Has DakkaDakka done the political compass test before?

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**Wrexasaur**

notprop wrote:
Lordhat wrote:Here's Mine:

Damm fascist, sitting on the so called centre ground and repressing us Ghandi types!

I call you out for what you are and dub thee Mr hat! I will bow to no Lord, except maybe the Ayatollah of rock n' rolla, Maybe I say!

100 not out - Whey hey!

He is trying to trick us I thinks... that is obviously just a birds eye view of his avatar...

.

**Orkeosaurus**

This test made no sense.

Is my race superior? Do I like modern art? Do I believe in astrology? Do I drink bottled water?

What the feth does any of that have to do with what my political views are?

**Morathi's Darkest Sin**

mine was

Economic Left/Right: -4.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.41

**Cane**

Economic Left/Right: -6.12
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.85

Now its time for me and the rest of the Mandela's here to form a country!

**JEB_Stuart**

Guess I am just a lower class oddity....

Economic Left/Right: 2.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 0.31

**George Spiggott**

Economic Left/Right: -3.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.87

Agreed, there are some damn odd questions in there.

**Ahtman**

Orkeosaurus wrote:This test made no sense.

Sure it does. They are assuming that you are going to be smart enough to understand the underlying implications.

Is my race superior?

Are you a facist?

Do I like modern art?

Do you support government funded art? Are you more liberal?

Do I believe in astrology?

Are you a nut? Do you hate science? Just kidding. Astrologists tend to be liberal.

Do I drink bottled water?

How often do you urinate? This is another one about the role of corporations in our daily life.

I don't think any of the questions were 'loaded'. It said up front what the quiz was about and than asked questions that have a political context. It wasn't like it said it was the "Which Golden Girl Are You" quiz. And the answer is Sophia, by the way.

**OverbossGhurzubMoga**

Mine:

Economic Left/Right: 2.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 0.10

**Kilkrazy**

The way this kind of test is developed (if it's been done properly) is to find indicators of personality traits, test their reliability, then write questions which force the subject to answer in a way which reveals his underlying traits.

It's like those personality tests you sometimes have at job selection where there is a question like: "Would you prefer to be a dustman or a lavatory cleaner"

The real answer is "No" but you have to choose one of the two and this, combined with other questions, reveals your personality and stops you from 'cheating'.

I doubt the authors of the test were able to administer it to Ghandi, Thatcher and so on.

I think it is a bit of fun rather than a properly designed profiling tool and no-one should take it too seriously.

**Black Blow Fly**

I was ranked as a black supremist with a sports car.

B

**Orkeosaurus**

Ahtman wrote:Are you a facist?

...who wants to have the government create a racialist society or racist libertarian who believes that a free market will give a superior race what they deserve? It didn't mention government.

Do you support government funded art? Are you more liberal?

It didn't mention any sort of government funding, nor is there any reason to jump to that conclusion. What is "Liberal" supposed to mean here? In favor of more stringent economic controls? In favor of less laws restricting personal choice in daily life?

It has nothing to do with the law.

Are you a nut? Do you hate science? Just kidding. Astrologists tend to be liberal.

But as you just said, it means disdain for rationality and the scientific method, both of which are commonly "liberal" traits. Whatever "liberal" means today.

How often do you urinate? This is another one about the role of corporations in our daily life.

And another one that doesn't include any relevance to the government. Something that's vaguely tied to a corporation and wanting the government to, presumably, put greater restrictions on the sale of bottled water are the not the same.

The problem with this quiz it acts as though it's going to go beyond the traditional Left/Right dichotomy by using a square plot, but then goes in a completely different direction by seeing how many stereotypes unrelated to actual politics a person has, and then trying to guess where the person lies politically. Is it so wrong to expect a political quiz to ask questions about political views? And not "oh, you're from the south, that's one point for 'economically right-wing'. You drink tea though? I guess that makes you 'economically left-wing'". It's not like coming up with questions about a person's views on the government is difficult, and the only way they can get an idea is through trying to analyze your dislike of modern art.

And some of the questions were certainly loaded. "Globalization should serve the people instead of trans-national corporations"? If you think that the trans-national corporations are the best thing for people, you still have to answer "agree" if you're not some sort of monster. Why? Because it says "instead of", so you have to choose one. They're assumed to be in competition with each other. The only way you would disagree is if you're either A. Some sort of Disney villain who hates people and loves big evil corporations or B. you see the bias and reject it by choosing what you would answer if the question was written sensibly.

**Ahtman**

Orkeosaurus wrote: Lots of half thought out ideas and misunderstandings.

I can't tell if you are trolling, that out of touch, or just don't get it. You really don't understand, for example, how someone who thinks bottling water when it should be free effects their ideology when it comes to governing? The type of person that will excitedly put that , indeed, their race is superior are not Libertarians. Have you lived in the US long? Have you met or seen Klan members, Neonazis, New Black Panthers, or Nation of Islam? None of those ascribe to Libertarianism.

**Orkeosaurus**

Really? No white supremacists supported Ron Paul in the 2008 election?

