Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Justin Hale]

Left Wing and Right Wing � as billybrobby pointed out elsewhere recently in a good post � is a woefully simplistic binary. My poll vote is �mostly RW� since I�m LW ( 8 ) and RW (11), so kindly read the following, add up your LW and RW and vote. It's impossible to be 50/50 since there are 19

Religion: LW tend to be atheists and RW to be theists.
Me: I�m an atheist

Evolution: LW tend to accept evolution uncritically and RW tend to criticize evolution.
Me: I accept evolution uncritically

Capital punishment: LW tend to be anti-capital punishment, RW tend to be for capital punishment.
Me: Generally I�m anti, but I believe sometimes crimes are so severe, a state should put the perpetrator to death.

Opposition to, criticism and mockery of Islam: RW tend to criticize, mock Islam in opposition to it. LW tend to not, or are even against the criticism, mockery, opposition to Islam.
Me: I criticize, mock, am deeply opposed to Islam as a position (not individual adherents)

The state and society: RW tend to support state influence on personal behavior and ethics (marriage, drug-use, abortion) but are hostile to state influence on the economy. LW the opposite.
Me: LW

The state and the economy: RW tend to favor minimal, if any, state involvement in the economy. LW tend to favor state involvement in the economy such as minimum wage
Me: LW

Manmade climate change: RW tend to criticize the scientific consensus (Limbaugh, Buchanan, Coulter, O�Reilly), LW tend to accept the scientific consensus uncritically:
Me: LW

Nuclear energy expansion: RW often favor it (John McCain is the sole presidential candidate to explicitly endorse it), LW tend to believe it is dangerous for several reasons and instead support renewables
Me: RW

Gay marriage: RW tend to be against, LW tend to be for
Me: LW

Abortion: RW tend be against, LW tend to be for
Me: LW

War on drugs: RW tend to be for, LW tend to be against
Me: LW

Israel and the Palestinians: RW tend to support Israel, LW tend to support the Palestinians.
Me: I support Israel. I don�t support a Palestinian state AT ALL in the absence of total liberalization of Islam

Iraq War: RW tended to support the war in 2003, LW tended to be against
Me: RW

Nationalism: RW tend to be nationalists, LW tend to oppose nationalism (nationalism, I advocate, is the belief that nations, especially one's own, are superior to others, from 'some others' to perhaps all)
Me: RW

Patriotism: RW tend to have patriotic feelings (simply loving your own country), LW tend to not have.
Me: RW

The threat of Islamic terrorism: RW tend to endorse the view that it�s a severe threat, LW tend to disbelieve it is a severe threat.
Me: RW

Immigration: RW tend to favor immigration on a strictly need-only basis. LW tend to welcome all with open arms
Me: RW basically, but it depends who the immigrant is. If East Asian, Latin American, European, I�m pretty LW, but if African, Islamic or a combination, I�m Far RW

Extensive political reform: RW tend to oppose, LW tend to support
Me: LW (there are major societal things I want to reverse, such as war on drugs (LW) and Islamic immigration (RW))

Tolerance: LW tend to endorse universal tolerance, RW tends to be intolerant
Me: RW (there are some things I wish would suddenly, spontaneously, simultaneously cease to exist)

[Hanson]

I'm Left Wing on 95% of your points, but obviously, some are difficult to answer in a black-or-white fashion... Also, I'm not sure how actual LWers and RWers would answer some of those points. It's be interesting to see the answers from Obama, Clinton, McClain, Huckabee, et al.

[RACETRAITOR]

All of these things are extremely subjective. To my American friend I'm a commie pinko, but he actively supports dictatorship and has said numerous times that Bush should overthrow the government and remain in power for life. So basically John McCain is a commie pinko from his perspective.

[Dome Vans]

LW = 18
RW = 1 (Nuclear energy expansion) Although I believe that renewables and Nuclear can work alongside each other. 100% renewable is not going to happen. Nuclear if used safely can be the majority power without a doubt.

[Justin Hale]

Firstly and most importantly, apologies to agnostics who cannot vote on the religion question. Since, however, agnosticism is a lack of subscription to both atheism and theism, please try to vote in accordance with what you would vote for if someone threatened to kill you if you didn't select one or the other. I used to be agnostic, but in this situation, there was never any question that atheism was a superior position to theism, so I'd have voted atheist (LW) in the absence of any mention of agnosticism. I curse myself for forgetting you guys though. In my view, theism/religion are clearly allied to the Right and atheism/agnosticism more to the Left - though not necessarily! coz I'm very RW in some ways yet a raving atheist, evolutionist, supporter of the IPCC position. Please though, agnostics, vote.... because your opinion counts!

