What political ideology are you?

[Torin]

I'm curious what political ideologies are common on this forum. What's your ideology? What other ideologies do you see around here a lot?

If you don't have a coherent ideology, presumably you still have some sort of loosely floating set of ideas that you use to organize your thoughts about politics, so maybe you could describe those instead.

I have a hypothesis that people here will mostly be liberals (i.e., leftists), with a handful of conservatives and libertarians, and maybe one or two Communists. We will see if I am right or wrong about that.

Thanks in advance for your responses.

 

[ronburgundy]

I'm curious what political ideologies are common on this forum. What's your ideology? What other ideologies do you see around here a lot?

If you don't have a coherent ideology, presumably you still have some sort of loosely floating set of ideas that you use to organize your thoughts about politics, so maybe you could describe those instead.

I have a hypothesis that people here will mostly be liberals (i.e., leftists), with a handful of conservatives and libertarians, and maybe one or two Communists. We will see if I am right or wrong about that.

Thanks in advance for your responses.

I'm not sure how useful such an informal poll would be. However, this being a board centered around "free thought" and mostly non-theistic rationalism, there will of course be a heavy skew toward liberalism and the Democrats. Among non-theists and and those without a religious affiliation, those who lean to the left/Dem outnumber those who lean right/GOP by about 2.5 to 1 (with the # of those who lean neither way in the middle).

This makes sense given the irrationality and authoritarianism inherent to theism and most religion, plus the irrational deference to tradition that is inherently based in the greater ignorance and lesser science and yet are what conservatism is seeking to conserve/protect.

Of course, there can be irrationality on the left, and you will find tons of disagreements on this board between classic liberals and those further on the left (on topics like affirmative action, the precise nature and sources of racial inequalities in outcomes, and aggressive tactics to stifle "offensive" speech). But they have some shared values and shared opposition to the irrationality and lack of moral progress inherent to conservatism and the inequality/hierarchy inherently favored right. So, a negotiated alliance makes sense. Trump won with support from only 25% of eligible voters largely b/c that alliance broke down when authorities in the Dem party insisted upon the poor choice of Hillary and short-sighted leftists overplayed the "don't vote for lesser of two evils" canard, resulting in much more evil and SCOTUS consequences that will last generations.

 

[Torin]

I'm not sure how useful such an informal poll would be. However, this being a board centered around "free thought" and mostly non-theistic rationalism, there will of course be a heavy skew toward liberalism and the Democrats. Among non-theists and and those without a religious affiliation, those who lean to the left/Dem outnumber those who lean right/GOP by about 2.5 to 1 (with the # of those who lean neither way in the middle).

This makes sense given the irrationality and authoritarianism inherent to theism and most religion, plus the irrational deference to tradition that is inherently based in the greater ignorance and lesser science and yet are what conservatism is seeking to conserve/protect.

Of course, there can be irrationality on the left, and you will find tons of disagreements on this board between classic liberals and those further on the left (on topics like affirmative action, the precise nature and sources of racial inequalities in outcomes, and aggressive tactics to stifle "offensive" speech). But they have some shared values and shared opposition to the irrationality and lack of moral progress inherent to conservatism and the inequality/hierarchy inherently favored right. So, a negotiated alliance makes sense. Trump won with support from only 25% of eligible voters largely b/c that alliance broke down when authorities in the Dem party insisted upon the poor choice of Hillary and short-sighted leftists overplayed the "don't vote for lesser of two evils" canard, resulting in much more evil and SCOTUS consequences that will last generations.

Interesting response, thanks.

 

[J842P]

I'm curious what political ideologies are common on this forum. What's your ideology? What other ideologies do you see around here a lot?

If you don't have a coherent ideology, presumably you still have some sort of loosely floating set of ideas that you use to organize your thoughts about politics, so maybe you could describe those instead.

