[CLUE-Talk] Political compass

[Sean LeBlanc]

On 11-06 15:24, Matt Gushee wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 05, 2003 at 05:48:03PM -0700, Sean LeBlanc wrote:
> 
> > > Here's an interesting anonymous survey to determine
> > > where you stand in the political arena.  Good
> > > questions, designed to evoke responses.  It plots your
> > 
> > Heh. I gotta wonder about this test. First of all, I *really* wonder what
> > the question about attention span, and how they perceived that as putting
> > someone to the right or left or libertarian/authoritarian. I mean, is that
> > really a left vs. right thing? I've seen both the far left (Chomsky) and the
> > far right (numerous talk show hosts) decry just that very thing.
> 
> Ah, but do they frame the issue in exactly the same way? I suspect not.
> Maybe I'm reading too much into the question, but part of the problem
> seems to be the relative importance of personal responsibility vs.
> societal influences: if I have a short attention span, is that because
> the media are irresponsible or evil, because my parents didn't raise me
> right, because my character is flawed, or because America has turned
> away from God?

It's because of the Illuminati and the Trilateral Commission, of course!
 
> Anyway, even if the test is bogus, I think the idea of describing
> people's political orientation on two axes is a valuable contribution.
> In all too many cases, Left vs. Right just doesn't cut it.

I'm not sure who stole from whom(gr?), but the Liberterian Party has had
this concept for some time:

http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz.html

More than likely, it should be something graphed via a many-dimensional
matrix.... :) Visualizing it would be a bitch, though.
 
> P.S.: I think the proposition Sean is referring to is:
> 
>   The growing fusion between information and entertainment is a worrying
>   contribution to the public's shrinking attention span.

That's the one.

-- 
Sean LeBlanc:seanleblanc at americanisp.net  
http://users.americanisp.net/~seanleblanc/
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