This is a kind of lighthearted offshoot of several political threads we had here recently.

Take a test here and find out how libereal or conservative are you. Results are given on two axes, economy and personal freedoms.

I am around (-6, -6), as you could guess from my posts...

Have fun and do disclose your results!

OK, that was quite fun. I'm at about (-4,-6), near the Dalai Lama.

Peter

I'm in the same direction as you, but not quite as far. -3.8, -3.7. Hanging around right next to Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama, two dudes I never would really think I had much in common with.

Neat questionnaire.

Nice test, and somewhat revealing. I'm 2.38, .05 which puts me almost smack in the middle. Perhaps maybe I'm not so "ultra" after all?

edit: I also thought I'd be farther right than W. Guess I was wrong, most likely only taking into account religious issues.

I really didn't like some of those questions, but I suppose it's an okay test.

I got -3.5, -5.49. Also in Dalai Lama territory.

Not ultra, but the only guy I know not in the third quadrant...

Well someone has to rock the boat . . . What fun would it be if no one ever argued with you!

You mean, besides those at home who argue with me all the time?

Economic Left/Right: -6.62
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -6.72

Go figure. I thought I was trying to be a little conciliatory, even.

Phew, so that means I am not the resident left extremist

Where's yz33d to balance out all of us free-love hippies?

Yeah, but I'm living in the increasingly fascist US. You, at least, are in Europe.

-5.0, -3.95. I knew there was a reason I don't like George W

-Mike

We do seem to be freakishly liberal. I wonder if that has anything to do with feeling okay spending $1000 or more on a car stereo?

Wow! My girlfriend got:

-5.75
-7.59

Guess I'm the local conservative freak:
Economic Left/Right: 3.38
Authoritarian/Libertarian: 2.15

Gerhard Schröder

I'd say it has more to do with being nerds (I say as a self proclaiming nerd) and, to a lesser extent, musicians, especially ones who are into mp3s. Ever observe how little conservative SF material is out there?

Science Fiction is, by it's very nature, non-conservative. SF looks to the future -- to change. High Fantasy, on the other hand, is traditionally conservative -- it looks to the past where things remain the same.

This was explained to me better than I could ever repeat by one of my English professors, the Nebula-Award-winning John Kessel

Science Fiction is, by it's very nature, non-conservative.

I won't argue this (as I think you're mostly right), but I'll bet most of us who did any reading growing up spent a great deal of time with SF, thus probably many if the ideas it typically embodies (liberal) have been installed in us.

For myself I appreciate the challenges of SF, even while I don't always agree with many of the authors' viewpoints. I've never gotten into Fantasy much (other than Tolkien), though I honestly can't tell you why. Also the more recent SF I've picked up I haven't cared for at all; perhaps this is just the limits my non-liberal mind can handle? The older stuff is more my speed: I love Asimov and (thanks to you) have read quite a bit of Phillip K. Dick too.

the Nebula-Award-winning John Kessel

Interesting. Perhaps he can explain why his namesake "run" is competed on measurements of "parsecs" which is a distance rather than a time figure.

Jeez, you'd think that if Lucas was paying homage to Nebula winners in his scripts that perhaps he might have been well-read enough to know distance scales from time scales.

+2.25, -2.36 with a whole quadrant to myself

Kessel's first published ... fiction appeared in 1978

so I doubt that

Lucas was paying homage to Nebula winners

Perhaps maybe I'm not so "ultra" after all?

You are not "ultra".

Ultras refuse to examine their own beliefs. (edit: and would have stomped away in disgust from many of the discussions that you have engaged in)

*I'm* ultra!

Where's yz33d to balance out all of us free-love hippies?

I'll take it later when I have more time, but I think I would be way down in the bottom right.

Oh, and:

Economic Left/Right: -7.38
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -6.82

How'd I do?

I tried to answer honestly. Honest!

You are not "ultra".

So I see. The reason I branded myself thus was because someone had used the term here to refer to George W. Deeming myself to be farther right than he, I assumed that I would be "ultra" too. However, what I was considering "more conservative" was in "more conservative religiously", not “more conservative economically”. If the test had focused on more religious-centric questions, I’d probably have come out farther to the right. Even at that, while I’ll dogmatically state that I think my religious beliefs are true, I’d never stomp away in disgust from any discussion. I can’t force anyone to adopt my views, no matter how much I think that they’re true.

*I'm* ultra!

Well I haven’t seen any stomping! (Though what you do in your own home . . .)

However, what I was considering "more conservative" was in "more conservative religiously", not “more conservative economically”. If the test had focused on more religious-centric questions, I’d probably have come out farther to the right.

Notably, at least in the US, the government ``shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.'' So religious questions are not relevant.

So religious questions are not relevant.

Well yes, but a lot of my "moral code" which drives which laws I support comes from my faith, so that makes it relevant indirectly.

Edit: actually upon thinking about this some more I realize that I spoke to soon and without thinking, you are entirely correct. How I've come to my "moral code" doesn't matter for this discusion. So I've removed most of my origional post. The truth is, because the source of my political beliefs are derived from my faith, sometimes I lump the two together, thus my origional mistake of thinking that I was farther to right than I really was.

Ah, Jim, you beat my girlfriend! You are even more of a crazy liberal than she is! That's okay, I like you people (obviously)

On the other hand, I haven't seen anyone here get as close to the center as one of my best friends (I posted this on my own message board).

He got:
-0.25, -0.15

What exactly does that make him? I certainly wouldn't call this guy a moderate, but that's where the "compass" puts him

I really didn't like some of those questions

Likewise. F'rinstance, the one about "the most important thing for children to learn is to accept discipline". I don't agree with that -- I think the most important thing for children to learn is to accept responsibility for their actions, which is a much larger issue that just accepting discipline. But since the latter is a part of the former, I ended up saying I agree. There are a number of questions that I want to answer "depends" on, and a number of questions that I want to answer "ambivalent" on, too.

Economic Left/Right: -3.38
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -6.15