I have a hypothesis that people here will mostly be liberals (i.e., leftists), with a handful of conservatives and libertarians, and maybe one or two Communists. We will see if I am right or wrong about that.

Thanks in advance for your responses.

There used to be a couple of actual Communists, one guy was called Red Dave. The closest we have now is probably a couple of people who would identify as some for of anarcho-syndicalist.

But yeah, mostly left with a handful of libertarians. One or two conservatives representing the theists.

 

[Canard DuJour]

Anti-neoliberal. Shit since Reagan and Thatcher has not worked, even by its own tenets.

 

[Elixir]

This is a leftist site. Not by intent or exclusion (AFAICS) but as an outgrowth of its nominal function (freethought). We are lucky to have a few smart conservative/moderate posters to keep us leftists in check and to help us gang up on the libertarians.

 

[GenesisNemesis]

"Leftist".

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

From a truly outside perspective, this is a leftist and atheist site.

From an atheist liberal perspective, this is primarily a "progressive" site. Expect the kind of thing you'd see in college liberal arts campuses, with a few old style liberals and libertarians sprinkled in. We have a very small handful of theists and conservatives as well. The quality of the posts vary widely, ranging from what you'd expect on Quara to what you'd expect on 4Chan lol

 

[Tom Sawyer]

I'm in the dead center of the political spectrum on all topics and have arrived at my positions through thoughtful and rational analysis. This means that anyone who disagrees with me on a subject is a radical extremist who has stupid reasons for their bullshit opinions.

This places a rather heavy onus on everybody else to rethink the flawed logic which led them to be incorrect and, I'm sorry to say, most people don't live up to the burden expected of them to just agree with me on account of my being right.

 

[Elixir]

I'm in the dead center of the political spectrum on all topics and have arrived at my positions through thoughtful and rational analysis. This means that anyone who disagrees with me on a subject is a radical extremist who has stupid reasons for their bullshit opinions.

This places a rather heavy onus on everybody else to rethink the flawed logic which led them to be incorrect and, I'm sorry to say, most people don't live up to the burden expected of them to just agree with me on account of my being right.

The "if everyone was like me" thread is over HERE.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

I'm in the dead center of the political spectrum on all topics and have arrived at my positions through thoughtful and rational analysis. This means that anyone who disagrees with me on a subject is a radical extremist who has stupid reasons for their bullshit opinions.

This places a rather heavy onus on everybody else to rethink the flawed logic which led them to be incorrect and, I'm sorry to say, most people don't live up to the burden expected of them to just agree with me on account of my being right.

The "if everyone was like me" thread is over HERE.

If everyone was like me, I wouldn't be able to feel superior to the 7.5 billion ass clowns who take up the oxygen on my planet.

 

[Elixir]

I'm in the dead center of the political spectrum on all topics and have arrived at my positions through thoughtful and rational analysis. This means that anyone who disagrees with me on a subject is a radical extremist who has stupid reasons for their bullshit opinions.

This places a rather heavy onus on everybody else to rethink the flawed logic which led them to be incorrect and, I'm sorry to say, most people don't live up to the burden expected of them to just agree with me on account of my being right.

The "if everyone was like me" thread is over HERE.

If everyone was like me, I wouldn't be able to feel superior to the 7.5 billion ass clowns who take up the oxygen on my planet.

Being dead center of the political spectrum makes you superior to NOBODY.
Having established that the ability to feel superior to 7.5 billion ass clowns does not require actual superiority, I submit that if everyone was like you, we would ALL be able to feel superior to the other 7.5 billion ass clowns like you (and me, of course).

 

[Bomb#20]

I'm curious what political ideologies are common on this forum. What's your ideology? What other ideologies do you see around here a lot?

Ideology is to idea as Scientology is to science.

 

[Harry Bosch]

I'm curious what political ideologies are common on this forum. What's your ideology? What other ideologies do you see around here a lot?

