Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Political Compass mega thread 2011

  • 12-02-2011 4:37pm
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 27,645 ✭✭✭✭nesf


    Thought it'd be a bit of fun for us to compare our political positions on Political Compass. Linkies to test


    The Irish parties positions (according to the Political Compass people's analysis of their manifestos):

    ireland2011.png



    My own personal position on the chart:

    pcgraphpng.php?ec=4.12&soc=-1.85


    I'm trending nationally FG but trending locally (based on politician) Labour. Are other people's results matching up well with their voting this election?


«13456789

Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 9,028 ✭✭✭Lockstep


    Myself

    pcgraphpng.php?ec=-6.50&soc=-3.90


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,081 ✭✭✭LeixlipRed


    pcgraphpng.php?ec=-8.75&soc=-8.36


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,185 ✭✭✭Rubik.


    pcgraphpng.php?ec=-5.62&soc=-7.23

    Who would The Dalai Lama vote for then?


  • Registered Users Posts: 43 johnie89


    pcgraphpng.php?ec=-4.12&soc=-3.79


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,739 ✭✭✭johnmcdnl


    pcgraphpng.php?ec=-5.50&soc=0.10

    which justifies my SF vote :D


  • Advertisement
  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,784 ✭✭✭Dirk Gently


    The older I get, the more looney left I'm getting. Isn't it suppose to work the other way :o

    pcgraphpng.php?ec=-8.00&soc=-6.77


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,271 ✭✭✭kev9100


    I'm voting Labour and I want a coalition of the Centre-Left in the long-term so I'm not sure what to make of this.
    pcgraphpng.php?ec=-4.50&soc=-5.13


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,132 ✭✭✭Killer Pigeon


    You're all a pile of communists :P


  • Registered Users Posts: 24,462 ✭✭✭✭Cookie_Monster


    pcgraphpng.php?ec=-1.25&soc=-1.18


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 14,670 ✭✭✭✭Wolfe Tone


    Political_Compass_Printable_Graph.png

    Theres mine, Im voting SF. Im near bang on Socialist on that table.


  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users Posts: 187 ✭✭Nadser


    Guess I'm a socialist!

    pcgraphpng.php?ec=-7.62&soc=-2.46


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 35,514 ✭✭✭✭efb


    Economic Left/Right: -4.50
    Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.97


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 10,325 ✭✭✭✭Dozen Wicked Words


    pcgraphpngphpec-838soc-4.png

    Not too far away from Nelson Mandela which will do me.


  • Registered Users Posts: 27,645 ✭✭✭✭nesf


    *waits patiently for any other right winger to post...*


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 39,022 ✭✭✭✭Permabear


    This post has been deleted.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,889 ✭✭✭evercloserunion


    nesf wrote: »
    *waits patiently for any other right winger to post...*
    The test is obviously US-based, they have a very warped view of right-vs-left. I've seen hundreds of people take this test, including people who would be considered fairly right-wing, and a tiny percentage get anything other than left-libertarian (x<0,y<0).

    Frankly I don't really like the political compass, as it tends to produce results which are at variance with the expectations of virtually everyone. Like Labour being right-wing. Surely the terms left-wing and right-wing are defined by convention and social norms, it seems that these guys are making up their own definitions and saying "turns out everyone else was wrong all this time!".

    That said, it's still a bit of craic as long as you don't take it too seriously.




  • Another lefty here:
    Politicalcompass.png


  • Registered Users Posts: 27,645 ✭✭✭✭nesf


    The test is obviously US-based, they have a very warped view of right-vs-left. I've seen hundreds of people take this test, including people who would be considered fairly right-wing, and a tiny percentage get anything other than left-libertarian (x<0,y<0).

    Frankly I don't really like the political compass, as it tends to produce results which are at variance with the expectations of virtually everyone. Like Labour being right-wing. Surely the terms left-wing and right-wing are defined by convention and social norms, it seems that these guys are making up their own definitions and saying "turns out everyone else was wrong all this time!".

