Politics and Atheism - The Political Compass
I thought I would kick-start a discussion about the two things you are never supposed to talk about with strangers: Politics and Religion! I don't want to start a debate about what political ideology is right or wrong; instead, I'm interested in knowing where the people on Think Atheist fall on a spectrum. Being a Dungeons and Dragons fan, I have always loved the 9-point-alignment scheme as a way to visualize a character's morals and ideology. I think I have found the next best thing...
The Political Compass is a tool that asks you a series of questions regarding your stances on a verity of political topics. Questions cover international trade and economics, public education, and government policy. At the conclusion of the test, it then tallies up your score and displays it on an X-Y graph. Here is mine:
The X-axis of the graph charts your stance on economics. The negative side representing a more left leaning economic mindset (the extreme of which, I think, would be Socialism), and the positive side representing a more free-market ideology (the extreme of which would be pure Capitalism, exempt of any non-market influences).
The Y-axis measures your stance on society, a persons place within it, and the amount of influence a government should have in its citizen's day-to-day affairs. The top half trends towards Authoritarianism (the ultimate extreme of which would the Totalitarianism) whilst the bottom half shows preference towards Libertarianism (the extreme of which would be Anarchy, the complete removal of government).
The test is far from perfect, as it cannot account for all ideologies and viewpoints. Additionally, since the final score is a numerical tally, and each question seems to be weighted equally, a person that endorses extremes on all ideologies could come across as centrist. Regardless, I find the test to be fun, and informative. It's interesting to see a visual representation of your political viewpoint, and to compare it to someone else.
If you're feeling bored, take the test, and post your results! Do you disagree with your score? Do you think this would be an accurate way to gauge where someone stands?
Oh, and if anyone is curious about the D&D part, I tend to favor lawful-evil :3
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Bart Mitchell on -
Quite interesting that everyone so far has been on the libertarian end. Some have swung left or right, but always on the bottom of the graph.
Was it just me, or did every question make you want to get in a full on debate? It was well worded, but many questions could be taken many different ways. Still, it was a fun exercise.
Im just about where I thought I would end up http://www.politicalcompass.org/facebook/pcgraphpng.php?ec=-5.75&am...
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Permalink Reply by Craig Nomazlab on -
Almost the exact same as you, just a little bit more left. http://www.politicalcompass.org/test
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Permalink Reply by Bill Lewis on -
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Permalink Reply by Alice Browne on -
http://www.politicalcompass.org/printablegraph?ec=-5.88&soc=-6.21
Bob Altemeyer's Right Wing Authoritarian test is kind of fun, too.
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Permalink Reply by Reggie on -
I'm not liking the framing of many of these statements. For example, "no one chooses his or her country of birth, so it's foolish to be proud of it". Well, while I strongly agree that no one chooses where they are born, I don't think it is necessarily foolish to be proud of your country for reasons. Many of the statements were framed in ways that I'd object to if this were something more than just fun and games.
At any rate, I scored almost squarely in the bottom, left quadrant.
Economic Left/Right: -6.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.69
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Permalink Reply by Jacob on
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I'm not really surprised with where I am, I'm sure my social opinions will remain the same in the future, but I'm only 17 so my economic ones could change a lot.
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Permalink Reply by Cristynfaye on -
I'm right smack between Ghandi, Nelson Mandela and the Dhali Lama. Does that make me like a Secular Huminist Saint? Hehehe...
But really, right in between Communism and Anarchy. I guess I'm a walking contradiction.
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Permalink Reply by Stephen Morris on
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Well, kinda. Communism is more political then economical. I would place communism in the upper left quadrant. Think of communism as socialism mandated through government.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-difference-between-socialism-an...
Also, I wouldn't say being lower on the chart is nessesariy an endorsement of anarchy either. You just value your personal freedom more then you value society as a whole, as do I.
I was gonna jokingly nickname the first person to fall in the upper left quadrant 'comrade', but it hasn't happened yet.
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Permalink Reply by Cristynfaye on
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Actually, I don't really value my personal freedom over society as a whole. I would say I'm pretty socially minded, actually. While I wouldn't want to cause harm to an individual in order to better the society, I am for giving up certain freedoms for the good of society.
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