A very interesting site I came across…
There’s abundant evidence for the need of it. The old one-dimensional categories of ‘right’ and ‘left’ , established for the seating arrangement of the French National Assembly of 1789, are overly simplistic for today’s complex political landscape. For example, who are the ‘conservatives’ in today’s Russia? Are they the unreconstructed Stalinists, or the reformers who have adopted the right-wing views of conservatives like Margaret Thatcher ?
On the standard left-right scale, how do you distinguish leftists like Stalin and Gandhi? It’s not sufficient to say that Stalin was simply more left than Gandhi. There are fundamental political differences between them that the old categories on their own can’t explain. Similarly, we generally describe social reactionaries as ‘right-wingers’, yet that leaves left-wing reactionaries like Robert Mugabe and Pol Pot off the hook.
I just took the test and this is what my bearings are…
Economic Left/Right: -2.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.00
Above is a plotting of my political bearings on the compass. Below are the political bearings of some famous figures.
I’m close to Mandela and the Dalai Lama….where are you ?? Take the test and leave a comment.
