Liberal or Conservative?

So, something being part of one's religion makes something "warranted"? Sorry, but that just doesn't fly.

If a religion or religions hold traditions that say that a certain group of people is wrong, whether or not people who follow one of those religions treat people according to their beliefs or not, their belief is bigoted. There could be a religion that the scriptures of that belief teach that all people of [place race here] race is wrong. To believe in that belief system would make someone bigoted towards people of said race, and they'd have another label added to their mix--racist. I also consider when someone calls religions not based on the bible or koran to be "cults" to be bigoted as well. To claim that being against a group of people isn't bigoted because it's part of one's religion is false.

Something to consider about the person's post you were responding to--



you seemed to look past the fact that the word "often" was in that sentence.

I'm going to change some words around to see how it sounds to you:



Now tell me that the Xyzzy viewpoint isn't bigoted.

I don't have a problem with people who are bigoted who can admit they are bigoted, it's when people can't admit that they are bigoted when they actually are that something is wrong. Most truly-religious people don't want to think of themselves as bigoted or closed minded, but most of the time, they are. Pat Robertson himself probably doesn't think he's bigoted, but it's quite apparent that he is.

There are things that society as a whole believe are wrong, primarily because these things remove the right for someone to make their own decisions--rape, murder, and child molestation. These things all disallow the recipient from making their own decisions, murder being the ultimate in this. These sorts of things can be broken apart logically as to why people consider them wrong. If the only thing someone can say is wrong about something is, "Well it's just nasty" or "It's just wrong" or "My religion says so", then believing that is wrong is a bigoted belief--and again, there's nothing wrong with believing that, but to claim that it's not bigoted is false.

I'd have to say that the SL community is largely American politically.

A group's political orientation reflects the attitude of it's individual members, so so how would you determine it if not by looking at it's members and their opinions?

Well, the _real_question should be: Does it make it sense to try sticking a political label like "liberal" or "conservative" to the SL community? Obviously not... there's no political motivation behind joining the game, so you'll end up with representatives of the whole political spectrum (except maybe technophobes), just look at this thread. This makes it impossible to draw conclusions from being a member of the SL community like "He/She has this political attitude.". A group reflects the attitube of it's elements, but the value of a label stuck to the group is measured by how it is reflected in it's members in return. It's absolutely right, for example, to call a Green Party "ecological" simply because the dominating part of it's supporters is concerned with ecological issues (it's probably why they support that party in the first place). However, this doesn't work for SL on a political level simply because there is no connection between playing SL and politics.

I'm a moderate... meaning most my views are right but i am big on the environment.. And think everyone should mind their own business when it comes to anothers relationship...

You do know that American's aren't all cookie cutters (meaning the same) And that there are some that do think for themselves... -.-

meh why would it be? your either a conservative or a leftest.. Have you read any other countries papers? meh you got the leftest and the rightest everywhere.. jeeshhh...

That was my immediate thought.

It really is a pointless discussion since SL is a very multi-national place and the terms "liberal" and "conservative" have vastly different (and sometimes even opposite) practical meanings in different parts of the world.

I will simply say that I feel SL is becoming more and more representative of the thoughts and beliefs of the world as a whole as it grows. Now the trick is to decide what the thoughts and beliefs of the world as a whole are and you have answrered your question. =P

See, what do you mean?

Do you mean social conservative? fiscal conservative? Social liberal? Fiscal liberal? where do you draw the line? What about people who are far too complex for a one dimensional continuum to describe their views?

to a point, but a conservative is still a conservative.. the basis is the same across the board... just the application is different...

That's actually not entirely true.

Politics aren't black and white - I find that the Political Compass test gives a slightly more accurate view, if still somewhat skewed.

http://politicalcompass.org/

It's an interesting test, worth taking.

Moving to Sandbox.

hmm Conservative here

i took the test.. i dont' know what to think... I am concerned.. I am supposed to be a mean conservative

Your political compass
Economic Left/Right: -4.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.59

"Every time someone's political affiliation is mentioned, there is an additional modifier: "conservative" or "moderate". It's not enough to just say "Republican" anymore—you have to be careful to say whether they belong to the reasonable wing, or the foaming-at-the-mouth batshit-insane crazypants greedy wing." - Pharyngula

I am a moderate libertarian independent

Uhm, the opposite of conservative (sticking to the well-tried) is actually progressive (advancing the society), not "left". Just take a look at the Communist Party in Russia (whose members are mostly older than 40 years and demanding free dental prostheses among other things..).

sorry can't discuss russia here, it just pisses me off what is going on there, stupid bullies!
not the ppl.. thought i would have to point that out.. sigh, mr napleon over there is who i am talking about..

I'm the same as Ghandi on that test!

Economic Left/Right: -6.13
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.67

No wonder I disagree with so many Americans on here, I'm nearly a commie according to that.

What did others get?

To answer Crow's orginal question, I think SL is clearly a liberal community. My guess is that even the staunchest of conservatives has to have a lot of tolerance to embrace this free-for-all where everyone is letting it all hang out. The entire marketing catch phrase "Your World, Your Imagination" is very "do your own thing," a concept which is the bane of most social conservatives. I can't imagine any regular contributors of sites like RedState or FreeRepublic hanging around here (but I may be surprised there as well.)

That being said, I run across very few people who fit neatly into either box and almost no one who doesn't cross the road on at least a few issues. SL in particular, tends to be not only a creative community but one where I would peg the general IQ sample to be above the norm. This, in and of itself, will lean to independent thinkers who reject straight party-line on anything and like to walk their own path.

I did that little political compass thing and I was rather disappointed there is no middle ground on it, but here are my results
http://politicalcompass.org/printablegraph?ec=0.25&soc=1.13

I was a bit disappointed with the emphasis on multi-nationals in the economic part which I have strong views about coming from a small country that is losing its culture and I think that is why I was pushed so far left.

well as a person of Scottish decent, I haven't forgotten my heritage.

It was just an example to show you that "conservative" and "left" aren't mutually exclusive.

Billybob, that's a VERY centrist result.

I'm -9s on both axes, just to give you an idea.

I have told yall I get a bad rap based on stereotypes

It depends on your perspective. To an ultra conservative everything looks liberal and to an ultra liberal everything looks conservative. The forums are certainly more polar than I've seen in game.