Hey, I was just looking at the list in the OP and noticed that most of tPF's frequent contributors today, such as @
donttread, @
stephenpe, @
carolina73, @
stjames1_53, @
Now_What, @
Ethereal, @
RMNIXON, @
Abby08, @
The Booman, @
CCitizen, @
countryboy, @
MisterVeritis, @
RichardMZhlubb, @
Tahuyaman, @
montana, @
Jen, @
Captdon, @
Cletus, @
Common, @
pjohns, @
Omar, @
HawkTheSlayer, and most importantly @
FindersKeepers, @
Collateral Damage, and @
Standing Wolf, haven't yet taken the classic Political Compass Test linked in the OP. What are you waiting for?! It's a classic!
Okay actually it's the original compass-style political test and it hasn't been changed much since it's conception. In other words, it still has a very distinctly 2000s-y feel. It's almost kinda weird taking a political test today that includes no propositions to respond to about gun policy, transgender politics, pandemic response, cancel culture, or anything more specific about race relations than like "Is our race better than the others?", but one may almost find that refreshing in a way at this point, even if dated. (Had propositions on these subjects been included, my position on the social "authoritarian/libertarian" spectrum would very likely have gone a bit northward.) Anyway, before you say it, yes we've established that the classic Political Compass Test is designed to land as many people as possible in the bottom-left quadrant specifically, so it might actually be most prudent to mentally adjust whatever scores you get maybe a few points rightward and/or upward, whatever your instinct about yourself is. Nevertheless, it's a fun little diversion if you're a wonk like I think most of us here are to some extent. Would be nice to get everyone's scores!
To confirm whether and to what extent my own views have changed over the years, I just took it again. Got...
Economic Left/Right: -9.00
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -4.43
Attachment 50906
As you can see from earlier posts on this thread, that represents
some conservatization on my part over the years (recent years especially), confirming my suspicions about myself. It's the cultural issues where my opinions have shifted the most though. Still, not exactly a Curtis Yarvin type neo-monarchist or a xenophobe, I don't believe, but also a good distance from anarchism at this point. Well anyway, Here's how I got that result:
Page 1:
This is the foreign policy page. It's basically asking where you fall on the spectrum of isolationism to imperialism and I land about in the middle, admittedly skewing a little in the latter direction these days because I've supported things like us taking out ISIS with the Kurds without the Syrian government's support and killing Osama bin Laden without Pakistani government's permission, occasional stuff like that, even as I've opposed $#@! like the Iraq War that the local populations were against. Sometimes you just have to prioritize humanity and your own country's interests, I think, but we should avoid establishing a hostile, oppressive relationship toward other peoples. That's the balance I favor trying to strike.
Page 2:
This is the economics page. Yep, looks like I'm still a socialist alright. I answered everything the socialist way except for, arguably, two questions. I suggested here that everything from water and land to health care and finance should be public property, that rich people should be heavily taxed and their excess wealth redistributed down the social ladder, that class is more important than nationality in the world, the environment requires state intervention in the market to survive halfway intact, that consumers need strong protection against market consolidation and deceit, all the things. One opinion of mine previously held that has changed of late is the monetary policy question on inflation/unemployment though. I can now see how much inflation sucks and that it negatively affects most everyone directly, unlike unemployment. I put a modest "Agree" on that query for the first time, accordingly. And I scaled down my enthusiasm for protectionism to a modest "Agree." Those are the changes, so I didn't get a full communist placement this time around, but close enough.
Page 3:
Bunch of social questions. Philosophical stuff mainly. Here I'm pro-choice, good with weed, believe in questioning authority, and continue my socialist ethos by supporting public television, public funding of the arts, and a guaranteed minimum income for everybody. I'm against spanking, believe learning has intrinsic value, and believe more strongly than ever in the wake of our recent experiment with compulsory at-home education that kids DEFINITELY belong in classrooms, NOT being homeschooled! And also, I don't hate immigrants, although I do think some cultures are less amendable to ours and to modernity itself.
Page 4:
Law enforcement and government structure type stuff here. I disagreed either mildly or strongly with most stuff here, with some exceptions. I agreed on civil liberties being excessively curbed to "fight terrorism" (man this quiz sounds so 2000s!) and also that it's a waste of time to try and rehabilitate some criminals and that punishment is more important than rehab in criminal justice. My views on this subject have changed since 2020 in the light of more recent developments. I'm all for restorative justice still, but am very much against it being applied to the exclusion of prison time or allowing people charged with violent crimes instantly back onto the streets. And I think the public has a right to know if you're a convicted sexual predator forever.
Page 5:
This is all religion stuff. Strong disagree with everything there for my part.
Page 6:
Last page: sex! For the first time ever, I agreed with the suggestion that sex outside of marriage is usually immoral. Hook-up culture sucks. It's basically just getting women drunk and then leaving them to handle any consequences on their own. I've come to feel that society should value and prioritize relationships and commitment more than the act of sex. Other than that, same answers as always for my part: I don't hate gay people (being one especially), I'm firmly against porn and feel it should just be banned, and don't really feel that the problem with our culture is excessive openness about sex so much as it is
the ways in which we are "open" about it. Bottom line is that I feel our culture is overly sexualized in a way that prioritizes men's wants and interests and that that should change.