# Does The Political Compass give an accurate reading? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 30, 2004, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-political-compass-give-an-accurate-reading/237280 "2004-03-30T10:36:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-political-compass-give-an-accurate-reading/237280/61 "2004-08-18T10:56:26Z")
> [@pervert](#): > > But are you sure that he interpreted them that way as well? What I am asking is do his agreements really corespond to a strong authoritarian bent on his part, or does his agreement have more to do with some differing interpretation of the questions? A bit of both? The test does a wonderful job of giving us a broad idea of where we fit politically; I am certainly more Authoritarian/Right than is **SentientMeat**. Whether I am however many ‘points’ more is a matter for debate, but the general gist is correct. And I tend to form strong opinions. I don’t _generally_ ‘sorta’ agree or disagree; It’s in for a penny, in for a pound. (Until I change my opinion, which does happen.) That probably skews my results some. Amusingly enough, I took the test again and paid more attention to the propositions. Economic Left/Right: 9.25 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 8.56 Not as Authoritarian as Hitler. Hey, that’s something good, I suppose… ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-political-compass-give-an-accurate-reading/237280/62 "2004-08-18T11:34:57Z")
If I may ask, **Brutus** , how did you respond to propositions [#4](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=248580), [#21](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=256127) and [#31](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=270464)? You did not join in those discussions, and I would genuinely like to hear how you would justify ticking _Agree_ if you did so (and your score suggests that you might have). Also, would you accept that you are a _ **fascist** _ (as defined in the dictionary) in that you advocate nationalistic, authoritarian right wing government? (I am not suggesting that you are _literally_ a follower of Mussolini in the 1920’s.) ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-political-compass-give-an-accurate-reading/237280/63 "2004-08-18T12:34:41Z")
> [@SentientMeat](#): > > If I may ask, **Brutus** , how did you respond to propositions… Sure thing. #4: Strongly Agree. But not in the ‘white/black/etc’ sense of ‘Race’. Mere skin color is of no consequence. I am going by: > [@](#): > > …a class or kind of people unified by community of interests, habits, or characteristics \ A sort of amalgamation of nationality and culture. What actual color a person is doesn’t factor in to my answer. #21: Strongly agree. There is enough doubt surrounding the whole matter of when life begins that I think we should err on the side of caution. #31: Strongly agree. I was using a pretty extreme definition of ‘disabled’ when I was answering this, along with a effectively 100% chance that the child would also be disabled in the same extreme way. I realize that if you lined up all of my answers, you would find apparent contradictions. (Such as between 21 and 31.) But then, I am supplying my own definitions (I am sure many people assume ‘skin color’ for #4) and my own ‘scenarios’ to apply these in. > [@](#): > > Also, would you accept that you are a _ **fascist** _ (as defined in the dictionary) in that you advocate nationalistic, authoritarian right wing government? (I am not suggesting that you are _literally_ a follower of Mussolini in the 1920’s.) No love for _El Duce_? Tsk tsk tsk. I would because of all of the connotations that ‘fascist’ invariably carries. Even though I ‘stongly disagree’ that “It’s a sad reflection on our society that something as basic as drinking water is now a bottled, branded consumer product”, I don’t think the Evian-haters should be carted off to camps or anything. _Shrug_ ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-political-compass-give-an-accurate-reading/237280/64 "2004-08-18T12:36:08Z")
> [@Brutus](#): > > …No love for _El Duce_? Tsk tsk tsk. I would **NOT** because of all of the connotations that ‘fascist’ invariably carries. Even though I ‘stongly disagree’ that “It’s a sad reflection on our society that something as basic as drinking water is now a bottled, branded consumer product”, I don’t think the Evian-haters should be carted off to camps or anything. _Shrug_ Heh. Note the addendum. ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-political-compass-give-an-accurate-reading/237280/65 "2004-08-18T12:55:43Z")
> [@](#): > > I would **NOT** because of all of the connotations that ‘fascist’ invariably carries. That is why I said ‘fascist’ in the correct sense of the word, without the inaccurate connotations. I am a _socialist_ in the correct sense of the word (just not a Marxist or a Stalinist). Are you not a _fascist_ (just not a Nazi or a supremacist)? ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-political-compass-give-an-accurate-reading/237280/66 "2004-08-18T13:16:30Z")
