My Political Compass

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Vicotnik
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My Political Compass

Post by Vicotnik » Wed Jul 10, 2013 11:31 am

Do you think this test reflect your political view in an accurate way? I think it's pretty good.

http://www.politicalcompass.org/index

I scored -9.88, -9.90 last time I took it. Seems about right.

andyb
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Re: My Political Compass

Post by andyb » Wed Jul 10, 2013 11:58 am

How accurate this is can only be judged (like an true scientific research) on a large group of people who are only completing the test once and are not cheating or lying in any way. Then and only then will we know how accurate this test is when we ask people at the end of the test where they expected to fall vs where the 2scores" put them.

I just completed the test and scored.

Economic Left/Right: -3.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.36

The reality though is that I know I am mid-way to the right of the scale rather than a little to the left on the economic scale, so I would say that this test has got me 7-12 points towards the left from where I expect my score should come to. Up vs down, I have never given it a great deal of thought, but a touch on the side of Authoritarian seems correct.

So, in brief, I believe that this test has not measured my economic attitudes correctly, mostly because of the wording of the questions and the available answer choices. It is an intriguing test though, and I would like to see many more SPCR members completing this test (honestly) and posting their results alongside what they would deem their score to be.


Andy

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Re: My Political Compass

Post by Lucky Luciano » Wed Jul 10, 2013 12:02 pm

I find the EU Political Compass baffling. It makes even scandinavian countries look more right wing than USA. Yes, they've been eroded by neoliberalism but they're still more social democratic, aren't they?

My scores are -9.12 economical and -7.64 social.

HFat
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Re: My Political Compass

Post by HFat » Wed Jul 10, 2013 12:51 pm

This sort of exercise measures sheep best (and only sheep with the right cultural background).
andyb wrote:The reality though is that I know I am mid-way to the right of the scale rather than a little to the left on the economic scale, so I would say that this test has got me 7-12 points towards the left from where I expect my score should come to.
I'm generally in agreement with your assessment.

So here's a cookie:
andyb wrote:It is an intriguing test though, and I would like to see many more SPCR members completing this test (honestly) and posting their results alongside what they would deem their score to be.
Economic Left/Right: -7.62
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.67
Which is ludicrous.
I don't give much credence to their categories and am even less impressed with their command of the facts (Stalin so far to the left? Friedman so far to the right?) so I think any score would be wrong. Still, -4.67 is particularly ludicrous since I would for instance score as an anti-authoritarian extremist on Altemeyer's scale.

As Andy says, "the wording of the questions and the available answer choices" are terrible.

mkk
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Re: My Political Compass

Post by mkk » Wed Jul 10, 2013 1:45 pm

These things are just entertainment. But anyway.
Economic Left/Right: -8.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -7.90

I'd protest loudly on the question of races. What other races? :roll:

Vicotnik
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Re: My Political Compass

Post by Vicotnik » Wed Jul 10, 2013 1:53 pm

Heh, very politically incorrect in Sweden that one. ;)

Reachable
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Re: My Political Compass

Post by Reachable » Wed Jul 10, 2013 2:35 pm

Stalin a leftist?! All someone has to do is claim they are and they get believed for a century (or longer.)

Ralf Hutter
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Re: My Political Compass

Post by Ralf Hutter » Thu Jul 11, 2013 4:53 am

Here's me:

Economic Left/Right: 0.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.38

Didn't we already do this one sometime in the past?

andyb
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Re: My Political Compass

Post by andyb » Mon Jul 15, 2013 9:22 am

I thought that I would start the test again to identify some shifty questions that force an answer that is wrong regardless of the answer you give (i.e. there is no correct answer because the answers are far to complex to be agree/disagree). Here are some questions from the test alongside the answers I gave, and why I gave that answer.

Page 1 of 6.

If economic globalisation is inevitable, it should primarily serve humanity rather than the interests of trans-national corporations.

Answer: Agree

Reasoning: It should in an ideal world serve humanity rather than the "mega-corporation"

But the reality is that it should serve the mega-corp because that's its purpose (to make money and pass that on to investors), an individual country could impose laws on that mega-corp to force it to comply e.g. clothing factory in Bangladesh a couple of months ago - both the government and the company are at fault, and the question does not mention the government, or even if a government or laws exist, so this hypothetical question does not have enough data to go with it.

If I were to re-write the question, it would be as follows (written quickly, so not perfect): If economic globalisation is inevitable, should governments regulate business to protect humanity against trans-national corporations search for lower costs and higher profits.
I'd always support my country, whether it was right or wrong.
Answer: Disagree

I didn't support my country's invasion of Iraq once I found out that I had been lied to, I didn't support my politicians for 13-years when Labour were in power, but I di/still do support British troops that are still in Iraq, so again this is a simple question with many varied and complex answers, but overall, I often dont support my country when I believe what its (sic) doing is something wrong.
No one chooses his or her country of birth, so it's foolish to be proud of it.
Answer: Agree.

