Debunkers, Skeptics and Conspiracists: Where are you on the political compass?

I've always considered myself a liberal minded, borderline socialist.... My results were unexpected... based on my answers I dont see how this is the case. I can only guess its because I answered nearly every question with "sure I might strongly agree or disagree..but" so I adjusted my answers based on what I thought the extremes were. So many statements I agreed with but under specific circumstances my answer would certainly change.
 

Attachments

  • bothaxes.gif
    bothaxes.gif
    10.3 KB · Views: 495

Well I am a mom..I show some Authoritarianism..but some questions didn't say in between so i had to choose agree or disagree.
 
Notice how almost everyone here is below the middle horizontal line, a couple are just above it, so why are all our politicians in the Anglosphere above the line? If you talk to most people they mostly agree on liberalism on social issues, so how come our elected officials don't share that view? Most people here are in the bottom left, so how come the vast majority of politicians are polar opposites, upper right? I guess I don't understand how in a democracy we can have a congress with a 10% approval rating year after year, and understand less how we go about fixing it.



upload_2017-2-11_10-4-41.png
 
Notice how almost everyone here is below the middle horizontal line, a couple are just above it, so why are all our politicians in the Anglosphere above the line?
because conspiracy theorists and skeptics/debunkers don't represent the majority of the population.
 
That it says I'm not as libertarian or left-wing as I would like I put down to the vagueness of some of the questions... ;)

political compass.JPG
 
Your Political Compass
Economic Left/Right: 0.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.44



Not too surprised, generally libertarian for social issues, but I do like public good projects.
 

I'm maybe a bit more authoritarian and right than I expected but generally right in the neck of the woods I thought I would be. Super cool!
 

Economic Left/Right: -3.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.08

Somehow I have the feeling a lot of the active political decision makers who ended up in the blue square would also end up in the green square if they had unlimited power and the assurance that their left libertarian utopia wouldn't implode.
 
This is why I'll continue to lurk... :)

Your Political Compass

Economic Left/Right: 3.63
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 0.21

 
more left than I thought I would be, but not so far as some of the rest of you!

Your Political Compass
Economic Left/Right: -5.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.15


chart.png
 
Today I am here. Tomorrow I may be elsewhere.

Economic Left/Right: 2.0
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 0.41



Tho a little irked by several questions where I wished to answer "none of the above" or "in the middle, you silly poll".
 
This is my result from a couple of months ago, it might have grown more right since then although.
 
This is my result from a couple of months ago, it might have grown more right since then although.

It would indeed be interesting to see if and how positions have changed over time. Cultural aspects might also influence results. I'm from The Netherlands and considered to be on the right side. I was surprised to see the result of this test showed otherwise. Having said that, I noticed a rather consistent score (left - libertarian) for people that posted their results. Coincidental?

 
Economic Left/Right: -7.5
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.13


I suspect I might be *slightly* closer to the middle if the questions had a "neutral/I don't know/I'm not informed enough on this topic to say" option.
 
It would indeed be interesting to see if and how positions have changed over time. Cultural aspects might also influence results.
I think based on the dalai lama, ghandi, nelson mendela's scores compared to many results here at skeptiville I think you are right about culture and time being an issue. Mine changed slightly over the past 3 years (but I haven't changed), red dot is current. Nice to see my new vague answers to black&white questions have moved me further away from Hitler though. Unless TPTB (ie angels) just wanted to move me into the pink/green area so it would match my signature :)

dalai lama.JPG
ghandi.JPG

test.JPG
 
Several members have commented that they believe that the member of Metabunk seem to be more Liberal than Conservative, which may or may not be the case. I came across this article on IFLScience that may explain why that may be.

Excerpts from the article


Science Knowledge Has Almost No Effect On Republican Beliefs, According To Survey
Content from External Source
Politicians don’t normally have a handle on the latest science at the best of times, whether they are on the left or the right of the spectrum. However, it’s difficult to argue against the notion that the Republican Party these days are the de facto political organization for anti-scientific rhetoric.
Content from External Source


Conducted during the summer of last year, Pew has highlighted it again this week. Based on a representative sample of 1,534 American adults, it queried people on their scientific viewpoints – in particular, it wanted to know what percentage of people accepted the science of climate change in relation to rising sea levels, environmental destruction, and extreme weather events.

A curious trend emerged. Among Democrats, those with a higher scientific literacy agreed with the general scientific consensus a lot more than those with a limited scientific comprehension. For example, 75 percent of those with “high” literacy agreed that climate change causes rising sea levels, 73 percent agreed that wildlife is going to suffer, and 74 percent agreed that storms will get more severe.
Content from External Source

This pattern was not seen at all in Republican voters. In fact, there was no correlation between scientific consensus acceptance and scientific literacy – partisanship seemed to make scientific literacy irrelevant. Those with almost no background in science responded in much the same way to questions as those with a high degree of scientific comprehension.

