C

3/30/2010 5:10:50 AM

3/30/2010 9:52:51 AM

3/30/2010 11:33:32 AM

3/30/2010 11:36:31 AM

My most recent test results.

3/30/2010 1:46:25 PM

I answered as honestly as I can. Apparently I sit just right of middle, which explains why I generally dont like whats happening with either party, but I almost always vote republican...

3/30/2010 2:40:26 PM

How are so few of you falling so short of the economic right on here? Shit, how are so many of you who I normally would say are far right falling so close to me?

3/30/2010 5:55:09 PM

Thats weird, Ive moved a little more to the left. Last time I was pretty close to the center but on the right side.

3/30/2010 6:19:33 PM

PinkandBlack - it just comes down to sympathies. Even if people had identical political views, but opposite sympathies, they'd probably be able to argue about the news for eternity.

A lot of the discussions in Soapbox come down to which side you give a pass, and on which side you cast a critical eye. Just look at the Fox News and Liberal Media threads for all the proof you need.

3/30/2010 6:40:55 PM

You have to keep in mind these scales are all skewed further left that normal because they are from an american point of view which sees a bit to the right as neutral.

I'm close to the neutral from a global point of view. Maybe even a bit right since I'm against gay marriage and abortion but this american scale has me on the left.

3/30/2010 6:49:26 PM

Quote :

"PinkandBlack - it just comes down to sympathies. Even if people had identical political views, but opposite sympathies, they'd probably be able to argue about the news for eternity."

And this sounds completely irrational if I'm reading it right (that what you believe isn't...how you vote? what you watch?...what do you mean by "sympathies"?)

3/30/2010 6:52:49 PM

I mean that even though you and I may have identical political views (which we don't, but pretend), you may be annoyed by Ann Coulter while I just think she's funny and makes an occasional zinger. At the same time, maybe you enjoy Jon Stewart while I just think he's a bitter old wind bag.

If you don't buy the sympathies argument, how do you explain everyone flip-flopping about TACTICS whenever the party that is using them switches?

3/30/2010 7:01:13 PM

C

3/30/2010 7:23:10 PM

Quote :

"How are so few of you falling so short of the economic right on here? Shit, how are so many of you who I normally would say are far right falling so close to me?"

In addition to what's already been said, there is a significant difference between how you view certain issues (abortion, guns, gay marriage, etc) and how you feel the government should (if at all) interfere with those issues. For example, you and I may both agree that gays should be allowed to marry, however if you feel that the federal government should pass a law allowing that and I think that such laws should be limited to state level (or more preferably not exist at all) then you and I will probably always wind up on opposite ends of the discussion table.

3/30/2010 8:23:16 PM

3/30/2010 8:48:57 PM

For this page

3/30/2010 9:59:28 PM

I think this is a pretty accurate representation. It's currently 29 left, 19 right, with the rightwingers whining all of the time. Maybe it's an underdog complex ...

3/31/2010 10:06:07 AM

Missing my favorite question...

Do you think the U.S. federal gov't has too much power over our personal lives?

Strongly Agree.

3/31/2010 10:23:02 AM

3/31/2010 10:40:50 AM

surprised myself here w/ the Authoritarian lean

3/31/2010 11:03:05 AM

Quote :

"with the rightwingers whining all of the time."

lol, you've obviously never read the Fox News thread.

3/31/2010 11:06:18 AM

3/31/2010 11:24:25 AM

Quote :

"Missing my favorite question... Do you think the U.S. federal gov't has too much power over our personal lives? Strongly Agree."

That would be a bit hard to answer for the overseas test takers...like the guy who made the quiz.

Quote :

"I mean that even though you and I may have identical political views (which we don't, but pretend), you may be annoyed by Ann Coulter while I just think she's funny and makes an occasional zinger. At the same time, maybe you enjoy Jon Stewart while I just think he's a bitter old wind bag. If you don't buy the sympathies argument, how do you explain everyone flip-flopping about TACTICS whenever the party that is using them switches?"

Then I guess the answer is that it's regrettable that we all end up voting for petty reasons.



I'm surprised how high I was on the y-axis, but I guess it's because I think kids need discipline, abortion should be rare, and ultimately one must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves. That, and social security is a better safety net than the stock market, esp in light of recent years.

3/31/2010 6:40:26 PM

They need more pro-environment questions.

3/31/2010 8:22:52 PM

Quote :

"Then I guess the answer is that it's regrettable that we all end up voting for petty reasons."

I didn't say that's why we vote - I said that's why we argue.

3/31/2010 9:39:23 PM

Interesting, I've drifted about 3 down and 1 right since I took this last.

3/31/2010 9:39:27 PM

^You used to be up in the Authoritarian blocks?
That's surprising, everything I've seen you post tends to have a strong libertarian lean.

3/31/2010 9:55:33 PM

Quote :

"MattJM321 All American 3648 Posts user info edit post http://brentroad.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=583744&page=2 might help Quote : "MattJM321: right d357r0yr: present Stimwalt: skeptic with left leanings JCASHFAN: skeptic, the end is near TreeTwista10: bitter and left McDanger: left TKE-teg: right eyedrb: right"

or not

3/31/2010 10:10:07 PM

^^ Heh, when I first started out, I was much more of a big R republican. Hell my first Soap Box thread was some n00b libs vs conservatives bullshit that is embarrassing to look back on. The past few years have mostly driven home how little the government, and really any large group of people, can be trusted to represent and protect your interests, hence the drift towards little L libertarian. I think the last time I took this was back in '03 or '04 so it's been a while.

