The Pistonheads Political Awards

[Prof Beard]

Following 37 dedicated PHs taking the "political compass" test (for which I make no claims of accuracy and have no associateion with :) ) on:

http://www.politicalcompass.org/

I have entered all the score into my trusty spreadsheet and have pleasure in making the following awards:

The "You did it my way" award for the most authoritarian PH:

1st tomtvr
2nd manginger
3rd cb-dave

The "You do it anyway you want" award for the most libertarian PH:

1st kb_s1
2nd tank slapper
3rd darthPaddington

The "PH Workers Collective" award for the economically left wing PH:

1st Prof Beard - yay!
2nd mrs highway star
3rd highway star

The "What dividend do I get on your Granny" award for PH's most dedicated free marketeer:

1st tinman0
2nd mon ami mate
3rd manginger

The "Stuck in the middle with you" award for the most centrist PH:

1st morebeanz
2nd john75
3rd seafarer

The 37 PHers broke down into:

Authoritarian Right 7
Authoritarian Left 3
Libertarian Right 6
Libertarian Left 21

On the grounds that some PHers felt the questionaire scored everyone more left wing they it should the figures below represent the breakdown if you add 2 whole points of "rightness to everyone's scores":

Authoritarian Right 9
Authoritarian Left 1
Libertarian Right 12
Libertarian Left 15

My gut feeling is that the questionaire is designed to promote Green politics. The Green left like to think of themselves as libertarian, however they are the only people I ever come across who agree with them!

I found the "relative" positioning of everything else (ie EXCEPT the Greens) fairly much OK, but you could move the whole lot more right/left up/down and keep the same relative positions.

I know that the rightwards drift of labour->new labour shown on:

http://www.digitalronin.f2s.com/politicalcompass/extremeright.php

agrees with the views of most socialists on the change in the labour party.

I am NOT suprised that PHers are mostly libertarian (left or right) - if you believed in authority being followed you would probably keep to the speed limits!

Anyway it was fun.

If anyone wants to do the test and post their scores I'll add them in - who knows someone may actually be more authoritarian than tomtvr!

Prof Beard

[mybrainhurts]

Oh

[Mon Ami Mate]

Typical left wing number cruncher - publishing the results of a loaded survey without waiting to get a representative sample!



Based on previous experience I would contend that the average PHer is slightly to the right of Genghis Khan!!!

[john75]

Um not sure lots of people I meet these days who own Sportscars are very new Labour.

[Iria]

Prof Beard said:

The "You did it my way" award for the most authoritarian PH: 1st tomtvr 2nd manginger 3rd cb-dave The "What dividend do I get on your Granny" award for PH's most dedicated free marketeer: 1st tinman0 2nd mon ami mate 3rd manginger

I'm getting worried now... I am going out with the new Milk Snatcher!!!

[Prof Beard]

Mon Ami Mate said:

Typical left wing number cruncher - publishing the results of a loaded survey without waiting to get a representative sample! Based on previous experience I would contend that the average PHer is slightly to the right of Genghis Khan!!!

Poo - and you got an award too!

Prof Beard

[Prof Beard]

john75 said:

Um not sure lots of people I meet these days who own Sportscars are very new Labour.

I agree, but most socialists aren't New Labour - I know a fair number of those and quite a few own sportscars.

Prof Beard



>> Edited by Prof Beard on Monday 12th September 20:30

[bosscerbera]

I rather liked the Compass - and the other test. In the absence of what I actually think or believe as an option, selecting one of the remaining options resulted in a verdict not too far away from Prof Beard.

Crikey, on that basis it won't be long before I'm slipping into something more comfortable ...putting my ignition key into the centre console ....



[ Only joking Prof, only joking! ]

[Mannginger]

No first place for me, but I'm still happy with the results anyway thanks very much!

Not too far wrong, however I share concerns about the non-qualification of many of the questions.



Phil

[ronj]

took the test and i was libertarian left.
Ron.

[Prof Beard]

I'm glad you all enoyed the "exercise" - I found it really entertaining.

To me it has shown that our "libertarianism" is what we have in common and the right/left stuff - on this forum at least - is a red (or blue) herring



Prof Beard

[Jaglover]

I was thinking more about this test last night and believe it is deliberately misleading, particularly on questions regarding your position on economic left/right axis.

I have copied all the problem questions from the site (In fact they make up most of the questions that test your economic beliefs as far as I can see)


If economic globalisation is inevitable, it should primarily serve humanity rather than the interests of trans-national corporations.

Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Agree
Strongly Agree

This is a very leading question, of course you are supposed to say yes, and thus making your score more left wing. However can't it serve both?, by serving the interests of Trans-National corporations generating greater efficiency and economic growth, and thus benefiting all of us.

Controlling inflation is more important than controlling unemployment.
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Agree
Strongly Agree

Another leading question, Those who believe in free market economics would retort that there is no trade off, a stable economy with low inflation, will (without having structural problems) have low unemployment.

The rich are too highly taxed.
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Agree
Strongly Agree

As mentioned before, how to we define 'the rich'?

What's good for the most successful corporations is always, ultimately, good for all of us.
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Agree
Strongly Agree

Again most people who believe in free market economics, will still have to disagree, dragging their score leftwards.

The businessperson and the manufacturer are more important than the writer and the artist.
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Agree
Strongly Agree

This one is very comical, it confirms the prejudices of the site's authors that believers in the free market are philistines. I disagreed, because of course they are not.

The Prof has adjusted everyone's scores on the economic front to recognise that there is some bias, but the bias is so pervasive that may not be sufficient.