Its obviously foolish to be proud of a chunk of land that you were born on, in the same way that's its foolish to see a flower and consider it "pretty". But we are what we are, we are a product of our parents, our surroundings, where we live, the people around us and so on. Yes it may all be "foolish" on an intellectual level, but that does not stop me from being proud. I had to answer this question exactly as I read it, even though I disagree with it a great deal beyond the intellectual level.

Our race has many superior qualities, compared with other races.

Answer: Disagree strongly

Reasoning is obvious, the differences between races are pretty tiny, some have better suited "qualities" in different climates. e.g. If I lived in central Africa I would have permanent skin-burn. But this question sounds like it was written to easily weed out the racists amongst us.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Answer: Disagree (I might have put strongly, I don't recall).

This in some cases could be an "agree", but as no examples have been given disagree is the obvious choice. Take for example the USA, Russia, Afghanistan and the Taliban and you will see why this question is obviously a disagree.
Military action that defies international law is sometimes justified.
Answer: Agree

Almost everything "bad" that can be thought of also has an example where that "bad" thing can be justified. e.g. An assassination, although its cold-blooded murder can be a good thing. And secondly, it could easily be argued that "International Law" is itself wrong, or even if a country does not sign up to that international law the question becomes irrelevant.
There is now a worrying fusion of information and entertainment.
Answer: Strongly Disagree

This is a stupid question as there cannot be a correct answer without an example, and I cannot think of a single example that would have me answer "agree". FYI all documentaries are both "information" and "entertainment", as are many games for children. If anyone has an example that they think differs please let me know.

I cant be bothered to go through every question, I just wanted to point out the first page, and how simplistic they are compared to the available answers, and specifically that most of them really need examples.

I just ran through the test again, deliberately attempting to look at the questions in a "more generalised way". I got almost exactly the same score as before.

Economic Left/Right: -1.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.90

I would say that this test is severely skewed, or some/all of the questions are "weighted".


Andy

aristide1
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Re: My Political Compass

Post by aristide1 » Sun Jul 28, 2013 7:14 pm

This test is a bit of a scam. Too many questions have absolute yay or nay results, when in reality the situation is far more serious. Therefore I need to take the test twice and lean the other way on questions that have been oversimplified here.
The freer the market, the freer the people.
What does freedom mean? Freedom from responsibility? Freedom from liability? Economic anarchy is good for people? Who writes this overly simplistic shit?
A genuine free market requires restrictions on the ability of predator multinationals to create monopolies.
Another BS question in regards we can have the same problem domestically if we were totally free of regulations.
People with serious inheritable disabilities should not be allowed to reproduce.
It's been tried and it's a disaster, let alone a very slippery slope. What's the point of this question? Insight or incite?
Astrology accurately explains many things.
Seriously?
You cannot be moral without being religious.
I'm sure there's a ton of incredibly ignorant naive oblivious people out there that believe this.
To ask if I am one of them is frankly an insult. Clearly if being religious = morality then we
don't have to concern ourselves ever about pedophile priests.
What goes on in a private bedroom between consenting adults is no business of the state.
Umm, if someone is intentionally spreading AIDS nobody should get involved?
Last edited by aristide1 on Sun Jul 28, 2013 7:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.

aristide1
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Re: My Political Compass

Post by aristide1 » Sun Jul 28, 2013 7:27 pm

andyb wrote:I thought that I would start the test again to identify some shifty questions that force an answer that is wrong regardless of the answer you give (i.e. there is no correct answer because the answers are far to complex to be agree/disagree). Here are some questions from the test alongside the answers I gave, and why I gave that answer.
There is now a worrying fusion of information and entertainment.
Answer: Strongly Disagree

This is a stupid question as there cannot be a correct answer without an example, and I cannot think of a single example that would have me answer "agree". FYI all documentaries are both "information" and "entertainment", as are many games for children. If anyone has an example that they think differs please let me know.

Andy
This question is messed up for several reasons:

1. It paints picture that this increasing or just starting. I doubt either view is correct. Gossiping is human's oldest past time for those who seriously need to GET A LIFE! Alternatively if information is so dry you fall asleep or lose interest then what good is it?

2. I believe propaganda and manipulation of the truth, mostly through half truths, and completely inaccurate conclusions, is far more dangerous than the entertainment factor.

3. The fact that almost there was almost no coverage of this is far more serious than the entertainment subject.
http://rt.com/usa/monsanto-bill-blunt-agriculture-006/

4. Despite racial tensions in the US there's absolutely no reason to not address this right here.
Clearly the press severely biased:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z2Z51JnoTq

Maybe journalism died with Walter Cronkite, but it was clearly in trouble after Edward R Murrow.
The truth? The whole truth? Nothing but the truth?
How about 1 iota?

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