More Fun With Politics!!

[gambrinus]

Here is something interesting that you may not have seen. Check this out and see where you fall on the political spectrum:

http://www.digitalronin.f2s.com/politicalcompass/index.html

Short quiz that gives a bit more detail than the standard "liberal" or "conservative"...

very eye-opening

RW

[edge51]

Nice one - actually the only names given in the area I scored in are Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama. That is company that I am quite proud to share space with.

[Hodag]

just where i thought i was. VOTE NADER!!!
mark

[Usedtopilot]

Very interesting survey. There were no names listed in the area in which I fell, and I was somewhat surprised at my compass heading! It certainly made me think.

[Cliffy777]

some of the questions elicited qualifiers from me, but it was interesting. i am now going to base the rest of my life on the findings of this test.....anybody got any kool-aid?

[username]

here, this is more fun.

www.fundrace.org (http://www.fundrace.org)

find out if your neighbors are democrat scumbags or republican scumbags. (obviously if theyre a scumbag, it's dependent on what type of scumbag *you* are... :) )

you can punch in your zip code, or even your address, and get the list of people near you who donated to the presidential campaigns. last time i looked, the data was current only to 7/31, but it's still interesting, and now youll know exactly whose trees to TP and who not to invite to your parties. this is an excellent tool that we can all use to be more divisive, and hence, better americans. (when you aren't busy out shopping of course, to show the terrorists that they haven't won.)

[gambrinus]

Here are my scores so you can see just how twisted I really am:

Economic L/R = 5.50
Social Libertarian/Auth = 3.64


That fundrace thing scares me more than a little. Nothing like being a crook and getting all the addresses for the folks with money to spend...


RW

[BubbaZanetti]

interesting:

Economic Left/Right: -4.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -7.33

[Visian]

Libertarian/Right

Just like Ayn Rand.... author of Atlas Shrugged. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0451191145/ref=sib_dp_pt/102-3224449-8790517#reader-link)

Many of my answers to the questions would be qualified, and I think the survey needed a "neither agree or disagree" option.

Ian

[trmptrmrk]

Originally posted by Visian
Libertarian/Right

Just like Ayn Rand.... author of Atlas Shrugged. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0451191145/ref=sib_dp_pt/102-3224449-8790517#reader-link)

Ian

Thanks Ian! I'll have to check that out, along with works by my new hero Milton Friedman.

[BradfordBenn]

Just where I hoped I would be. Dahlia Lama and Nelson Mandela. Not so bad.

[jgr451]

I am in the same quadrant as Ghandi,a little more right and a little more authoritarian.
About where I figured.
Cool thing!

[username]

i too scored in the lower left quadrant, which i find unsurprising.

being grouped with ghandi is nice, but being down near bradfordbenn, jgr, and edge51 is extremely flattering. after all, ghandi didnt have a BMW... [cough] loser! [cough]

may i make a recommendation? take a look at the reading list, but don't read from your quadrant. read from the other three. seek to expand your mind and learn the positions and arguments of those around you. turn off your television for a night and let your brain eat a book.

i think it would be fun to read outside one's own quadrant for a year, then re-take the test and see where you end up. you know, to see if you can brainwash yourself. that'd be hard though to read >20 books that i might disagree with. sometimes it's fun to get my little ego and opinions stroked by others. as a challenge to myself, i think i'll try to read two from each quadrant. that's more than i was planning to do yesterday to open my mind.

those of you in the inferior, err, i mean *other* quadrants - if youve read the books listed, can you recommend any? (i've already read most of the ayn rand stuff.) i've got 16 hours on airplanes coming up in two weeks, which means i can read at least four books. PM me or post here please, thanks.

edit: all right, forget it, i just went ahead and placed my order at amazon. (god i love the internet.) i ordered:

1. Leviathan - Thomas Hobbes
2. On Guerrilla Warfare - Zedong, Mao
3. Essential Works of Lenin : "What is to Be Done?" and Other Writings- Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
4. The Road to Serfdom- F. A. Hayek
5. The Fatal Conceit : The Errors of Socialism - F. A. Hayek
6. Let us talk of many things - William F. Buckley.

i don't know if i'll be able to read all of these on the trip, but we'll see. it might be a bit heavy. i can't believe i can get my brain stretched this much for only ~$60. we live in good times that are obviously the result of the give and take of the four quadrants - no single one has too much power. a good thing.

the lenin book will be fun since im currently halfway through 'the guglag archipelago' which tells a *slightly* different story about the workers' paradise. ;)

[BradfordBenn]

I have read the Lenin writings and Mao Tzetung's Guerilla warfare.

Interesting reading. I try to listen to both sides of the arguements and positions and then make up my own mind. My wife laughs at me as I listen to NPR and watch Fox News Channel as well as other programs. Typically the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

If you want a real laugh, pick up a fiction book by Christopher Buckley, William F's son. Completely different from his father.

As the saying goes, "If you want to defeat your enemy, sing his songs"

[gambrinus]

I'll second Brad's book recommendation. Chris Buckley is VERY funny... and nothing like his old man. His best two books, IMHO would be

"Thank You For Smoking"
"No Way To Treat A First Lady"

RW

[Fang]

Originally posted by trmptrmrk
Thanks Ian! I'll have to check that out, along with works by my new hero Milton Friedman.

Ditto for me! I was shocked, however, to learn that all of my political heroes are either dead or in South America........Shudder....:brow :D :D

[The_Veg]

I'm down in the Ghandi corner too. Just where I thought I'd be. I do have to echo Bradford's comments though about listening to all sides. Some may disagree but I'm sickened by how the idea of getting more than one side seems to be losing popularity these days. So many of us are so caught up in our opinions and biases that we refuse to challenge ourselves and our ideas. Love your ideas? Question them as rigorously as you question the ideas that you oppose. Then accept that it's okay to change your mind sometimes (I wish it was okay for politicains to do so :brow ).
Agree to disagree. Keep your debates civil. Respect your opponents and go drink with them now and then. No matter how opposite someone's opninion may be about an issue, the fact that you see other sides of the same issue make for common ground. Some of us strive for common goals but radically disagree on how to get there- keep the common goal in mind.

Remember we're all in this together!

[Fang]

Originally posted by The Veg
I'm down in the Ghandi corner too. Just where I thought I'd be. I do have to echo Bradford's comments though about listening to all sides. Some may disagree but I'm sickened by how the idea of getting more than one side seems to be losing popularity these days. So many of us are so caught up in our opinions and biases that we refuse to challenge ourselves and our ideas. Love your ideas? Question them as rigorously as you question the ideas that you oppose. Then accept that it's okay to change your mind sometimes (I wish it was okay for politicains to do so :brow ).
Agree to disagree. Keep your debates civil. Respect your opponents and go drink with them now and then. No matter how opposite someone's opninion may be about an issue, the fact that you see other sides of the same issue make for common ground. Some of us strive for common goals but radically disagree on how to get there- keep the common goal in mind.

Remember we're all in this together!

Well said! :idea :jester