Also, bottled water is an alternative to tap water. Which is so inexpensive, it may as well be free most of the time. It's not an issue of whether or not people in modern western democracies can have access to it.

And your patronization is getting old.

**Ahtman**

Orkeosaurus wrote:Really? No white supremacists supported Ron Paul in the 2008 election?

Do you really think it is that simple? For the ones that did, do you understand why they voted for him? Do you really think it was for the same reasons as others that did?

Orkeosaurus wrote:Also, bottled water is an alternative to tap water. Which is so inexpensive, it may as well be free most of the time.

I'm guessing you don't pay a water bill. Anyway, that wasn't the point, and again, I watch as you totally miss it. WHOOOOOOOSH.

Like I said, you either understand the subtext or you don't. You either understand the way the questions are designed and what 'underlying facts' they are seeking, as Killkrazy said, or you don't. You are obliviously having trouble seeing the forest for the trees on this one.

Orkeosaurus wrote:And your patronization is getting old.

I'm not patronizing at all. I explained to you what they were asking. Just because you don't get it doesn't mean what I said wasn't true. It just means you are not getting it. I think the problem is you are overanalyzing it and keeps taking you farther and farther away from the simplest of things. They are using broad truths but you are looking at minute details that tend not to define these things. Finding one racist bigot that is a hippie doesn't mean that the vast majority are not.

**Orkeosaurus**

Can you write more hypothetical questions?

I know exactly what the "underlying" assumptions are, the problem is that it's damn stupid to make assumptions based on personality traits and call it a valid test, when you could just as easily have asked them questions that would actually tell you what you want to know.

If you see a peace sign on a person's shirt, you may guess that they're a left-winger, and it would probably not be a bad guess.

If you do a survey about the political opinions of people, asking them "do you own a shirt that has a peace sign on it" instead of an actual question about their thought on war, then your survey sucks. Or, at the very least, isn't going to tell you the truth.

**Ahtman**

Orkeosaurus wrote:I know exactly what the "underlying" assumptions are

Apparently not, and your ego, feeling under attack, is making you lash out. Have a glass of water and calm down.

**Frazzled**

crap.
Modquisition on. Guys lets lower the tension level on this thread (looks at Ahtman and slightly Orkie's direction) as its unneeded for this type of thread.

Can't we all get along...

**Orkeosaurus**

My original response was in violation of Frazzled's warning (sorry), so instead here's a picture of a really angry face.

Seriously though, here are examples of what I would do for a quiz. Neither is perfect, but it seems like they're at least trying to keep the questions fair and relevant.

http://politicalquiz.net/

http://www.gotoquiz.com/politics/political-spectrum-quiz.html

**Ahtman**

I would like to apologize for being curt with Orky. I wasn't trying to, but I could have chosen my words more carefully. I will avoid responding to multiple posts at once in the future to try and avoid it.

What I was trying to get across is that if the questions were asked in a vacuum, they would indeed be a poor barometer of a persons overall political viewpoint. The fact remains though that they were not asked in a vacuum but within the context of a 6 page questionnaire. Saying you like your race best isn't going to automatically floor the needle into "Fascist". It would nudge it one direction or another.

They ask those questions because they are barometers of peoples belief in the actual issues. It wouldn't help the quiz if the questions were "are you a Liberal?", so they ask questions that indicate that. You would also be surprised how many people hold one idea of themselves politically but when they answer questions about the issues they come down somewhere else.

**Orkeosaurus**

Alright, I'll try and calm down in the future too. It's just so damn hot here...

The problem I have with the quiz is its unreliability. Even in the context of cultural trends, it's quite a jump to say disliking homosexuality means a person will support laws put in place to stop them from being that way. It's even more of a jump to say that a belief in astronomy makes you authoritarian (yes, according to the FAQ that's what it means. Belief in astronomy makes you a determinist, which makes you favor authoritarianism).

Even though a single answer will usually not determine where you place, it still counts towards the total. If that question is poor, it makes the test less accurate. There are quite a few questions on the test I think are fairly irrelevant or worded badly. There's a middle ground between asking "are you liberal?" and "are you offended by bottled water?". You can actually ask them what they think about political issues.

The maker of the website simultaneously rejects the traditional left/right scale while largely basing people's political opinions on the cultural stereotypes associated with the left/right "culture wars". I'd actually say that's what the core of my problem is with the test; separating economic and social policy isn't much of an accomplishment when you fail to separate social policy and personal preferences in the same test.

That's why I suggested this quiz in particular, and this quiz to a lesser extent. They make a distinction.

**dogma**

Pretty much the same score as Sebster's quiz, but I've probably studied enough politics to know what any given question is trying to assess. So that might throw it off.

You are a center-left social libertarian.
Left: 1.64, Libertarian: 3.65

I was a little surprised that I came out on the left in terms of foreign policy, but that might be because the line was drawn between non-interventionism and neoconservatism. Actually, foreign policy is complicated enough that a spectrum is probably insufficient to capture it.

That said, the culture result was about what I expected.

Foreign Policy: You scored: -3
Culture: You scored: -4.84

**Wrexasaur**

That test was a whole lot clearer, even though I was a bit out of my depth on some of those questions I am sure.

