I didn't figure this thing would be a completely accurate test, but it is an interesting tool to model some simple things with.
I think I'll do some reading on this 'political compass' thing sometime to find out some more about it and its shortcomings.
My political compass
Economic Left/Right: -5.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.28
me on the graph
This was fun because I understood all the questions. I usually don't with political things. What do you think of my score?? I found I answered a LOT of questions "strongly disagree".
Economic Left/Right: -5.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.28
me on the graph
This was fun because I understood all the questions. I usually don't with political things. What do you think of my score?? I found I answered a LOT of questions "strongly disagree".
Even though the test cannot be considered 100 % accurate (what 50 question test can boast that?) I found it put me in the general area that I would have put myself if I hadn't taken the test.
Economic Left/Right: -7.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.62
Maybe all of those years with Joel have rubbed off on me. Based on his now-proven influence, I would score high on the MCAT, too (the Mac Computer Appreciation Test).
Economic Left/Right: -7.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.62
Maybe all of those years with Joel have rubbed off on me. Based on his now-proven influence, I would score high on the MCAT, too (the Mac Computer Appreciation Test).
I'm with Dan-O on this one. How can an objective test be created to determine where we stand on a subjective perception of the world? Especially in this questionnaire, there are questions that have a clear bias in the wording and then are are questions that don't allow an elaborate answer that is necessary. I've never done well with questionnaires where I choose between strongly agree to strongly disagree. I need room to write a response that generally contains many qualifiers as to when or when I would not support something.
Here are two questions that stand out for me:
"It's a sad reflection on our society that something as basic as drinking water is now a bottled, branded consumer product." Biased wording
"A genuine free market requires restrictions on the ability of predator multinationals to create monopolies." Isn't this a contradictory statement? I don't believe in a genuine free market but I have to strongly disagree with the statement because the market wouldn't be free with the restrictions.
"The death penalty should be an option for the most serious crimes." Who chooses the death penatly? A jury or the convicted?
That said, I love these things. Despite the difficulty in gauging our beliefs, they generally come close, here's how I did:
Economic Left/Right: -6.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.69
A little to the left of The Dalai Lama
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Here are two questions that stand out for me:
"It's a sad reflection on our society that something as basic as drinking water is now a bottled, branded consumer product." Biased wording
"A genuine free market requires restrictions on the ability of predator multinationals to create monopolies." Isn't this a contradictory statement? I don't believe in a genuine free market but I have to strongly disagree with the statement because the market wouldn't be free with the restrictions.
"The death penalty should be an option for the most serious crimes." Who chooses the death penatly? A jury or the convicted?
That said, I love these things. Despite the difficulty in gauging our beliefs, they generally come close, here's how I did:
Economic Left/Right: -6.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.69
A little to the left of The Dalai Lama
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