> [@SentientMeat](#): > > That is why I said ‘fascist’ in the correct sense of the word, without the inaccurate connotations. I am a _socialist_ in the correct sense of the word (just not a Marxist or a Stalinist). Are you not a _fascist_ (just not a Nazi or a supremacist)? You are being damnably reasonable. I will agree with that I believe a “nationalistic, authoritarian right wing government” is what would be best for America. To what degree ‘authoritarian’ and whatnot would be another matter. (Though I would argue that America of today is _less_ authoritarian than it was through most of its history.) Unfortunately, the dictionary definitions of ‘fascism’ that I see involve things like dictatorship (Which I don’t care for, just look at my username) and violent suppression of the opposition. (Which has a certain visceral appeal with the 9,543 ‘Bush sucks’ thread, but I don’t violent suppression of the opposition is generally a good idea.) Tell you what: You give me the definition of ‘fascism’ that you want me to use, and I will give you a straight yes/no answer. ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-political-compass-give-an-accurate-reading/237280/67 "2004-08-18T13:19:05Z")
(_Sigh_) I’ll have to ask you to use some common-sense when deciphering my post. Words have been omitted; Blame the lack of strong, centralized grammar! ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-political-compass-give-an-accurate-reading/237280/68 "2004-08-18T13:24:45Z")
> [@](#): > > Tell you what: You give me the definition of ‘fascism’ that you want me to use, and I will give you a straight yes/no answer. Heh heh, I have no interest in trying to foist upon you a descriptor you feel uncomfortable with, friend. Your continued input to the threads themselves is all I ask. ---
**Author:** ![1010011010](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/ea666f/32.png) [@1010011010](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1010011010)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2004, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-political-compass-give-an-accurate-reading/237280/69 "2004-08-22T20:42:05Z")
(-4.00, -5.08) When I finally saw the graph I remembered having taken the test in the past. It’s always put me around (-5,-5), so it is, at least, precise. I’d agree it has me in the right quadrant, at least, but I don’t know if it should be (-3,-8) or (-7,-2). I know a couple of the questions would be answered differently depending on how I chose to read them… so I think that limits its accuracy. It would probably work better to ask a larger number of more straightforward questions that didn’t contain quite so much baggage. ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2005, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-political-compass-give-an-accurate-reading/237280/70 "2005-05-04T11:12:31Z")
From [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=6123044&postcount=83): > [@Martin Hyde](#): > > I clicked the way I did because I wanted tomake sure the test got down that I’m not anti-corporation, eventhough I don’t necessarily think we should the primary benefits of globalisation should go to corporations. So, you _lied to the computer program_ then? ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2005, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-political-compass-give-an-accurate-reading/237280/71 "2005-05-04T11:17:40Z")
Incidentally, the FAQ link in the OP is now broken. [**Read it here**](http://www.digitalronin.f2s.com/politicalcompass/faq.php) ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-political-compass-give-an-accurate-reading/237280/72 "2005-07-21T16:37:50Z")
(3.75,-338). **SentientMeat** - I know this thread is old, but I recently joined and am trying to take part in your Political Compass surveys. I think the PC test assessed me pretty well. I found some of the propositions troublesome in that they assume things to which I can’t agree, thereby forcing me to answer in ways which feel less than honest to me. An example that I don’t think has been cited yet: > [@](#): > > It is regrettable that many personal fortunes are made by people who simply manipulate money and contribute nothing to their society. I ticked “Disagree”. My problem with the proposition is that I don’t believe that fortunes are made by people who “simply manipulate money and contribute nothing to their society.” I know that this is arguable, but a reasonable economic argument can and has been made that pure financiers, who simply invest, make a valuable contribution to society. No need to debate that here. Believing as I believe makes the proposition a difficult one. If I thought that there were people like those stipulated in the proposition, I would agree. Since I disagree with the stipulation, I disagreed. If that part of the proposition were left off, I would strongly disagree. I should clarify that the part that I’m talking about leaving off would be “and contribute nothing to their society.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-political-compass-give-an-accurate-reading/237280.md?page=3)