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[ERROR] No.2131541 [Reply] [Original]

Why does such a simplistic left-right political spectrum exist?

Psychologists need to consider many complex dimensions in order to formulate an accurate picture of human personality, why should political opinion be any different?

>> No.2131546

Anymore complex and you won't get it truman. I am quite sure you can't get it with just two.

>> No.2131560
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>>2131546

so intellectuals are forced to create a more simplistic and thus less effective model to communicate to the degenerate masses such as myself?

Is democracy really so patronising?
Am I expecting too much?

>> No.2131563

because liberals are sentimental vaginas who refuse to see the general dickness of assholes (people)

>> No.2131568

>>2131560

yes
yes

And yet it's still the most effective system.

>> No.2131570

so that one side can hate the other, truman.

>> No.2131573

>Why does such a simplistic left-right political spectrum exist?
why does such a simplistic right-wrong moral spectrum exist?
why does such a simplistic man-woman gender spectrum exist?
i mean jesus truman, you're supposed to read zizek

implying any of these binaries haven't imploded

>> No.2131576

Where is the clear divide? The left right spectrum is arbitrary. Any sensible person is moderate, with views of particular issues leaning one way or the other. Opinions are as diverse within each side of the spectrum as they are on the opposing ends.

>> No.2131577

>>2131573
Your generalizations will be your undoing D&E.

>> No.2131579

>>2131573

>gender
>imploded

oh, you're one of those faggots.

>> No.2131580

>>2131576

Nope, generally if you know someone's opinion on the death penalty you can say their opinion on taxation and healthcare.

>> No.2131587

>>2131573

>can't contribute but desperate to be heard
>steer conversation to what you have opinion on

I love you, man

>>2131541

I think this left-right idea is more prevalent in the US as they only have 2 political parties, so the attitude of one versus the other is played out in every decision.

>> No.2131603

>>2131573
Plain retarded.

>> No.2131605

>>2131587
I'm not interested in contributing, it's a stupid question and truman should know better, which was my point and which has nothing to do with y ou

>> No.2131610

The left-right political spectrum has distorted the definitions of many political terms that most people have no idea what they mean when they call each other a liberal or a conservative, for example.

>> No.2131611

>>2131605

aw, don't be like that. But doesn't feel better to make your point rather than throw glib remarks all over the place?

and public boards aren't the best places for private messages

>> No.2131612

for something like this you'd need to define politics as something different from just a random opinion.

>> No.2131629

>>2131541
>Why does such a simplistic left-right political spectrum exist?

Because it's a useful fucking metric, most people with political opinions are prepared to broadly class themselves as 'conservative' or 'progressive'. There are still plenty of differences between political philosophies on the same side of the spectrum.

>>2131580
People tend to align with the views of a given party on a wide variety of issues, but that can vary widely from place to place, it all depends what the local political climate is like.

Here in Ireland, for instance, the death penalty isn't contentious at all. We don't have it, nobody wants it. Taxation on the other hand is something politicians will argue to death over.

>>2131587
>I think this left-right idea is more prevalent in the US as they only have 2 political parties, so the attitude of one versus the other is played out in every decision.

No, you get it in every democracy, though ones with a first-past-the-post electoral system are particularly prone to having two monolithic parties with little to differentiate them.

>>2131576
>Any sensible person is moderate, with views of particular issues leaning one way or the other.

Hurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr I'm a 'moderate', clearly the people with strongly held opinions are the uneducated ones.

If you're American, btw, having half-assed centrists views makes you a rabid conservative.

>> No.2131632

>>2131610
Agreed. For a start, some people seem to be under the impression that being a liberal makes you left-wing.

>> No.2131640

>>2131629
I'm not American, and every sensible person is moderate. How can you possibly have a problem with that statement, you dumb fuck? Just don't talk.

>> No.2131651

lol im so glad that retard truman capote got what was coming to him!

>> No.2131659
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>>2131629

>because it's a useful metric

but why should the ability of political labelling to generalise itself take precedence over seeing the picture with seeing political issues in the most clear perspective possible?

>>2131605

I know this is a well tread subject but I enjoy this kind of debate.

>> No.2131661

>>2131640
Because everyone I know who calls themselves a moderate is invariably just uninformed and indifferent, but also because it's a meaningless non-stance that doesn't say anything about your views except that you think like the people in your vicinity, but not as strongly.

In an ideal world every sensible person would be a socialist, but even sensible people are vulnerable to propaganda.

>> No.2131665

>>2131629
>No, you get it in every democracy

I know, but it's exacerbated in the US.

>> No.2131667

>>2131659
It shouldn't? But that doesn't make it less useful to have terms that can identify broad similarities in political affiliations.

>> No.2131668
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It's easy to add more dimensions to the political conceptual space.

>> No.2131674

>>2131659
>but why should the ability of political labelling to generalise itself take precedence over seeing the picture with seeing political issues in the most clear perspective possible?

For the same reason that it's generally OK to use Newton's laws in low-speed, macroscopic situations.

