What is your ideology?

j1smithy · 08-06-2009 01:56AM #1

Just looking at some of the threads in the top few pages of AH and there seems to be a running theme through out all the political/social ones. People hee seem to identify with the Left far more than the right. This strikes me as odd as the two main partys in the Dail are of the Centre/Centre Right. So I ask what is your ideology? How did you come to form it? And also do you think there is a liberal bias to AH?

AlmightyCushion · 08-06-2009 01:58AM

Pretty much all politicians are feckless idiots, that's my ideology.

L1011 · 08-06-2009 01:58AM

Centre left with some individual extremely right wing policies

Captain-America · 08-06-2009 01:58AM

I'm left handed so I picked that one.

markok84 · 08-06-2009 02:07AM

I sometimes use my left hand for a treat.

Edit..... wait what's this thread about?

Morlar · 08-06-2009 02:10AM

I thought it was 'right' or 'wrong'

I would probably be left on one or two issues. It is an arrogant thing to say (sue me) but I think experience tends to lean people away from the left and more to the right

Neamhshuntasach · 08-06-2009 02:11AM

left wing socialist communist jew

minidazzler · 08-06-2009 02:11AM

I have some things I am conservative about and some things I'm liberal about.

I don't fall into any particular group.

In fact very few Irish people do, Conservative and Liberal's, Left and Right. These black and white choices are very American.

In a country where we have several major Political parties it would be impossible to really characterise us.

PrivateEye · 08-06-2009 02:13AM

All very serious for After Hours, non?

Libertarian Socialist. Basically believe in pushing for direct democracy as opposed to people putting their faith in an unaccountable political class. I think turnout being as low as 32% in the U.K shows people think politicians (from the right to the left) are a useless shower and that they don't want to engage with them. I'd push for what I consider 'the revolution of everyday life' (great book!) whereby people take a great role in their own day to day lives and things are run on a democratic basis. Anarchist Catalonia in the 1930s is the perfect example.

"Freedom without socialism is privilege and injustice, socialism without freedom is slavery and brutality"

As a younger lad, I was very much interested in left-republicanism and the idea of 'democratic socialism' but I've moved away from that I suppose. Connolly remains a personal hero though

I'd suspect most Irish people would identify with the "centre left", in fact I even know people in Ógra FF who see themselves in that light.

seanybiker · 08-06-2009 02:13AM

Captain-America wrote: »

I'm left handed so I picked that one.

Me to. Must be twins

Senna · 08-06-2009 02:14AM

I swing both ways

OpenYourEyes · 08-06-2009 02:15AM

MYOB wrote: »

Centre left with some individual extremely right wing policies

This made me laugh, but on thinking about it it sums up my ideologies quite well too!

j1smithy · 08-06-2009 02:19AM

Morlar wrote: »

I thought it was 'right' or 'wrong'

I would probably be left on one or two issues. It is an arrogant thing to say (sue me) but I think experience tends to lean people away from the left and more to the right

I would have to agree, older people I know would generally be more conservative than myself. I thought this poll would be interesting as to how close the "AH Community" reflects the general population at large. I would have thought it would be a fairly broad and reflective sample of the attitudes of the population of Ireland where the split would be 60-40 to the right. However as I said earlier more left wing/liberal attitudes seem to be most popular than one would expect. Perhaps this can be explained by the age profile of contributors.. or maybe its just not cool to be openly to the right?

KnifeWRENCH · 08-06-2009 02:27AM

On social issues - left/liberal
On economic issues - centre/moderate

So I voted Centre-left

amacachi · 08-06-2009 02:29AM

I'd say centre-right, but to most people I'd seem fairly far to the right. Hitler - racism and killing as it were.

Morlar · 08-06-2009 02:31AM

j1smithy wrote: »

.. or maybe its just not cool to be openly to the right?

Cool schmool. Who cares ? Not sure age and experience are necessarily always inter-related.

There is always that cliche about how if you are not leftwing in your teens/20's you have no soul, but if you are still left wing in your 30's you have no brain.