For example, only 27 percent of GOPers with a “high” scientific literacy agreed that the phenomenon caused rising sea levels, and only 19 percent agreed that storms are more severe because of it.

So, if you’re a Democrat, you are much more likely to accept scientific facts the more educated you are on the subject. If you’re a Republican, the chances are you won’t give a damn about what any scientist says – with some exceptions.

Ultimately, this means that you can throw all the facts you want at certain people, and you can be essentially certain that none of them will change their minds. If that doesn’t scare the living daylights out of you, then we don’t know what will.


Content from External Source
 
IFL also says ( in an article shared only 19 times since last October, compared to the above article shared 15k times in last week)

It’s not their politics, it’s their values

Other research has similarly found that science denial can run the political spectrum. For instance, another study examined attitudes about climate change, evolution and stem cell research and found that partisan identification was not necessarily a good predictor of how someone will feel about these controversial issues. In fact, very few participants were found to be skeptical of science across the board. And reactions to these specific issues were more tightly linked with religious attitudes than with political ones.

Other scholarship echoes these findings. Indeed, research does suggest that a certain segment of the population places more trust in religion than in science for understanding the world. But even among this group, science and religion are seen as conflicting only on certain topics, including the Big Bang and evolution.


One area in which political beliefs do have an impact is the kinds of scientists that liberals and conservatives are likely to trust. A 2013 study of 798 participants found that conservatives put more faith in scientists involved in economic production – food scientists, industrial chemists and petroleum geologists, for instance – than in scientists involved in areas associated with regulation, such as public health and environmental science. The opposite was true for liberals.
....

Get past assumptions to common ground

Having a more complete understanding of when and why liberals and conservatives trust science helps avoid oversimplifications. It’s an important stopgap using oversimplified assumptions to denigrate those who disagree with us politically.

None of this is to suggest that the anti-science viewpoints exhibited by Republican politicians on issues such as climate change should be ignored. Nor is it an argument that since "both sides" can fall for anti-science rhetoric, it can be waved away.

Rather, these findings indicate that, in theory, it’s possible liberals and conservatives could work together to encourage politicians to base policy recommendations on sound science, at least on some issues.

Maybe even more importantly, understanding the social and cultural issues surrounding the acceptance or rejection of science is a first step toward crafting messages that resonate with members of the public who question the science on hot-button issues. Research suggests using the right kind of messenger – someone who is trusted within the community – can be key to moving the needle.

http://www.iflscience.com/editors-blog/why-do-science-issues-seem-to-divide-us-along-party-lines/
Content from External Source
 
Last edited:
Bump.


Majority here looks to be green. Guess we're all good huh ;)
 

Attachments

  • chart.png
    chart.png
    17.2 KB · Views: 508
I'm near the lower right but I knew it would get it wrong. I have strong opinions and they sometimes seem contradictory to others.


 
I took the test. here is my chart. Albiet, I am a little bit surprised. I thought I would be completely in the middle.
 
took the test a few years ago; didnt changed that much...in fact, not at all...thats the "new" one


nice part is, it matches my avatar-pic nearly perfect :) (you knew that from the beginning, didnt you mick?)
 
That it says I'm not as libertarian or left-wing as I would like I put down to the vagueness of some of the questions... ;)

political compass.JPG

I knew I was gonna be more right/authoritarian this time, given some of my answers, but didn't turn out as much as I thought.

polcomp2.JPG

A bit less Bernie, a bit more Nicola Sturgeon. Happy with either of those, to be honest. :)
 

Honestly, I thought I would rate a bit more far-Left. The truth is, though, I do hold numerous beliefs that may be considered Right wing, so I suppose this graph is generally correct.

The one issue that makes me stand-out from Leftists? Although I do not support long-term wars, I do support preemptive strikes on our enemies and strong defense of our borders. But, I do support open and simplified immigration for out neighbors, Mexico/Latin America.

In my circles, Libertarian is a dirty word and not one anyone wishes to be associated with (this includes Leftist Libertarians. They are considered by many not much different than the Alt-Right, save for some particular issues.)

Overall, I am not very versed in Libertarianism. The Rightist Libertarians I do know are avoided like the plague. (I live in a very large, Leftist area of the country-- it's Democratic Party all the way-- we have no interest in anarchy and rewriting he Constitution.
 
Back
Top