From: amp <amp@pobox.com>
Date: Tue, 19 Nov 1996 00:01:15 -0800 (PST)
To: jimo@astea.com
Subject: Re: Extreme Left/Right
Message-ID: <01IC0JILZQV49FMADN@MAIL-CLUSTER.PCY.MCI.NET>
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To: jimo@astea.com, cypherpunks@toad.com
Date: Tue Nov 19 01:59:15 1996
> I always had trouble understanding what people meant when they used the 
> terms "extreme left" and "extreme right".  Then, about 4 months ago, I
> saw a guy define the "political spectrum" the way (he said) it used to be
> defined before the definitions were corrupted (by whomever wants to 
> divide - and conquer - the people).  It made sense to me.  A spectrum 
> afterall, at least when we're talking about colors, starts with one type
> of color and graduates to other, DIFFERENT colors.

The real problem you are having is that the political 'spectrum' is not 1 
dimensional (a line). If you describe it in 2 dimensions, it makes a lot 
more sense. The libertarians have a diagram they call the worlds smallest 
political quiz that describes it fairly well. It can be found at 
http://www.libertarian.com/wwlp/docs/awspq.html?quiz

I first saw mention of a chart similar to this in the 60s. It was a way of 
describing beliefs politically that was put forth by Jerry Pournelle. (Who 
is available on the net btw.)  

 
> When I used to listen to a certain "leftist" radio station broadcasting 
> out of New York City, they would talk about "left-wing", communist 
> dictatorships and "right-wing", fascist dictatorships.  A dictatorship is
> a dictatorship!!!  The "wing" that it comes from makes no difference!! 

Yup. You hit the nail on the head here. This is something that any thinking 
person should recognise. The basic way we are taught to understand and 
reference politics =makes=no=sense=.


>  The 
> way the media defines these things makes no sense; you can't have a 
> dictatorship on BOTH sides of a POLITICAL SPECTRUM no more than you can 
> have YELLOW on both sides of the COLOR SPECTRUM.

Take a gander at the libertarian's chart. I think it is a more accurqte way 
of describing people, and in fact is similar in some ways to what you 
describe. A philosophy is charted based on how one views personal and 
property rights.

amp

===
amp@pobox.com
Earth First! We'll strip mine the other planets later!
===
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