I think the younger you are the more likely you are to think you know everything about everything and how to fix it when it is broke. The more life experience you have you tend to realise that things (politics in general) are not necessarily as simple as you once thought & feelgood answers are not always the best option. I suppose people on the left could make the counter argument that they just have not been beaten into cynicism by real life just yet

Anyone on the left or right who adheres to a strictly 'right' or 'left' ideology (without any degree of personal reflection) on any given issue are not really worth bothering about in my opinion.

Tyler MacDurden · 08-06-2009 02:33AM

The old Left-Right divide isn't really adequate, something like this

http://www.politicalcompass.org/index

is more helpful.

It incorporates social and economic factors and adds Authoritarian-Libertarian categories to the traditional Left-Right. The test only takes a few minutes to complete, definitely worth a look.

KnifeWRENCH · 08-06-2009 02:37AM

Oh yeah, I've done the political compass before.

My result

Morlar · 08-06-2009 02:39AM

Knife-WREEENCH wrote: »

Oh yeah, I've done the political compass before.

My result

I needed a multi monitor setup for mine. hehe.

minidazzler · 08-06-2009 02:45AM

Tyler MacDurden wrote: »

The old Left-Right divide isn't really adequate, something like this

http://www.politicalcompass.org/index

is more helpful.

It incorporates social and economic factors and adds Authoritarian-Libertarian categories to the traditional Left-Right. The test only takes a few minutes to complete, definitely worth a look.

According to that, I am Slightly right of Ghandi!

Which is strange considering I am sure he was anti Death penalty???

Tyler MacDurden · 08-06-2009 02:51AM

Knife-WREEENCH wrote: »

Oh yeah, I've done the political compass before.

My result

Pretty much on the same pixel as myself! So comrade, shall we draw up our founding charter then?

markok84 · 08-06-2009 03:20AM

another gandhi here, my feet are fairly filthy though, and I don't wear socks so I think they may be contributing factors.

Gummy Panda · 08-06-2009 09:18AM

Pandalogy tbh

nitrogen · 08-06-2009 09:36AM

Take the world's smallest political quizz to find out.

Wibbs · 08-06-2009 09:57AM

I would be centre right economically. Even a bit more right than that. Socially I would be more centre left. I reckon that society and the weakest in that society need protection, but I think economically we need to earn the money to pay for that in the first place. Which is where much of socialism goes wrong IMHO.

Rented Mule · 08-06-2009 10:01AM

http://www.politicalcompass.org/facebook/pcgraphpng.php?ec=-4.62&soc=-3.90

Somewhere between Ghandi and the Dalai Lama.

thelordofcheese · 08-06-2009 10:01AM

According to some, i'm a pinko-hippy-homoloving-liberal-do gooing-bleeding heart-politically correct-crusty-leftist-baby murdering troll.

I just think i'm awesome.

TPD · 08-06-2009 12:06PM

http://www.politicalcompass.org/facebook/pcgraphpng.php?ec=-3.00&soc=-3.18

lucylu · 08-06-2009 12:55PM

I'm left-handed too.. the best people are

OldGoat · 08-06-2009 12:57PM

Morlar wrote: »

I thought it was 'right' or 'wrong'

I would probably be left on one or two issues. It is an arrogant thing to say (sue me) but I think experience tends to lean people away from the left and more to the right

When younger I was very left & liberal but now, post kids especially, I seem to have developed my fathers waggley finger of Rightousness.:(

tallaght01 · 08-06-2009 01:12PM

I get a bit confused sometimes about how some views become "left" or "right".

Anyone close to me will tell you I'm obviously left wing, both socially and economically.

But I'm very much against abortion, which I'm not supposed to be, as a leftie. But I don't know why the protection of the fetus is supposed to be a right-wing. Like, I'm against smacking kids and I'm against the death penalty. To me, they're easier to reconcile with my anti-abortion views than a pro-life stance.

So, if I tell people people my views on abortion, they often think I'm a right-winger. When I tell them I'm against the idea of prison for people who aren't actively a danger to society, then both sides think I'm just a headcase.

Interestingly, I was pretty much right wing when I was younger. But I think working in health in deprived populations has made me see things in a much more realistic way. A lot of my friends have become much more left as we've gotten older, which is the opposite of what's supposed to happen.

What is your ideology?

What is your ideology? 95 votes

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