You are a left moderate social libertarian.
Left: 3.84, Libertarian: 1.77

This looks a lot more accurate to my political views.

**Kragura**

Yeah, that Ghandi score is pretty wrong. While he's built a reputation as a general all round nice guy, he was pretty strong on resisting modern life, keeping to tradition village life. I'm not sure that should score as libertarian as the website thought.

I thought he was famous for resisting the caste system

(I am probably wrong)

**sebster**

Orkeosaurus wrote:That's why I suggested this quiz in particular, and this quiz to a lesser extent. They make a distinction.

Yeah, those quizzes are better than the one I posted. Including don't care options and scaling for for interest in the topic is a big improvement. I like my survey because another forum I'm on has been taking it every so often for about 10 years, so it's interesting to see how opinions change. But for people without that history, your quizzes are much better.

The first quiz told me I'm a left moderate social libertarian. Left: 6.34, Libertarian: 3.23. Thing is, though, Australia is a pretty conservative place, certainly to the right of Europe and I'm not far from the centre by Australian standards. Yet when you look at these American surveys, I end up a pinko. I think it's got a lot to do with me being on the far left on issues that, one way or another are settled in Australia, but are a big part of the US debate.

The second quiz told me;
"You are a social progressive. You generally consider yourself a humanist first. You probably think that religion and patriotism go too far in society. You probably consider yourself to be a citizen of Earth first rather than a citizen of your country."

"You are a Moderate Capitalist. You support an economy that is by and large a free market, but has public programs to help people who can't help themselves or need a little help. Pretty much you believe in the American economy how it currently is."

"You are libertarian. You think that the government is making way too many unnecessary laws that are taking away our innate rights. You believe that the government's job is primarily to protect people from harming other people, but after that they should mind their own business, and if we give the government too much power in controlling our lives, it can lead to fascism."

"You're a Moderate. You think that in very rare occasions, the United States should invade a country in order to make the world better by spreading democracy or ending a tyrants rule. You also think that defense is very important, and we shouldn't lower the defense budget. You think that, while the Iraq War probably was a mistake, that we can make the world a better place by sticking with it and spreading democracy in the middle east."

Which is all pretty much bang on, except for the libertarian thing, which gave me a very strong libertarian score. Probably because of the emphasis on abortion & pornography questions. It told me I was a hardcore Democrat, which is a little dubious given my general opinion of the Democrats (although maybe that's because the Democrats do such a bad job of being Democrats...) and then said I was like Kennedy and Clinton, which is about right. I probably don't get as much sex as those two, though.

**Envy89**

Orkeosaurus wrote:This test made no sense.

Is my race superior? Do I like modern art? Do I believe in astrology? Do I drink bottled water?

What the feth does any of that have to do with what my political views are?

Because if you think your race is superior, it goes as a wick toward right wing...

If you like modern art left wing... if you don’t like it, right wing.

If you believe in astrology then you are obviously a more enlightened person (because you don’t believe in god) and get a tick to left wing...

Still not sure about bottled water.

**sebster**

Envy89 wrote:If you believe in astrology then you are obviously a more enlightened person (because you don’t believe in god) and get a tick to left wing...

You can believe in astrology and still believe in God. It's a test of belief in new age hippy stuff. It could just as likely have been 'do you waste money on healing crystals?'

Still not sure about bottled water.

It was explicit in the question, where it asked if you thought it was bad corporate marketeting had reached a point where something as basic as water was a packaged product. It still isn't a very good question, because I looked at it and thought 'it doesn't worry me because you only have to buy water that way if you want bottled water, you can still get water from the tap for cheap', so I said it wasn't a problem, but that wasn't their intent.

A better question might have been about corporate marketing to younger and younger crowds, so that we're now seeing fashion clothes made kids as young as five and six.

**Orkeosaurus**

Actually, the FAQ for the test says that belief in astrology is indicative of authoritarianism.

It's a matter of determinism, apparently.

**sebster**

Orkeosaurus wrote:Actually, the FAQ for the test says that belief in astrology is indicative of authoritarianism.

It's a matter of determinism, apparently.

Oh, okay, that makes a bit of sense but it's still pretty loose. In the first half of the 20th century is was the extreme right, the aristocrats and other right wing groups leading up to the nazis that used to be the home of fringe religious theory. It made sense, super secret knowledge in the hands of an elite few that showed how everything was all planned out fit quite nicely with the beliefs of elite rule held by the extreme right wing of that time.

But does it really hold today? All that new age science stuff is now tied to the new age beliefs about being free to love your fellow man and all that. Or is astrology sufficiently removed from the other new age stuff? I don't know, it still seems like a silly question to me.

**Orkeosaurus**

It doesn't make much sense to me either.

They specifically chose an example of determinism that's common to people who would probably be considered libertarian by the chart. (I'd call into question the relevance of determinism at all, personally.)

**dogma**

As would I. Determinism has very little to do with the belief in an authoritarian government.

If its determined that you would say yes, then its also determined that you would say no. Rebellion and acquiescence are equally justified.