[ If you want to skip my explanation, you can start with paragraph #5.]
It’s a new year, and the last one had several outbreak of complaints here, some fair, some contrived, and some obnoxious, about Ethics Alarms being an “echo chamber” that either had insufficient diversity of opinion, discouraged diversity of opinion, inevitably favored one political/partisan end of the political spectrum over the other, or artificially tilted its analysis and reader reactions to my personal biases.
The analysis here should be consistent, and I expect readers to blow a whistle when it is not or seems that way. I also furiously reject the concept of ethical relativity, or that “you have your truth and I have mine.” A society needs to settle on its values and objectives, and those decisions need to be based on linear constants, or the result is chaos. It is also important, however, that those values and objectives be subject to constant analysis and reexamination. We learn by experience and debate: that’s the nature of ethics, as opposed to morality. It is also why diversity of viewpoint is valuable on an ethics blog. Different perspectives are invaluable in helping us cut through the underbrush of bias, conventional wisdom and lazy assumptions that impede our ability to distinguish right from wrong.
But there are structural flies in this buttermilk, the prime among them being human nature. People tend to want to see, hear, read and believe things that they find comforting and confirm their world views; being open minded is uncomfortable, even painful. Sometimes, it can be dangerous, or at least scary. One reason I spend the time I do on Ethics Alarms is that it forces me to read and consider opinions and examine topics that I normally would not.
The goal here has always been to promote a colloquy of thoughtful and articulate readers to focus on ethics and sharpen our habits of analysis while avoiding the jargon, excessively abstract navel-gazing and mind-numbing theoretical intellectualizing that has killed ethics as a topic the general public has any interest in or sufficient competence in applying. Whatever the reasons for it, the perceived trend, at least in the comments, for opinions to run in the same general direction (when there are valid and legitimate positions that point elsewhere) is “concerning” (as Prof Turley would say.)
This is all prelude to asking readers to place themselves on the ideological/political beliefs spectrum/world view spectrum. Before WordPress went to a hopelessly complicated system, I would have used a poll for this purpose, but none of the Ethics Alarms polls attracted more than a couple hundred participants out of the thousands that visit the blog every day. Now I’m going to give you a range of choices to answer the question, and I’ll be very grateful to those who take the time to answer it.
You can…
- Just describe where you see yourself fitting.
- Use a ten point scale with #1 being knee-jerk extreme Left on all matters and #10 being the opposite.
- Take this online survey, which is dated but appears to be pretty good based on my own experience.
- Or this one, which is also pretty good, by the Pew people.
- Or you can try this one.
I’d like to hear from more of you than just the regular commentariat, so for this purpose only, I will accept submissions labeled “anonymous” or the equivalent. I will also relent and accept submission from readers who have been banned from commenting, as long as they stick to the topic.
None of the online tests are perfect, and many of the questions or propositions are too general (or specific. But I’ve taken all of them more than once, and have been surprised to find that they were remarkably consistent in their findings, and, at least in my case, perceptive. For example, here is where the Political Spectrum Quiz places me:
That’s not only where I think I am, it’s where I think I should be, as opposed to where the same survey places the average participant, which is where the green pointer resides:
I eagerly await your assistance.
Ethics Alarms 
You are a right moderate social
libertarian.
Right: 4.41, Libertarian: 1.63
The first one says I’m a right social libertarian.
Right: 3.8, Libertarian: 4.41
Pew says I’m Ambivalent Right.
The last one says I’m:
Economic Left/Right: 1.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.82
https://www.politicalcompass.org/chart?ec=1.75&soc=-2.82
This seems mostly accurate. The social right stuff comes mostly from my opinions on abortion…I think. Baby murder is wrong!
The government needs to mind its own business and leave people alone.
According to “Go to Quiz” I am a “centrist social moderate” (Left: 0.59, Libertarian: 0.85).
Gotoquiz labels me as Right Social Libertarian – Right 5.52, Libertarian 3.6 which I could quibble with, but I think is close enough.
Pew calls me Ambivalent Right, whatever that is.
Political Compass puts me at Economic Left/Right: 2.88, Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.92
___________
The first and third come close enough to describing my views, and Pew’s conclusions are about as descriptive as their methodology is useful. Which is to say – not very.
I always find myself critiquing the questions, particularly when they offer only binary choices. Some questions, or batteries of questions (like this Pew effort) reveal the creator’s own biases.
Hopefully this will be my first comment to make it past the proprietor’s filter!
It is!
I took this survey years ago and I was somewhere around where Jack is; however, as I get older and firm up my opinions on a couple of key issues I suspected the results would be leaning more towards the right.
The Pew Research Center’s Political Typology Quiz says my “best fit” is Ambivalent Right along with 12% of the public.
The political Compass out me here…
I think the questions for this survey were TERRIBLE!
If I were to choose where I think I would be on an averaged chart like the Political Spectrum chart, I’d rate myself at
Right: 3-4
Libertarian: 3-4
Jack wrote…
I think this approach is full appropriate for this kind of post.
From the GoToQuiz:
You are a right social moderate.
Right: 3.12, Authoritarian: 0.67
I suspect the authoritarian rating is because I strongly believe abortion should be outlawed.
From Pew:
Ambivalent Right
I think that sounds about right. A couple of questions felt strained. For example, “Religion should be kept separate from government policies” vs “Government policies should support religious values and beliefs” – I believe government should honor the 1st amendment and not be hostile to religion, and also believe my religion informs my views on policies, so which should I pick?
