When I received my results for the political compass test, I was initially shocked that I came out as a Libertarian Left. I took the test again, and I answered the same questions more truthfully, and still I got the results as a Libertarian Left, right in the middle of the third quadrant of the compass. However, after a few minutes of reflection, I realized that being Libertarian Left was not really that far off from my political beliefs. Nonetheless, being a Libertarian Left does not mean that I am politically incorrect.
Morris defines political correctness as the following phenomenon: because certain statements will lead listeners to make adverse inferences about the type of speaker, speakers have an incentive to alter what they say to avoid that inference (2001). Beckwirth elaborates that “political correctness” refers to a web of interconnected, though not mutually dependent, ideological beliefs that have challenged the traditional nature of the university as well as traditional curriculum, standards of excellence, and views about justice, truth, and the objectivity of knowledge; while simultaneously accentuating our cultural, gender, class, and racial differences in the name of campus diversity (1994). For example, a politically correct thinker would call a black man “African-American” rather than “nigger”, “black”, or “colored”. I believe that based on these definitions, I am politically correct.
Moreover, I think that my beliefs as a Libertarian Left are only moderately common within society. According to the website, a lot of people are more Authoritarian Right on the political compass. The only other people with me on the Libertarian Left quadrant are Alex Tsipras, the Dalai Lama, Neslon Mandela, and Francois Hollande.
Works Cited
Morris, S. (2001) Political Correctness. Journal of Political Economy; 109 (2). 231-265.
Beckwirth, F.J. (1994). The Epistemology of Political Correctness. Public Affairs Quarterly; 8(4). 331-340.
