I have a friend like this and damn is he frustrating to talk politics with. He is convinced that his politics are cutting edge and transcend left/right but he mainly gets his news from msnbc. Never read any theory and seems to have no real interest in leftism. Likes to talk about "personal liberation" in some kind of vaguely spiritual sense. Trust fund kid who's never had to worry about money. Went to a fancy arts college. Feel like there are a lot of people out there like this.

    • QuillQuote [they/them]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Pro tip: this is why you should avoid labels unless they actually assist in communication and understanding

    • SerLava [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Wouldn't be so bad if that political compass test wasnt completely, utterly flawed in its design.

      Edit: But honestly the compass itself should just be a dot for every single question, with larger dots for more important questions, so you can see someone's cluster.

      There should be a dynamic URL with the answer to each question encoded in it, so you can see someone's test and hover over each dot to see each question and answer.

        • SerLava [he/him]
          1·
          4 years ago

          God I gotta figure out how to make this, I could probably hack it together somehow but I'm not that good at coding

            • SerLava [he/him]
              ·
              4 years ago

              Looks like it's not, but the python data science libraries look promising. Thanks!

                • SerLava [he/him]
                  ·
                  4 years ago

                  That's a good idea, I want to basically build it to reflect a leftist perspective of the political spectrum, but not label it that way

    • JoesFrackinJack [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      This is a really good way to put it. The commodification of ideology in a sense is definitely happening and has been. It's a bit too in the nose at times if you spend too much time in spaces like twitter or YouTube, you'll see it everywhere. It's almost like an extension of their "brand" if not outright what they're trying to market themselves as. I hate bringing him up but I think Vaush is a good example of what happens when it ends up working, because so many new or not very bright people adopt almost the exact style of aesthetic and so called ideology Vaush attempts to represent, no matter how incoherent it is at times. He sorts caters to this type of post-right channer that doesn't want to read or try to understand much theory but still pitch themselves as a serious and knowledgeable leftist.