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September 23, 2004
Flatland
Geoff Arnold mentions in his blog a site called The Political Compass, which purports to let you know where you stand on the political chessboard.
I'm having trouble figuring out who I ought to vote for, so I'm going to try it. Here goes.
And it's looking bad right from the start.
First, the statements expect you to come to them in a certain frame of mind, that frame of mind you have when watching television innocently, willing to believe everything they claim about the crap they peddle without criticizing. It's not that I don't ever want to be in that frame of mind, it's just that I don't want to make any major political decisions such as choosing a US president, a superindendent of schools, or a local mayor in that frame of mind. If you typically watch television that lazily and your critic muscles have atrophied, trying not looking at the picture. Or try watching a show for which you are definitely not the target audience. (Hint: you can tell easily by the ads.) Or get a transcript. Even relatively awful television can be entertaining if you watch it actively, aiming at understanding the context, seeing what they leave out compared to what they emphasize, etc.
Second, for each cotton candy statement, either I Strongly disagree, Disagree, Agree, or Strongly Agree. The test comes without options like Don't know, Not sure. Those are the options I usually select for trick questions. I also use them when I genuinely don't know or am not sure. For instance, "Our race has many superior qualities, compared to other races." Context, please?
Choosing to use Disagree instead of Don't know, Not sure...
I answered Disagree to nearly everything, so they put me near the center of Flatland. Interestingly, just by disagreeing nearly all the time, you go pretty far towards what they calll Libertarian.
So I tried it again, trying to imagine myself as a leftist idealist, but taking the stuff at face value like a good consumer. Hilarity breaks out at, "All authority must be questioned." You have to check Strongly agree unquestioningly. This put me about as far Left as you can get, and as far Libertarian as possible.
Now trying it as a discerning, moderate, proud American with a sense of Christian values... This whole thing looks a little like a leftist plot to me now... Goodness, so that's what Margaret Thatcher felt like. Looks like I came out pretty close to Ariel Sharon and George W. Bush, too.
So, what was the point of all that?
Posted by Mark at September 23, 2004 07:00 AM