Political Compass

Perfect example of our public school system working to brainwash our youth: Honors Government.

In a class where students are supposed to learn, oh I don't know, about the government, we are encouraged to explore our political views (as long as they coincide with Union goals). In the course of one week, my class took part in both a debate concerning the competency of our president and a beautifully slanted survey of political standpoints.

Ah, politicalcompass.org! How your equity eludes me so! I encourage all to visit this site to get the full experience to which I am referring. Forget about the extent to which all the questions were loaded for a moment because I'd really like to discuss the scoring methods used.

The results of your very own political compass are displayed on a graph divided into quadrants. The x-axis refers to one's economic position, while the y-axis charts social ideas. Economically, you are charted as either liberal or conservative. Socially (you ready for this), they categorize you as either libertarian or, my personal favorite, AUTHORITARIAN. Wow!

Anybody up for guessing where I landed on this scale? I'll give you a hint, I was a little lower socially than Hitler and in the same quadrant.

Much to my feigned surprise, I was completely opposite from all my classmates who found themselves amongst Gandhi. When I proceeded to turn this assignment in, I was told to retake the survey when I had more time, because it appeared that my placement was inaccurate. (I did write a bunch of essays discussing the inequality homosexuals and Muslims faced in order to score higher on some tests...) Oops...

So, whenever someone tells you that you're just a close-minded conservative, I hope you'll think it a compliment. Liberals are famous for double talk, you know.