Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Liberal ? Conservative? Can't Decide? - Take the test

Here's an attempt to devise a tool to identify your opinion on social and economic issues. And to give you a tag as 'conservative' or 'liberal'.
While there exists no clear distinction in a number of cases, here's an attempt nevertheless.

Answer the following 5 questions and find out.

1. Homosexuality
a) I accept it as being beyond an individual's control and am willing to accept homosexuals as equals.
b) I do not believe there is a place for them in Indian society and that it is unnatural to be one.

2. Migration
a) I would prefer to see people who are similar to me in my hometown, ie if I am Telugu, I prefer to see most jobs in Hyderabad taken by Telugus. North Indians belong in the north and have no place in the South. They are here just to make the most of the IT revolution happening largely in the south.
b) I like seeing people different from me, they make life different and enrich the place I live in with their food and culture.

3) Marriage
a) I am in favour of mixed caste, mixed religion and mixed race marriages, and willing to marry from outside my community. I am not necessarily inclined to my parents' view of the world and am willing to challenge what is generally perceived to be custom and tradition if the need be.
b) I believe people from different castes are culturally incompatible, and see myself as preserving my community's way of life - be it language, customs or tradition. My parents/family have a big role to play in my marriage.

4) Cultural Issues/Birth
a) I believe in woman's rights but also believe there is an inherent division of labour between women and men. I am against abortion and pre-marital sex as they are against my culture.
b) I believe in choice, so I believe people are inclined to do as they like. Be it pre-marital sex or Abortion. I do not have strong cultural/religious inclinations.

5) Standard Trade/Economics
a) I believe in Open Competitive markets that favour free movement of goods and labour.
b) I believe in some degree of protection as competitive markets can be disastrous for poor people in my region.

As I said, we cannot put the two into watertight compartments, but the idea was to help think about a few things that can help you decide.
Barring 5 which is a rather standard question that our political parties battle on ( On which you are entitled to your own opinion somewhere between a and b or something else), I believe the first four do pretty much pin you down to one of liberal/otherwise.
If you are A B A B A, you are inclined to the liberal view of the world. The exact opposite is a very conservative view of the world.
Either way, if you think you lie between or if there are more than two alternatives to either of my questions 1-4. I would be glad to find out about that and your view of the world.