>> No.2131676

>>2131668
yeah, but they're generally misleading. if you want to look deeper than left/right you should probably actually read up on politics instead of trying to chart everyone on a graph.

>> No.2131679

>>2131659

It may be a useful metric, but to who?

The idea that one belief is a contract to a raft of others isn't true or fair,

>> No.2131685

Humans think about many concepts in dualistic terms: good/evil, true/false, logic/emotion, male/female. It's simplistic but appeals to a fundamental part of us.

>> No.2131687

>>2131679
>It may be a useful metric, but to who?

To...people communicating with each other about politics? Who the fuck else?

>> No.2131690

>Why does such a simplistic left-right political spectrum exist?
Cause politics is a joke.

>> No.2131702

It's explained that way to confuse stupid people and manipulate them to vote according to broad, meaningless generalizations.
They like it that way, it means they don't have to think about it.

>> No.2131716

>>2131702
Yeah, the average voter is confused by the left-right approximation...if you just explained to him the intricacies and differences between utilitarianism and egalitarianism I'm sure they'd have a perfect grasp of politics and wouldn't be confused at all.

>> No.2131724

>>2131632
>>2131632
Thank you, I so glad to hear someone else say that. I think this kind of mentality exists most predominantly in the US where politics is seen by most as restricted to 'Republican vs Democrat'. Personally I think the typical left-right political spectrum only distorts peoples' understanding of politics, and should be disregarded completely. It doesn't present an accurate idea of what ideologies and political schools of though really represent.

>> No.2131728

>>2131632
Well, in the U.S. that is the meaning of liberal. It's not an issue of misunderstanding, it's an issue of marketing by the "left" in the U.S. which of course is anything but liberal. In the rest of the world, "liberal" has retained its original meaning.

>> No.2131734

>>2131690
Politics is the most important human endeavour, but unfortunately it has been reduced to simply encompass the fight between the two major parties to retain office. Politics is a little more broader and a little more significant than that.

>> No.2131748

read machiavelli OP

>> No.2131757
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God only knows what i'd be without you, /lit/

>> No.2131772

>>2131728
The Democratic party is plenty liberal and not at all left-wing.

>> No.2131776

>>2131772
>The Democratic party is plenty liberal and not at all left-wing.

but idiot conservatives still think that they are left-wing and that 'liberal' means 'left-wing'

american politics: delightful

>> No.2131791

>>2131772
They're anti-immigration, anti-drugs, for heavy government market intervention, anti-free trade. Heavily for pretty frequent military interventions. Nearly 100% for domestic spying shit like the PATRIOT act and immunity for telecoms that assisted in illegal wiretapping. For internet censorship in the form of PROTECT IP. They spearhead the anti online-gambling movement. Most Democrats are even against same-sex marriage.

Literally the only points of liberalism in their entire agenda are their small concessions to gay rights, and their stance on the separation of state & religion issues.

>> No.2131825

>>2131791

they're also pro-torture and capital punishment, the ultimate signature of a heavy government.

>> No.2131829

>>2131791
They're down with low taxes and free markets though, that's pretty liberal.

>> No.2131833

>>2131829
Low taxes yeah, free markets not so much. U.S. markets are not very liberal compared to other advanced western democracies (Sweden and the other Nordic countries for example have freer markets than the U.S.), and they want to make them even less free. Depends what you're measuring them against of course...

>> No.2131850

I think we should appoint a king by lottery, and mutilate him based on the things that go wrong. If there's a natural disaster we cut off a finger, an economic collapse we take an arm, a devastating war we cut him in half, etc. When he dies from all these mutilations we appoint another king. Does this make me left-wing or right-wing?

>> No.2131852

>>2131573
FYI gender is the way society views sexuality. There are many combinations and sub-categories perpetrated and coined year on year as we humans wrestle with our insecurities and desires.

Even sex has it's grey areas if you count the mangina.

>> No.2131854

becuase people are not scientists.

>> No.2132987

>>2131850

what would be achieved by such a system?

>> No.2133001

>>2131541
To centralize power.
Many nations have several parties to vote for but if you can get people to look at politics through a tunnel view of "left or right" you've already made huge strides to making sure most votes go to the already entrenched parties on either side.

>> No.2133012

because the majority of a democracy's participants can't comprehend complex concepts

>> No.2133016

>>2131833
>Sweden and the other Nordic countries for example have freer markets than the U.S.
You should stop reading the Brown Journal's and the Mises Institute's propaganda pieces. Pretty much any time they're talking about a country other than very specific states in America they've lived in their whole lives they get shit hilariously wrong.
The Scandinavians are heavy on the regulations, they're just a lot more effective about it.

>> No.2133091

One word OP:

Stability.

>> No.2133277

>>2131541
OP, it's a little more complicated than right/left wing dynamics. I believe the political spectrum is better defined in a compass.
The right/left wing politics are created for simpletons living in backwater hick-towns to comprehend.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_compass
This model takes into account Right/Left and Authoritative/Libertarian alignment.

>> No.2133284

>>2133277
http://politicalcompass.org/test

>> No.2133297
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Where can I read the whole 'shoplifting from american apparel' online?