Spartacus gave me his permission to
post/paste up here his comments on the Political Compass website's easy online
tool, which has been designed to gauge a person's political locus
more accurately than by the inadequate, centuries-old left/right paradigm.
While Blue Dog's check-marking a fresh answer-sheet (never any need to erase
here!), let's go on with the Compass tool.
I mentioned in the initial blog of
this current cascade that I was going to ask charming (and frustrating)
conservative-lass Anon E. Mouse to give that tool a shot. I did get a note
off to her late yesterday; no response yet, of course, but I'll add her
results here as well – and if we hit the jackpot (her husband and their friend
F3), they're all getting a place of honor: I really want folks from the
traditional "right" to try the tool and join in here.
Actually, since Blue Dog's got the
readership (while I've got the sunken ship), it's likelier this will play out
much more thoroughly and extensively on his blog, with
a nice array of testers from all along the spectrum – er, compass.
The concept of going from a
monodimensional spectrum to a bidimensional, arguably more-accurate, graphic placement
of individuals politically, will both shake things up and boost the better
areas of the transpolitical dialog… if it catches on; I hope it does.
Once I myself had run (or
rather, walked) through the statements posed to the users of the Political
Compass tool, I let Spartacus know, since – across several state lines – I
could hear him shifting from foot to foot, waiting to bring in his perspective
on his results, and where they led him. I included for him a screencap of where
I placed on the diagram (I’m not as fond of the "compass" word here,
myself – more on that in a bit).
Folks, bear in mind the following is
one person's own results, and his views and springboardings therefrom; your own
mileage will likely vary a good deal. They do
give some insight specifically on this particular Empty Tomb reader; they do not
give insight to you. End of caveat.
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2007 11:09 PM
Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2007 11:09 PM
Yep, had no problem whatever
reading the file you attached. Thanks too for attaching your graph, though
unfortunately I can't reciprocate--I didn't save mine :-(
I did however, write down my
numbers and it should be easy enough to extrapolate where they fit in.
My numbers are -6.63 on the
Left/Right axis, and -6.31 on the Authoritarian/Libertarian axis. That lands me
comfortably in anarchist territory, and that suits me just fine--I have no
faith whatsoever that our present political system is capable of enacting the
real change needed to honestly address the ills of this world. Dems/Reps,
they're all basically the same, all part of the dog and pony show which helps
maintain the illusion of political freedom and keeps people diverted from
understanding what is really in their best interest.
(He and I have batted this viewpoint around before.)
Further reading on the Political
Compass site steered me toward looking into anarcho-syndicalism (a dimly
forgotten term from a half remembered college poli-sci course). I've since
Googled and surfed a number of anarcho-syndicalist sites--yes, it's a
philosophy I can really get behind (I'm sewing up a red/black diagonal
anarcho-syndicalist flag even as I type--LOL!).
Here are links to some of the
sites if you're interested:
I too was relieved to find myself
in Gandhi's and the Dalai Lama's neighborhood--some of those other
neighborhoods are SCARY, not the sort of places you want to be in after dark!
Taking the Political Compass quiz
has also helped trigger thoughts about how my political philosophy has
developed over time. I used to characterize myself as a Libertarian, but then
grew gradually more uncomfortable as I began to realize the right wing implications
of Libertarianism (at least as it is perceived in the USA--elsewhere it
apparently has a more leftward tilt), so it was really quite interesting to see
by my numbers how the strong libertarian feeling is tempered by an equally
strong left orientation.
When I was in college and grad
school in my 20's, I had a strong aversion to the leftist bias of my
professors. Even though I lapped up courses such as history of socialism, (and
indeed, my virtual, unofficial "minor" was utopian socialist philosophers
and communes of the 19th century), I suspect that strong libertarian streak
clouded my judgment about what was really being said. I just couldn't
differentiate between the liberal socialism (anarchism) I find so instinctively
appealing, and the sad authoritarian "socialism" of the Bolsheviks,
Communists, et al. Then again, I'm also going to lay some of the blame at my
professors' feet--in retrospect they really didn't do such a good job of making
those differences clear (probably the effect of years of student apathy if not
outright hostility--the '80s were light-years from the '60s!!).
Mentioning utopian socialist
communes above also brought to mind something else I've been interested in for
a long time--monasticism (for it's social, not religious, aspects). I think I
told you before how I asked my medieval history professor into lending me the
key to the library's rare books room so I could pore over "The Plan of St.
Gall", an oversized tome describing an ideal monastic community of the Carolingian
age (IIRC). Communal living fascinates me. IMHO, it is the natural way for
humans to live, and one of the reasons for humanity's ills is that we live
apart--there is too much emphasis on the myth of individualism. Human beings
were never historically expected to cope on their lonesome as they do
today--only recently have we lost that real and vital aspect of true community.
Though only the most paranoid would say it's been deliberate (I am tempted
though!), isn't it interesting how our present political system has benefitted
from keeping people socially isolated--divide and conquer!!!
Junior Proudhon
A particular term there rang a bell
in my memory-banks as clear as a call to one of Pavlov's dogs:
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2007 2:45 PM
Subject: RE: Bloody Peasant!
Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2007 2:45 PM
Subject: RE: Bloody Peasant!
Thank you for the anarcho-syndicalist information; it's
interesting enough that I definitely want to dig into that some more myself.