    That said, it's still a bit of craic as long as you don't take it too seriously.

    I don't know, I place almost exactly where I'd tell you I should be placed before I ever took a test, middle of the right wing, slightly liberal socially. I just think an awful lot of younger people are genuinely left wing even if they support the likes of FF and/or FG, they just have a taste for more rightish rhetoric.

    Labour should be on the centre right too to be fair. Their policies are not really pro-business that much but very much based on market based solutions to problems while keeping tax very reasonable, they very much don't fit into the tax and spend left wing model that SF definitely fit very well. They are to the left of FF/FG and are a lot more liberal socially, but they aren't very left wing at all for over a decade now and have followed in UK Labour's footsteps in taking the centre (slightly) right because that's where a crap load of the voters are.


  • Registered Users Posts: 27,645 ✭✭✭✭nesf


    Permabear wrote: »
    This post had been deleted.

    As per usual, you make me look like a socialist. :p


  • Registered Users Posts: 281 ✭✭NSNO


    pcgraphpng.php?ec=-1.62&soc=-4.87

    I'm still not a massive fan of the test. Many of the questions are clearly American focused. I'd love if someone made a new test that was calibrated for European social norms. I'm not sure there's a mainstream party in Europe which doesn't support a basic level of social security that allows people to retain their dignity.


    I also feel that the Authoritarian/Libertarian axis is out of date. It seems to combine questions to do with Religious Conservatism/Secular Equality and Authoritarian/Libertarian ideals to do with security and justice. This leads to a skew where all fair-minded people who support equality are considered Libertarians.


  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users Posts: 27,645 ✭✭✭✭nesf


    NSNO wrote: »
    I'm still not a massive fan of the test. Many of the questions are clearly American focused. I'd love if someone made a new test that was calibrated for European social norms. I'm not sure there's a mainstream party in Europe which doesn't support a basic level of social security that allows people to retain their dignity.

    What's a European norm though? There is huge disparity between the laws of various EU states on key social issues like access to abortion and gay marriage, Ireland being a conservative hotbed in legal terms compared to the likes of Sweden.

    NSNO wrote: »
    I also feel that the Authoritarian/Libertarian axis is out of date. It seems to combine questions to do with Religious Conservatism/Secular Equality and Authoritarian/Libertarian ideals to do with security and justice. This leads to a skew where all fair-minded people who support equality are considered Libertarians.

    I think people get too hung up on where the centre is on the graph and mistake it as somehow representing the centre for their country. E.g. in Ireland you could move the centre right and a bit down while in the US you'd move it a good bit right and a bit up. In Sweden it'd go left and a good bit down and so on.

    For example, I'm relatively conservative for my social group but compared to my parent's generation I'm very liberal socially on some key issues. I've met very few people my age (late 20s/early 30s) that would be socially conservative in the true sense but they do exist but I've known a fair few like that who are over 60.

    If I had to put the social centre somewhere for the average poster on this forum I'd probably move it half way down the libertarian axis. Equally I'd move it left on economic issues because of the heavy left wing bias (in numbers, not volume) on this forum.

    Doesn't make the test useless though because what we're interested in is relative positions not absolute ones, so for example me and Permabear, it's very obvious that I'm a fair bit more conservative than him socially and a fair bit more leftist economically and if you'd read the debates between him and I over the years on this forum you'd find this generally to be true. We disagree on a lot of particulars on how do things while agreeing on the need for a general rightist economic trend and liberal social trend.


  • Registered Users Posts: 740 ✭✭✭z0oT


    I'm pretty sure this test put me slightly to the right the last time I did it, go figure.

    Pl2ui.png


  • Registered Users Posts: 281 ✭✭NSNO


    nesf wrote: »
    What's a European norm though? There is huge disparity between the laws of various EU states on key social issues like access to abortion and gay marriage, Ireland being a conservative hotbed in legal terms compared to the likes of Sweden.

