Voline.org, an anarchist Web site offers a 12-question quiz to help you determine which historic figure, past or present, you most resemble. (I took the quiz, and I’m Noam Chomsky. Who are you?)
Recent Posts
- Day 14: Louisiana Senator Approvingly Compares Trump to Stalin
- Day 13: Elon Musk Flexes His Muscles
- Day 12: While Elon Musk Takes Over, We Podcast With Driftglass and Blue Gal
- Day 11: Harm of Fascist Regime’s Foreign Aid Freeze Comes Into View
- Day 10: The Fascist Regime Blames a Plane Crash on Nonwhite People
Michael Bakunin
http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/bakunin/
here is the link to find out who he is, i never heard of him before.
I got him too.
but I never like such forced choice questions I’m not sure what the words mean in the answer is waht I mean byu them
and my predilictions wre not always present among the chices I had to amke
I, too, was told that the “spirit of Michael Bakunin is strong in you.”
Well, mebbe so, mebbe not. Expressing it that way makes me feel a bit like something from “Rosemary’s Baby.”
Like you, Teach, I thought the answers lacked a certain range. And of the choices offered, I found that several could apply in each case, depending . . .
I was always terrible at True-False questions in school, because I could see all the shades of gray that were never reflected in the simplistic questions.
So why, people, are we expending all this time and energy on a web site quiz, for pity’s sake? 😉 Oh my.
Michael Bakunin here also.
Interesting – I always felt I was more Jeffersonian in my thinking than Marxist. Since I have lots of colonial history books at home I’ll have to compare Bakunin to Jefferson and see…
The questions were ambiguous in some cases leading to some concern about results.
It was fun though 🙂
Me, too. Mikhail Bakunin.
Hmmm.
I got Chomsky too. No clue why.
I chose many answers emphasizing organization and compassion.
Did you look at the “results” page after it told you who you resemble? Chomsky seems by far the most popular, and the most innocuous of the names I recognize. I think “historical figure” is a non-forthcoming if not misleading description of what you get from that site…
the thing. Even the more detailed Political Compass is seriously flawed which is a shame because it is a really good idea. Left and Right derive from the French Revolution and are completely obsolete.
It would an excellent project to do a good version of the political compass or even to extend it into three dimensions.
I got, “The presence is weak, but the spirit of Noam Chomsky is within you”. hmmmm.
I had a difficult time passing over Bob Dylan on that first question. . .
I got Nestor Makhno.
Nice guys Finnish last… oh, I’m so sorry.
Albert Einstein or Tom Paine?
How to choose?
I had a tough choice, too–but mine was between Lenin and Castro (I chose Castro in the end).
Alan
Maverick Leftist
I won’t vouch for Jacoby’s 100 million number, but we know it was a large number. Lenin is thought to be responsible for about 14 million of those victims. Again, the exact number can be debated, but I don’t admire Lenin at all.
Life is short but art is long.
Me, too. Didn’t have to even think about that one.
He covered everything!
to the victims of capitalism? And who, exactly, were Lenin’s “victims”? The other side of the war, who wanted to grab back land and wealth for the former land barons and other rich folks?
Alan
Maverick Leftist
died as a result of his economic policies and his indifference to the suffering they caused.
Getting good information is hard because of all the disinformation spread by both sides of the Cold War. Here is a something I googled:
Spark Notes. Again, I don’t vouch for exact numbers, or even this source, which I know nothing about. But if the principle is to criticize a government for the suffering that their economic polices cause, Lenin and Stalin have to go down as two of the worst leaders in history.
whom Lenin did not want to take over as leader–I would have much preferred Trotsky, who Stalin exiled and later assassinated. (Even Stalin, I believe, was not quite the monster he has been made out to be–but that’s such an uphill battle for that minority school of thought among historians, and I don’t consider it really worth it to fight to change the record from “ultimate evil” to “a more complex picture, but all in all he did more bad than good things”.)
As you say, “getting good information is hard because of all the disinformation spread by both sides”. I think you have to read a lot about the subject, decide what historians you are going to trust based on what they report in other, more verifiable areas; and at the end of the day just choose the sources you find most credible.
Problem is, it’s so damned hard to find someone who isn’t either just following the majority line of thought (“communism BAD, end of story”) or reacting vociferously against it (“I’m a communist, so all communist leaders were heroes!”). So I can’t, on this subject, hope to “prove” anything.
But just be careful about accepting conventional wisdom, especially about people or events that are extremely “(in)famous”. Look what the CW says about Gandhi and Mandela, that I think I showed was wrong in my last diary. Or look at other examples…here, I’ve got a good one for you. The following op-ed piece was written about 75 years ago, by someone who is still a household name, and almost universally admired. Yet I’d wager the vast majority of people would be shocked to read the essay and see the byline. Can you identify the author? If you give up, try googling a line like “unholy brood of cranks, anarchists and pedagogues” and prepare to be surprised:
I tend to agree with these sentiments, obviously.