Political Compass says:
Economic Left/Right: 0.38
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.62
All of these do show that people are complex and don’t nicely fit into 2D graphs. My views are often much more nuanced than the questions or answers allow.
I strongly believe abortion should be outlawed and the first quiz still came out libertarian. I don’t think that alone would tilt it.
Abortion has no definitive answer in the libertarian community. I’ve seen arguments both ways…and most libertarians *I* come across are against abortion.
The first one says:
You are a right moderate social libertarian.
Right: 4.37, Libertarian: 1.49
The first one says: You are a center-right social moderate.
Right: 1.18, Libertarian: 0.93
The second one says: Ambivalent Right
The third one says: Economic Left/Right: -2.0 [lots of the commentariat seem to lose a few points here compared to the first test?]
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.82
I would identify as Libertarian Right, but I have been called (by friends, not enemies) VERY right-wing. So perhaps I subconsciously moderate my answers on these tests, or they just average out due to the range of issues.
You are a center-right moderate social libertarian.
Right: 2.71, Libertarian: 2.89
Political Spectrum Quiz:
You are a right social moderate.
Right: 3.27, Authoritarian: 0.71
Pew:
A “Faith and Flag Conservative”
Political Compass:
Economic Left/Right: 2.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -0.51
The Pew quiz questions seemed to be more nuanced to push participants strictly Left/Right.
The third of the quizzes had several questions I didn’t really understand. My dumb was kind of showing on that one.
I stopped the first quiz. Most of the questions they asked I have no educated opinion on. The middle one said I was ambivalent right. The third quiz put me in the bottom left quadrant.
Economic Left/Right: -2.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.26
I consider myself fiscally conservative with libertarian streaks and put myself center right. So I think I’m more right on the quadrant than the third one put me. Probably because of social issues, which I want the government to stay out of, regardless of my personal opinion. I think it shows how far politics has moved or been pushed to the upper left quadrant. So on a scale of 1-10, I would put myself at a 5-6.
Basically stop spending insane amounts of money and leave me and everyone else alone as much as possible. Regulations are the death of 1,000 cuts to small business. If the Democrats and Republicans cease to exist as political parties, I wouldn’t be sad.
Did all three:
You are a right moderate social authoritarian.
Right: 4.81, Authoritarian: 1.2
Your best fit is…
Faith and Flag Conservatives
… along with 10% of the public
Economic Left/Right: 3.5
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -0.92
That “along with 10% of the public” is laughable. You are nowhere near that level of the minority.
That’s the burden of a poll atomizing so much – Pew breaks the national spectrum into 7 groups. This means, on average, each group represents 14% of the nation. So it really isn’t unbelievable for “Faith and Flag” to be 10%…
Political Spectrum Quiz: You are a right social libertarian. Right: 6.19, Libertarian: 5.71
Pew: Ambivalent Right
Political compass: Economic Left/Right: 4.75 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.9
My family and New York friends consider me a far-right-wing nut:
Your Compass:
You are a center-left moderate social libertarian.
Left: 1.25, Libertarian: 1.32
Political Spectrum Quiz: moderate left libertarian
Left 1.63, Libertarian 2.871
Pew: Ambivalent Right
Greg: Living in the northeast is no way to go through life, son.
Either I didn’t post the way I thought I did (most likely) or my post got eaten (unlikely), so maybe a duplicate:
Okay, I’ll play, although I strongly dislike the tendency to pigeon-hole people as being this or that. I have been pigeon-holed, among other things, as: a Trump supporter; a Biden supporter; an ultra-conservative; a dumbass woketard (on this site); and a liberal. The fact is that my attitude and opinions can swing from one side of these artificial political spectra to the other.
It depends on the issue. For example, am I a left-winger, given that I oppose capital punishment and support a limited right to abortion, or am I a right-winger, given that I strongly support the police and law enforcement?
For what it’s worth, the Political Spectrum Quiz pegs me as a center right moderate and a social libertarian.
I’d rate myself a 9. Pew says I’m a faith and flag conservative, which is odd for an atheist.
So Lou Dobbs, basically?
You are a centrist social moderate.
Right: 0.75, Authoritarian: 0.64
Like most, I find many of the questions difficult to answer in a manner that feels ‘right’ – as in accurate.
Personally, I’m happy to fall anywhere in the +- 3 (5?) range, but happy not to be on the left side!
Yeah, older; middle class, former business owning; slightly introverted; fairly widely read; and Caucasian – pretty much sums it up!
There is a disconnect between where the tests put me and where I put myself.
My impression of me is about 3 right and 0 on authoritarian/libertarian scale.
Political Spectrum shows me at 1.11 Left and 1.47 Authoritarian.
Political Compass shows me at -4.0 (left) and -1.28 (libertarian).
Perhaps I now see myself as so far right because the left (as portrayed by the media and Democrat positions) has moved greatly to the left in the past 15 years. There is no doubt that the extremist positions of the left really cause anxiety for me. And some of the right wing politicians are really wacko and not conducive to a tolerant society. Foolish me, I still believe in compassionate conservatism.
Thank you Jack for causing this discussion and introspection.
I’m a squishy centrist. Seems about right.
“You are a center-right moderate social libertarian.
Right: 2.17, Libertarian: 2.71”