    Laws are one thing but it's clear that the majority of Irish people support full gay marriage.



    nesf wrote: »
    I think people get too hung up on where the centre is on the graph and mistake it as somehow representing the centre for their country. E.g. in Ireland you could move the centre right and a bit down while in the US you'd move it a good bit right and a bit up. In Sweden it'd go left and a good bit down and so on.

    For example, I'm relatively conservative for my social group but compared to my parent's generation I'm very liberal socially on some key issues. I've met very few people my age (late 20s/early 30s) that would be socially conservative in the true sense but they do exist but I've known a fair few like that who are over 60.

    If I had to put the social centre somewhere for the average poster on this forum I'd probably move it half way down the libertarian axis. Equally I'd move it left on economic issues because of the heavy left wing bias (in numbers, not volume) on this forum.

    Doesn't make the test useless though because what we're interested in is relative positions not absolute ones, so for example me and Permabear, it's very obvious that I'm a fair bit more conservative than him socially and a fair bit more leftist economically and if you'd read the debates between him and I over the years on this forum you'd find this generally to be true. We disagree on a lot of particulars on how do things while agreeing on the need for a general rightist economic trend and liberal social trend.

    You're agreeing with me here :D

    I agree that the test is useful when comparing two people. I'd still prefer if someone did a more European-focused test. Unlike America, many of the central tenets of social democracy are accepted even by our rightist parties. Trade unionism, universal health provision and generous benefit systems highlight this.

    However, I do feel that the Authortarian/Libertarian axis combines two different lines of thought. It makes it impossible (or very difficult) to be (for example) a gay conservative. They are seen to be mutually exclusive.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,185 ✭✭✭Rubik.


    NSNO wrote: »

    I agree that the test is useful when comparing two people. I'd still prefer if someone did a more European-focused test. Unlike America, many of the central tenets of social democracy are accepted even by our rightist parties. Trade unionism, universal health provision and generous benefit systems highlight this.

    Surprisingly, it was devised in the UK by a political journalist and a professor of social history. Well...according to Rational Wiki that is.

    http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Political_Compass#cite_note-0


  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 9,639 Mod ✭✭✭✭Manach


    Economic Left/Right: 6.75
    Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 3.38


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,460 ✭✭✭omerin


    pcgraphpng.php?ec=-3.88&soc=-2.46


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,605 ✭✭✭C14N


    pcgraphpng.php?ec=-0.75&soc=-0.26

    I was expecting to be near the middle but at the same time, I thought it would lean a little to right and authoritarian. I think my answers near the end about sex swung me the other way.

    The only thing I dislike about the test is that there are some questions I found too complex to really agree or disagree on. I would prefer to be able to justify some of the answers.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,252 ✭✭✭Dr. Baltar


    printablegraph?ec=5.25&soc=-5.85

    Allow me to join you righties.


  • Registered Users Posts: 27,645 ✭✭✭✭nesf


    NSNO wrote: »
    Laws are one thing but it's clear that the majority of Irish people support full gay marriage.

    Um, do they? Definitely younger people do but there's still quite a lot of conservatives amongst the older generations uncomfortable about the issue or who just plain don't care whether it's legislated for or not.
    NSNO wrote: »
    However, I do feel that the Authortarian/Libertarian axis combines two different lines of thought. It makes it impossible (or very difficult) to be (for example) a gay conservative. They are seen to be mutually exclusive.

    You're making the mistake of looking at them as if they were absolutes. One can be centrist while holding some hard liberal views and some hard conservative views. Not everyone is simply all liberal or all conservative. It's the balance of your views and whether you overall trend liberal or conservative that matters not your view on a single issue that defines you.


  • Advertisement
  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,234 ✭✭✭thetonynator


    Did the socialist party invent this by any chance?! :P

    I would have considered myself to be slightly to the right, but in the same place on the y axis:

    pcgraphpng.php?ec=-5.12&soc=-1.90


Advertisement