But I almost choked on my lunch at your mention of the term. I've been familiar
with it since the mid-seventies, owing to a scene from "Monty Python and
the Holy Grail":
Take a moment and watch that, and enjoy. Essentially, you are the
peasant Dennis here (the actor is Michael Palin – you may recall him as the stuttering
fellow in "A Fish Called Wanda"); here King Arthur and his
groom Patsy are seeking regional lords (they're riding their coconut
mock-horses… never mind) to aid in his quest to find the Holy Grail.
My brothers actually aimed me at the move in my teen years, and
shoved hard; so I'll bounce the links – likely today's blog, too – back at them
for further reaction.
I agree with you on the odd turns organized libertarianism has
made here in the US – certain of the concepts are great (even Patrick Henry
would approve some of 'em, methinks), but I just look over Larouche and … <shudder>.
I'm actually not as much in step with you on the social concept of
monasticism/communalism. (Though for me my personal move into that realm would
be part of a spiritual progression, of course.) My own feel is that there are
enough self-focused people among the general rabble who simply aren't
constituted for that kind of community: either they'd lash out, or plunder, or
seize control. I.e., "more equal than others". Some are already
in such communities, too… which makes it all that more exciting. <yawns and grits teeth
simultaneously>
More thought required here, of course!
That video seems to have gotten
Sparklers chuckling while pulling up the drawbridge and dropping more gators in
the moat:
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Friday, September 14, 2007 4:59 PM
Sent: Friday, September 14, 2007 4:59 PM
I got a private chuckle from the
YouTube link you sent--not just for the humor involved, but also because when I
Googled "anarcho-syndicalism", one of the "hits" I received
was to a transcription of that very same "Holy Grail" scene. Little
did those guys realize that years after the movie, websurfers seeking info on
certain liberal-socialist philosophies would be sucked into the Python
demiverse.
>"I'm also going
to pass that site's link to Mouse and ask her to answer the questions and let
me know how the testing scores her (again, no rights or wrongs – or lefts –
there) and add the info (with discretion and permission), as well as Blue Dog's
if we can get him to scratch our itch on it. I'm also hoping Mouse will get her
husband and some of their cronies to give it a shot, and get back with me…
might contact at least one of them directly myself."
I think that's a great idea--be
sure to stress when you're making the pitch that it is a non-partisan quiz,
that it is just a tool.
> "I'm actually
not as much in step with you on the social concept of
monasticism/communalism...My own feel is that there are enough self-focused
people among the general rabble who simply aren't constituted for that kind of
community..."
Well, I certainly wasn't
suggesting something like that be compulsory! I was thinking more in terms of
the "village" in the "old country", where people lived
together in extended families, and, more often than not, also worked together
toward common goals. My grandfather used to tell stories about how it was
growing up in a village in Sicily--pretty much everyone was related to everyone
else in one way or another, and they would work the fields together as a
village. During harvest time the men would work in the fields while the women
were back in the village cooking the midday meal, which they would then bring
out to the men and everyone would eat together and then take a siesta during
the heat of the day--they shared the labor, they shared the responsibilities,
they shared the fruit of their labors. No woman was left alone during the day
to take care of her baby all by herself--there was an extended network of aunts
uncles cousins, bros, sisters, etc to help. If someone got sick, injured, died,
it wasn't a dire bow to the family's well being, because the family didn't
exist in a virtual vacuum as do so many families today.
Personally, I am someone who
appreciates his privacy, but I have to admit, living here in relative
isolation, that I wouldn't mind being in a community of like minded people
working toward some common goal. I suppose that's one reason I have so much
respect/admiration for the Amish.
I think life amid the Amish would
indeed be a paradise of sorts for ol' Spartacus, someday. I
could pop in occasionally in robe and tonsure and coach him through his archaic German, and maybe also sneak in a bit of Latin and Old Church Slavonic while he's not looking, just to confuse
things a bit. Piēs Jēsu Dōmīnē…
He does have a point there, on a
social concept of humanity reworked as (or reverted to) a network of small
communities of extended families, communal-like villages. We could do well to
lose the iPods and drive-by shootings… but if we're also going to be capable
still of transcontinental flight, some kind of Internet, and cutting-edge
medicine – let alone adequate distribution of food and resources to the world's
masses – then we can't toss out the infrastructure. We'll still need power,
transportation… brother.
Ah; another, later topic – not to
mention taking a longer look at the whole realm of a spiritual monastic
community. Let's get back with the Political Compass for now, though. I'm
hoping Blue can try the tool again, likewise a range of his readers, and also
Ms. Mouse. If they don't have a chance to come by and visit in the next couple
days, I'll get back on redeeming His Holiness.
But the reason I said, above, that
I'm wary of using the term "compass" to describe placement of a point
on an x/y graph is that "compass" embraces the idea of a
direction-finder, and movement. Yet each person's placement on that grid is
static – no tangents, or trés-cool sinusoidal waves, even, let alone an arrow
locking on the magnetic north/south. I don’t think the tool functions as a
"compass" at all, other than to suggest "You Are Here" in your political outlook, and that
these people of particular impact through sociopolitical history are your neighbors.
Just unimportant semantic fussiness
on my part; Blue Dog and Bark-a-Cuss are the big political hounds around here,
and know a good deal more about these things than this mere Aging Child does.
As do, especially, the developers of that Political Compass in the first place!
Good night for now.
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