It probably also helps that I now approach the questions these sorts of things ask knowing that when the question is:
"X is a bad thing and harms society" they really mean "there should be a law against X"

3/31/2010 10:19:25 PM

3/31/2010 10:41:16 PM

3/31/2010 10:44:24 PM

4/1/2010 12:21:31 AM

These questions continue to be inane.

4/1/2010 12:28:32 AM

you're always a disappointment to me GrumpyGOP.

it's distressing when someone ages into liberalism. It's kind of a psychosis.

4/1/2010 12:31:46 AM

I don't think I answered any of those questions particularly liberally. A lot of those questions present false dilemmas, though, and I suspect others mix libertarianism and liberalism. A person who says, "Fuck it, let the homos marry each other" could fall into either camp. I'm not huge on gay rights, but I'm not huge on "Let's blow a lot of political capital on dudes who want to buttfuck each other while having the same last name," either.

At the end of the day, I support key Republican ideals like:

Execute a motherfucker
Spend what you need to have the most baller-ass military
Give me my AK-47
Don't kill a fully developed baby that has the misfortune of still being in your slutty-ass uterus
Don't rub your homo-ness in my face
USA A-#1

And I support the libertarian principles of:

Give me my drugs
Give me my whores
Give me my casinos
Give me my cigarettes
Give me my booze
Get rid of blue laws
If you want to be a homo that's your business

My liberal principles are:

Rich motherfuckers can afford to pay more taxes
Racism is bad
Let religion be an issue for religious groups

That's not all-inclusive, of course, but it gets the idea across. There are also other things that I don't support in principle but do support because demonstrated historical fact has proven the principle wrong again and again. To whit:

Universal healthcare is good.

I understand all the good ol' Republican rationale against it. I can also look and see that we die younger and have worse health statistics all the way around than all the pseudo-commie countries that have the other system.

[Edited on April 1, 2010 at 12:46 AM. Reason : there you have it]

4/1/2010 12:39:21 AM

^^All you have to do is change your mind about a couple questions and you're in the left side.

My point moves around a bit in the left quadrant depending on how I was feeling during the several times I've taken it. The test could be greatly improved.

I just found this on the site and I'm finding it hard to believe:



[Edited on April 1, 2010 at 12:57 AM. Reason : .]

4/1/2010 12:42:54 AM

4/1/2010 12:46:17 AM

Quote :

"when the question is: "X is a bad thing and harms society" they really mean "there should be a law against X"

Indeed, the questions suck.
Also, I'd like to see how they're scored.

4/1/2010 1:09:42 AM

hahahaha

lol @ all the ralph nader wannabees here

4/1/2010 1:31:16 AM

http://www.okcupid.com/politics
Here's the link for the other test (it does have a few environmental questions) if any of the new comers or people who haven't done it in a while want to take it.

This is what those kind of test results look like. Like all online political tests it is imperfect, but if you do lots of tests and they all give you similar results, then maybe that says something more concrete?


[Edited on April 1, 2010 at 1:38 AM. Reason : .]

4/1/2010 1:36:52 AM

For some reason I can't easily copy that test over here, but it has me just barely in the bottom right quadrant -- centrist, but technically Democrat.

It's still flawed as hell. I'm centrist, but it's because I'm far-right on some issues and far-left on others. My life is a perpetual compromise between "Nuke the bastards" and "Did anybody bring the drugs?"

This is why, if I weren't Christian, I might accept PJ O'Rourke as a minor deity. And I think he would be OK with that. At least he would if he were drunk, which he is.

4/1/2010 2:23:26 AM

^Yeah, I had to screen print, paste it in mspaint, cut it down to just the rest results, and upload it to my photo gallery. Which is a lot work for one test result, but it made it easy to compare to my previous results years later having it hanging out in my gallery.

4/1/2010 2:27:05 AM

Quote :

"I had to screen print, paste it in mspaint, cut it"

That's dumb -- don't they know people want to share these things? They should've made it easier.

Quote :

"Like all online political tests it is imperfect..."

Quote :

"It's still flawed as hell"

All of these tests should be "open" -- that is, we should be able to see exactly how they're scored.

Quote :

"You exhibit a very well-developed sense of Right and Wrong and believe in economic fairness."

Like, how do they get this? That sounds like a fortune or horoscope. Who decides what is "economic fairness"? That website? Who are they? Why are "right" and "wrong" capitalized?

The first of these quizzes I saw (possibly the first to be made) is the one from the Advocates for Self-Government -- basically a libertarian group. The quiz may be made by liberty advocates, but at least you can score it yourself.




I'd rather see a 3d map, or a higher dimension even, than these 2d charts. There may just be too many political orientations to easily and effectively plot them in a visually meaningful way. In fact, I'd rather just see a giant checklist of issues to know where someone stands. I might even start a thread about it.

[Edited on April 1, 2010 at 2:50 AM. Reason : ]

4/1/2010 2:48:31 AM