Secondly, RACETRAITER, you advocate a very strict definition of 'subjective' because "supports dictatorship and has said numerous times that Bush should overthrow the government and remain in power for life" is lunacy!

[RACETRAITOR]

[Czarjorge]

You really should add a "somewhere in between" to the mix. In a strictly LW or RW I end up 14LW and 5RW. If you add a "middle" option I'm 6LW, 10M, and 3RW. Politics are never that black and white.

[Unposter]

I have serious disagreements about your discription of Left and Right.

I'll do my best in the limited time and scope to explain:

Religion: LW tend to be atheists and RW to be theists.
Me: I�m an atheist

Liberals tend to look at the bible as a living text in which interpretation changes over time. Also, liberals prefer the state to stay out of matters of religion. The Right sees the bible as the absolute word of God and there is only one interpretation of God's word. For the most part, Conservatives want to keep the seperation of church and state but at times they feel that certain moral positions should be legislated.

Evolution: LW tend to accept evolution uncritically and RW tend to criticize evolution.
Me: I accept evolution uncritically

Somewhat correct but I would word it differently. The left is willing to criticize evolution but only with scientific argument, not on religious grounds. The right is willing to demogogue to religious fundamentalists who believe the bible explains everything and scientific explainations fall short.

Capital punishment: LW tend to be anti-capital punishment, RW tend to be for capital punishment.
Me: Generally I�m anti, but I believe sometimes crimes are so severe, a state should put the perpetrator to death.

Good!
Of course, arguments for and against are much more complex than this but for the sake of brevity let's leave it at that.

Criticism, mockery, hatred of Islam: RW tend to criticize, mock, hate Islam, LW tend to not, or are even against the criticism, mockery, hatred of Islam.
Me: I criticize, mock, hate Islam as a position (not individual adherents)

I think most RW people would be absolutely against the mockery and hatred of Islam. I think both the Left and the Right agree that they wish more Moderate Muslims would criticize the extremists in their religion who are making a mokery of the Islamic religion. I don't care if you are left or right, mocking a religion, even Christianity just ain't cool. Legitimate criticism is perfectly alright.

The state and society: RW tend to be against significant state involvement in society, LW tend to favor state involvement in society.
Me: I tend to favor strong state involvement in society and high public spending via taxation, from a heavy police presence to investment in education.

The left prefers the state to stay out of the affairs of individuals but interfer with social entities such as businesses. Thus lefties support the 1st Amendmennt. The right prefers to stay out of the affairs of businesses but interfer with moral issues of individuals. Thus the right says that government should decide certain moral issues such as abortion and euthanesia (sp?)

The state and the economy: RW tend to favor minimal, if any, state involvement in the economy. LW tend to favor state involvement in the economy such as minimum wage
Me: I�m an economic conservative (meaning a supporter of minimal state involvement in economic matters)

Good!

Manmade climate change: RW tend to criticize the scientific consensus (Limbaugh, Buchanan, Coulter, O�Reilly), LW tend to accept the scientific consensus uncritically:
Me: LW

Conservatives fall on the side of business first, environment second. Some liberals are also business first (Marxist lets say) where as some Middle Class liberals and Greens see an environmental imperative.

Nuclear energy expansion: RW often favor it (John McCain is the sole presidential candidate to explicitly endorse it), LW tend to believe it is dangerous for several reasons and instead support renewables
Me: RW

Good!

Gay marriage: RW tend to be against, LW tend to be for
Me: LW

The right sees gay marriage as a moral and cultural issue which the state should legislate. The left says the state should not be involved in such decisions. It is up to the individual.

Abortion: RW tend be against, LW tend to be for
Me: LW

Abortion is the same. The right sees this moral and cultural issue as being a place where the state may interfer. The left says it is up to the individual.

War on drugs: RW tend to be for, LW tend to be against
Me: LW

Drugs are the same as Gay marriage and Abortion. Conservatives believe in legislation. The left believes it is an individual choice.

