Compassion

[Anastasius]

Would one expect someone who had very strong Socialist views to also be a compassionate person ?

What's prompted this is experience on another forum where there is one member ...let's call him Jacob ..(who I think is a troll TBH) who avers to be a staunch Socialist and bludgeons us all to death. But if any forum member comes by hard times, illness, death of a loved one then Jacob is always silent. I kind of thought that the two would go hand in hand but then again perhaps I'm wrong. Neither have I known Jacob to offer to do anything for anyone, to give anything to anyone, to donate anything to anyone. Which I find strange for a Socialist.

Interested to hear people's thoughts.

[Serial_Apologist]

Oh I hope that's not me.

Have there been any threads in which people have been asked about causes or charities to which they've given money?

[Richard Barrett]

In my view, socialism is born from compassion: the idea of "from each according to their abilities, to each according to their need". But people don't necessarily look at every part of a forum, maybe it's possible to miss someone announcing a sad event in their life or whatever. I know I've missed such things here, and this forum is relatively small and I'm not personally acquainted with that many other members...

[richardfinegold]

Some people are Socialist in the abstract, but not in their personal dealings.

[MrGongGong]

Some people like to "self identify" ?
There is a certain Beano-inspired-character politician who "self identifies" as a Christian when all his actions would indicate that he isn't.
If I was one I would be outraged but a huge number of people seem quite happy about it.

[Boilk]

After taking THIS TEST (anonymously) at politicalcompass.org turns out I identify as more libertarian and more left of centre than I thought.

It seems the Right-leaning mainstream media hasn't had any effect on me, after all!

[Stanfordian]

Would one expect someone who had very strong Socialist views to also be a compassionate person ?

What's prompted this is experience on another forum where there is one member ...let's call him Jacob ..(who I think is a troll TBH) who avers to be a staunch Socialist and bludgeons us all to death. But if any forum member comes by hard times, illness, death of a loved one then Jacob is always silent. I kind of thought that the two would go hand in hand but then again perhaps I'm wrong. Neither have I known Jacob to offer to do anything for anyone, to give anything to anyone, to donate anything to anyone. Which I find strange for a Socialist.

Interested to hear people's thoughts.

It's a perennial problem, isn't it. As my old university professor used to say simply: just because he doesn't or can't display that compassionate behaviour himself it doesn't mean that he doesn't believe in compassion, fairness and equality etc. On the other hand he might just like saying he's a socialist.

[Pulcinella]

After taking THIS TEST (anonymously) at politicalcompass.org turns out I identify as more libertarian and more left of centre than I thought.

It seems the Right-leaning mainstream media hasn't had any effect on me, after all!

I scored -7.38 and -5.54.

[vinteuil]

After taking THIS TEST (anonymously) at politicalcompass.org turns out I identify as more libertarian and more left of centre than I thought.

It seems the Right-leaning mainstream media hasn't had any effect on me, after all!

... I wonder if this test is based on US parameters. I too was surprized to find I was more left of centre than I wd've thought.

I wdn't be at all surprized to find the great majority of forumistas somewhere in the bottom left quadrant...


.

[LMcD]

-5.88 and -2.82, which puts me in the bottom left quadrant and makes me 'Left/Libertarian' which is what I expected, I think.
(Mind you, my son once told me, in a friendly way, that he thought I'd been 'a little Victorian' when he was young, which - rightly or wrongly - I took as something of a compliment).

[Sir Velo]

After taking THIS TEST (anonymously) at politicalcompass.org turns out I identify as more libertarian and more left of centre than I thought.

It seems the Right-leaning mainstream media hasn't had any effect on me, after all!

Interesting test but it fails to include the possibility of a "neutral" response to many of the questions. I find myself not really that interested in some questions.

Overall, I see I am closer to the mahatma than I would have expected, though more of an anarchist!

[Bryn]

[french frank]

Interesting test but it fails to include the possibility of a "neutral" response to many of the questions.

Intentional, of course, in that it forces you make a decision, a 'truer' picture perhaps for being down to instinct rather than reason.

I was a bit more bottom left than I'd thought (Gandhi comparatively Thatcherite!): in some respects I would have thought of myself as more authoritarian than was shown (which brings to mind the chinless Molesworth skoolmaster: "You may think I'm soft, but I'm hard, damned hard.")

Oooh, just seen Bryn's - that's about me too

[Conchis]

Some people are Socialist in the abstract, but not in their personal dealings.

I have met a lot of people to whom this applies, unfortunately.

[Bryn]

I have met a lot of people to whom this applies, unfortunately.

A fair few have gained leadership roles in counties labelling themselves as socialist.