Alan
Maverick Leftist
So while drinking my coffee and trying to wake up, I took the quiz and ended up with Trotsky who I had barely heard of. The only interesting sidenote I could add to this is that reading about Trotsky is that Deigo Rivera became a friend of his, putting Trotsky in a few of his paintings….and I happen to have 3 Rivera prints in my living room.
See, there ya go–how bad could he be? 😉
Alan
Maverick Leftist
Einstein I think was a humanitarian, Paine a revolutionary. Ended up Chomsky by a wide margin. Felt like the quiz was designed to separate those who feel violence may be justified from those who don’t.
And wound up a Nestorian (ugh, sorry again). Perhaps as a pragmatist revolutionary who is very cynical about the potential outcomes of violent revolution.
ALthough, as the test was designed by Anarchists- one has to think that the answers which lead to prominent Anarchists would be the “right” ones.
We must be twins…
Noam Chomsky.
Hey, I can’t help it if they didn’t have any questions about U.S. foreign policy, Chomsky’s major concern and an area where we differ markedly to say the least!
Alan
Maverick Leftist
I was Chomsky also, and I had the same issue with Einstein Vs. Paine – can’t remember who I chose…
taking that little quiz, since none of the options for any of the questions were what I would ideally choose.
But then, I’m not a leftist, so, of course I’m going to have trouble choosing between Lenin and Castro…
As I also was Chomsky, may I suggest this quiz is typical of the anarchist movement – crap.
In any case, what were you doing on an anarchist site, Susan? I realise things ain’t good where you are, but it is a bit early for revolution, isn’t it?
Everybody hates my freedom, that’s why.
the meter went crazy, the server froze, and all I got was a look like a confused puppy dog= head twisted sideways, and this time, it’s eye’s were crossed !!!
what the hell am I ?????
It sounds like you could be a White House junior staffer with a liberal arts major from an Ivy League college.
Or it thinks you are that Coulter woman.
I got Mikhail Bakunin. I love chaos so why not anarchy?
Hmmm. Maybe my Bakunin “connection” helps explain why my desk usually looks like an archeological dig.
http://www.politicalcompass.org/ am trying to see if I can make a link. This is a serious quiz on political leanings that takes about 6 minutes or so. Very interesting.
I followed your suggestion from an earlier diary(what are you’re favorite topics to discuss) telling me how to post a link..thanks. I think I might know what I’m doing now.
I saw your comment where you posted a link, good going. Lord knows its a constant effort to keep up with all the things required to be a blogger.
BTW I am taking the poll you recommended, and maybe you should do a diary of it. Didn’t finish it however, I think I might have done this poll before.
I took that quiz several years ago and was reminded of it from this diary…did it again and ended up about the same…very libertarian left.
I am going to try to start to do a few diaries. Sometimes it’s hard for me to be here due to my health. I’m here at times it seems 24/7 then have to rest for a day or so. Never sure when I’ll feel good enough to be consistant.
I have physical problems myself, can you write me at my email address and we can talk.
ok but it might not be for a few days or later in the day. I don’t usually really get with it until late in the afternoon. If I remember right you were also the person who wrote they don’t like profane language?….while I have curbed my language a lot lately on this site I tend to be very very profane usually.
lol yes I am the one that said that, but I am tolerant. I am a reformed swearer, and we are the worst kind about the subject, kinda like ex smokers. I was mosting referring to the use of profanity(and descriptive sexual phrases) on the sites, and mostly the f word, but I give in to the will of the people on this one. I think I used the word damn on one of my posts today. Anyway I got down off my high horse on this one. OK. Still want to hear from you, you live in Cal. right?
Yes, live in the Bakersfield area(yuk) and just sent you a short email. I will say about my language that I use it as an adjective mostly and never direct it anyone(unless it politicians or doctors). I do not believe in ever calling people names in real life not even stupid(even if they deserve it)..just doesn’t get you anywhere. And never ever call children stupid or anything else along those lines.
I’ve taken it before, but it was fun to do it again (a few questions have changed, and they’ve got new leaders to compare oneself with). I got:
Economic Left/Right: -9.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.36
That puts me right next to Mandela, just slightly to the left of him. Sounds good! 🙂
Alan
Maverick Leftist
Yeah, I thought that was a good site with a legitimate questions. I noticed today on the bottom it said it had been updated in Jan. of this year so thats good.
I never thought that much about myself as to where I was politically. I always just thought I was a normal, average person but it seems that any tests I do take along those lines I end up extemely radical lefist. Which is ok with me.