Israel and the Palestinians: RW tend to support Israel, LW tend to support the Palestinians.
Me: I support Israel. I don�t support a Palestinian state AT ALL in the absence of total liberalization of Islam

The Right tends to support a fundamentalist Christian belief that the state of Israel is necessary to reach certain Biblical prophecies in the Book of Revelations. Also, Israel has been a strong supporter of the Right in the War on Communism, and now the War on Terror and therefore is treated like an ally (sp?).

The left supports the right of Israel to exist but says that there is also a significant human rights disaster amongst the palestineans. The left runs the gambit from total support of a Palestinean state at the expense of Israel to we should blame the Israelis, Arabs and Palestineans equally for the current state of problems. The right tends to be anti-terrorist of any kind. The left runs the gambit from violence against the state is necessary to no act of violence is legitimate.

Iraq War: RW tended to support the war in 2003, LW tended to be against
Me: RW

The right tends to believe that war is an acceptable part of international relations. The left sees war as anything from always wrong to a matter of last resort. The right tends to believe that acts of agression as pre-emptive strikes are okay where as the left sees pre-emptive strikes as the same as invasion.

Nationalism: RW tend to be nationalists, LW tend to oppose nationalism (nationalism, I advocate, is the belief that nations, especially one's own, are superior to others, from 'some others' to perhaps all)
Me: RW

Agree that the Right sees a need for Nationalism where as the left sees nationalism as an inherent danger and putitng more ephasis on the character of the individual rather than the sterotypes of the culture. The right does tend to believe that it is possible to compare and say one culture is better than others. The left tends to say such comparisons are generally wrong, and always abusive.

Patriotism: RW tend to have patriotic feelings (simply loving your own country), LW tend to not have.
Me: RW

Both the Right and the Left are patriotic but tend to express it in different ways. For the right, somewhat like religion, patriotism is part of a group identity which needs to be very publicly and loudly proclaimed. For the left, it has more to do with individual acts of love of country and maybe more quietly expressed. For the left, there is little to no need for public displays of patriotism. A leftist might be proud that he or she lives in a country where you can criticize the government. A rightist might see criticism as a sign of not being patriotic.

The threat of Islamic terrorism: RW tend to endorse the view that it�s a severe threat, LW tend to disbelieve it is a severe threat.
Me: RW

Agree about the right but I would express the left differently. The left believes that it is better to handle the the threat of terrorism by non-violent ways, improving the economic and human rights conditions of areas where there is a lot of terrorism and demonstrating that the U.S. is a good neighbor that can be worked with and not a violent neighbor that needs to be defended against.

Immigration: RW tend to favor immigration on a strictly need-only basis. LW tend to welcome all with open arms
Me: RW basically, but it depends who the immigrant is. If East Asian, Latin American, European, I�m pretty LW, but if African, Islamic or a combination, I�m Far RW

The right sees people as members of nations where as the left sees people as people regardless of their nationality, religion etc...

Extensive political reform: RW tend to oppose, LW tend to support
Me: LW (there are major societal things I want to reverse, such as war on drugs (LW) and Islamic immigration (RW))

The right tends to prefer political reform when it negatively effects liberals. Liberals prefer political reform when it negatively effects conservatives. There might be some examples of non-political politicians, and I would love to hear one if you have one.

Tolerance: LW tend to endorse universal tolerance, RW tends to be intolerant
Me: RW (there are some things I wish would suddenly, spontaneously, simultaneously cease to exist

Your response in brilliant by the way!?!?

The left does tend to look at things on an individual basis. The right tends to believe there is a strict code of right and wrong and should be applied to all matters.

Good luck!!!

[JMO]

You tend to lump stuff together into one statement. For example..

[JMO]

double post

[Justin Hale]

[blurgalurgalurga]

I'm no Red, but I'm definitely a pinko...my right wing is so withered I basically just flap about in a tight circle, like a whirling dervish. Much like those with withered left wings, I suppose.
I got all 'LW' except for the one about nuclear power, if I remember correctly. Seems to be a pretty good way to get energy, and also we can use the depleted uranium in the ammunition we sell to the more barbaric peoples.
Oh yeah--I love my country, too, but I am no nationalist. I love lots of countries.
And yeah, I do mock Muslims. It's a guilty pleasure. I mock all religions actually...not that it ever does much good.

[Young FRANKenstein]

LW:RW 15:4

[Czarjorge]

I put my right leg in my pants first when dressing the morning, what does that mean? What about the fact that I'm right handed?

[Young FRANKenstein]