If you don't have a coherent ideology, presumably you still have some sort of loosely floating set of ideas that you use to organize your thoughts about politics, so maybe you could describe those instead.

I have a hypothesis that people here will mostly be liberals (i.e., leftists), with a handful of conservatives and libertarians, and maybe one or two Communists. We will see if I am right or wrong about that.

Thanks in advance for your responses.

I'm pretty much in the middle. This means that conservatives believe that I'm liberal; leftists believe that I'm a conservative Nazi!

 

[Tigers!]

I'm in the dead center of the political spectrum on all topics and have arrived at my positions through thoughtful and rational analysis. This means that anyone who disagrees with me on a subject is a radical extremist who has stupid reasons for their bullshit opinions.

This places a rather heavy onus on everybody else to rethink the flawed logic which led them to be incorrect and, I'm sorry to say, most people don't live up to the burden expected of them to just agree with me on account of my being right.

I really must start a local branch of the Tom Sawyer Appreciation Society.

 

[untermensche]

Ideology is the death of thinking.

It translates into nothing more than party loyalty.

What I believe in are moral principles.

Like: Any system of power and control has to justify itself. It has to show how the power and control is legitimate.

They have to make a moral case why the power over others and control of others is legitimate.

Controlling another because they cannot find an available means of survival without submitting to a kind of control, a dictatorial top-down control, is not legitimate control.

It is a form of generalized societal coercion. A forced return to the jungle where the strongest have control.

 

[Harry Bosch]

Ideology is the death of thinking.

It translates into nothing more than party loyalty.

What I believe in are moral principles.

Like: Any system of power and control has to justify itself. It has to show how the power and control is legitimate.

They have to make a moral case why the power over others and control of others is legitimate.

Controlling another because they cannot find an available means of survival without submitting to a kind of control, a dictatorial top-down control, is not legitimate control.

It is a form of generalized societal coercion. A forced return to the jungle where the strongest have control.

I don't know. It seems to me that your ideology is pretty coercive.

 

[untermensche]

Ideology is the death of thinking.

It translates into nothing more than party loyalty.

What I believe in are moral principles.

Like: Any system of power and control has to justify itself. It has to show how the power and control is legitimate.

They have to make a moral case why the power over others and control of others is legitimate.

Controlling another because they cannot find an available means of survival without submitting to a kind of control, a dictatorial top-down control, is not legitimate control.

It is a form of generalized societal coercion. A forced return to the jungle where the strongest have control.

I don't know. It seems to me that your ideology is pretty coercive.

My system is a system of worker-owned and democratically controlled work places.

All control is horizontal control.

How is horizontal control coercive?

Vertical control is coercive. Those at the top have more power than those at the bottom.

Undeniably and inherently coercive.

 

[Harry Bosch]

Ideology is the death of thinking.

It translates into nothing more than party loyalty.

What I believe in are moral principles.

Like: Any system of power and control has to justify itself. It has to show how the power and control is legitimate.

They have to make a moral case why the power over others and control of others is legitimate.

Controlling another because they cannot find an available means of survival without submitting to a kind of control, a dictatorial top-down control, is not legitimate control.

It is a form of generalized societal coercion. A forced return to the jungle where the strongest have control.

I don't know. It seems to me that your ideology is pretty coercive.

My system is a system of worker-owned and democratically controlled work places.

All control is horizontal control.

How is horizontal control coercive?

Vertical control is coercive. Those at the top have more power than those at the bottom.

Undeniably and inherently coercive.

What if I want diagonal control. What if I want no control? What if I decide to have a normal job and work for someone? Get a nice pension. I want choice. Your system doesn't allow for choice. It's not voluntary. If you make it voluntary, I'll support you 100%.

 

[untermensche]

There is nothing "normal" about submission to a boss.

It is just something many people are forced to do to survive.

Horizontal control is the removal of coercion.

To claim that removing coercion is in itself coercion is like saying outlawing murder is coercion.