Are you a lonely beacon of light in the blackness of the forum?

Apology accepted.

PS: I think that everything you've said above is spot on.

 

Economic Left/Right: -8.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.82

leftie anarchist - but then i knew that already. pass the molotov's
cheers


julian

 

Im just close to the Dalai Lama.

I must read some of his stuff!

 

So which is it Steve? Do you think that to be moral you must be religious, Abstract art isn't art or that there maybe something to astrology?

 

Economic Left/Right: -2.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.31

Just about where I was when I last did this, although this time I thought I'd used more strongly agree/disagree options, odd. In fact I used quite a lot of them so they must have cancelled each other out!

 

Actually none of the above. I just thought that if there was some 'bigotry, ignorance or stupidity' flying around here, I should put my hands up to it.

 

Actually Chris, our neighbour is a very interesting man indeed. I've got a book of his (well a dialogue with him actually).

Did you know that the Dalai Lama loves technology? When he was a child there were no cars in Tibet so he had one shipped in. Apparently, he single-handedly stripped and rebuilt it.

I wonder if he's got a hi-fi.

 

Well that's good to know. Still don't quite know where these fit into the political compass though.

If I believed in Astrology apart from making me stupid, would that make me more right or left wing? More libertarian or authoritarian?

Same with the art question (unless it asumes that authoritarians are artistic philistines - Hitler spriings to mind).

Mind you it does occur to me that the religion question may be getting at ones willingness to accept religious authority. After all we think of an authoritarian as someone wanting to make the rules, but someone who willingly obeys them without questioning them (or thinks we should) is just as much the authoritarian I guess.

 

Both the Dalia Lama & Gandhi are/were religious but I suspect that their approach is both more rigourous and at the same time more liberal than many. I confess to wondering at those questions. To me self discipline is important (and feel it needs to be leant) but to have it imposed is abhorant. Is that authoritarian or liberal?

 

I must say that "the left", i.e. the dogmatic humourless followers of the latest trendy cause (often typified by the SWP and their ilk) do themselves as few favours as "the right" in terms of any sensible world-view. Even Kilroy-Silk is embarassed by UKIP!

I think there's a lot of truth in the old adage "those who seek office are by definition unqualified to hold it"...
Saying that, I find myself agreeing with Tony Benn more than any other politico (though I don't necessarily go for his anti-Europe stance), although Robin Cook has shown himself to have some principles...
I think my main world view is that folks should be able to do what they like, so long as it doesn't harm anyone else (if I were to put it into simplistic terms).
Praps I should call myself an Anarcho-syndicalist, as i used to when a student, if only to confuse!

 

That's maturity - I think.

 

Ah, but there's the difficulty.

Should one use military force in defence of one's country?

Or, trickier still, is there ever a situation where one should one use military force in order to prevent a massacre or genocide?

 

Aye, difficult arguments...
That's supposedly why the UN was set up - but people being innately selfish (or at least they seem to be when they have a whiff of power) means that it's all cocked up in the end.
What I find strangest is that the governments with the most religious bent are most willing to use force as a first and last resort. Thou shall not kill, indeed!
I agree with an expanding United States of Europe (then Asia etc) for precisely the reason that it may minimise the need to use force (hopeless idealist, I know).
Perhaps being a sad Trekkie I hope that one day there will be a world government, and so no need for wars (apart from to teach those pesky aliens a thing or two )

 

steve, you can;t really apply a personal philosophy to government policy. although i would say that i subscribe to the 'do as you will....' philosophy that leonard describes i would also say that in certain cases it should be modulated with the law of spock 'the good of the many outweighs the good of the few' unless of course it doesn;t.

basically it all boils down to the fact that 90% of people are selfish c*nts and that's not going to change. of course i'm one of the 10%
cheers


julian

 

Hmm. And the problem with the law of Spock comes when those in power assume that what is for good for the few is also good for the many. The assumption of US foreign policy (and frankly EU foreign policy too) for example seems to be that what is good for American Corporate interests is good for everyone ... in the entire world. That this is plainly nonsense makes no difference - for all I know they are that cynical they don't give a stuff or they may be so narrow minded they actually believe it to be true.

 

Hmmm, I believe precisely the opposite - that conflict could well arise from within a large collective such as the US of Europe, in difficult economic times. I could easily imagine that this could come about when a national or ethnic minority (such as Britain) feels under-represented and unfairly treated by the European Megastate.

On the other hand, I can't think of many instances of war being fought between two democratic nation states. Anyone?

 

There's a few arguable ones I can think of:
2nd World War (Hitler was after all voted into power, though not by a majority, and there were shenanigans later.. Besides Thatcher only had 40odd% of the vote!)
India vs. Pakistan (still going on, though most troops seem to have died from frostbite, disease and the effects of altitude)
Greece vs. Turkey (Cyprus) - still not resolved
Great Britain vs. Iceland - The Cod War

Although, in truth, democracy is a very modern creation. Most folks still don't have it, even here in Britain with the first past the post electoral system, and certainly not in the US, with it's ridiculous electoral college system!

 

http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/demowar.htm

-- Ian

 

Enough politics I say!, can we now discuss my favourite subject? In case you don't know that's German cars

Anyone seen the new facelifted 7 Series?

 

no but it's going to look like it's been put in a burlap sack and beaten with a bulldog chewing an ugly stick given their recent record....

look the amazing predictable jules - wind him up and watch him go....

cheers


julian