I’m supposedly at (6.7, -2.2) on the political compass. Usually, I hate discussing politics, especially on a blog. It’s never-ending and you attract all the wrong sorts of people. So when I do talk politics, it’s usually about something as innocuous as a compass. (if you want to take the test, do it before you continue reading, or it might affect how you answer the questionnaire)
I was once having a (very innocuous) chat with a colleague and he commented “It’s funny how [American conservatives?] say ‘I love my God’ and ‘I love my gun’ at the same time”. Maybe he was referring to the fact that the US Right tends to be religious and against gun control at the same time, which looks a bit contradictory at the surface. But that’s only if you take a single-dimensional left-right line. The political compass is based on a two-dimensional surface, rather than a line. So I took the test and here’s where I supposedly stand:
You see, it’s not just about right (pro-capitalist?) or left (pro-socialist). It’s also about level of authoritarianism. The lower the level of authoritarianism, the distinction between left and right becomes more of a preference (I think). See where I am? I’m about as libertarian as Milton Friedman. Too bad the “delta quadrant” is so empty. It’s the nicest place to be. What my score means is that I’m ‘on the right’ but non-authoritarian (even a high negative score on the authoritarian scale is not good — that means you favor anarchism).
I’ve ended up taking this about once a year for the last three years or so, as different people rediscover it and bring it to my attention again -and it’s been fascinating to watch the variations. I’m at -5,-8 now, for example, which is my general neighbourhood. Drifted right for a while but never been right of centre.
Same here, actually. I seem to have drifted slightly north-east. But then again it’s hard to say how objective the questionnaire is in covering the different areas of left-right-ness…
(-5, -8)? funny, you didn’t seem like the Dalai-Lama type to me!
er, correction. I seem have drifted slightly south-east…
Heh. I took it a few weeks ago (along with Myers-Briggs). That’s either the third or fourth year now.
I’m at (-2.63, -3.13)
Started out further left and I seem to be gradually drifting rightwards as I grow older, but my authoritarian-libertarian balance is (thus far) unchanged.
I guess I’m the best example of a centrist among the three of us
[that's a nice name for a fence sitter 
]
shit, how did i end up so much to the right? it’s gotta be my pro-big-corporation stance!
hmm, if enough people comment with their own coordinates, i think i could put up a map like the above!
I actually had a thread like that coupla years back, with all the old gang posting their scores. Too bad I lost all those comments when I switched away from Haloscan (this was before Blogger had comments!).
[...] highlights a disturbing trend. For once, I’d like to be something a bit more extreme than centrist. Apparently my views are utterly middle of the graph, both in politics and in [...]