User:Barryjon

Hello RationalWiki[edit]

Though I have very strong personal beliefs, both religious and political, I like constructive dialogue and although I can be an idealist, I try not to be an ideologue. In fact, I really don't like dogmatism, especially the kind that comes bottled and requires no thought. I especially don't like people who take a POV on scientific matters purely on the basis of their religious or political ideology; that to me seems like a kop out. I always respect those with sincerely held views, especially if they are well considered and return the respect. In my youth I encountered a lot of very unpleasant fundamentalist Christians that have left me with an abiding distaste for such people. On the positive side, this exposure raised my interest in rationality and logic. I quite like it here and once I am more settled in I hope to be able to contribute a bit more.

I work as a BA for a bank. I am also a part time student of financial economics. Outside of all that I am interested in politics, philosophy and morality (especially the search for some kind of common and objective secular morality. Musically I like Rock, Pop, Indie, Opera, Metal; pretty much anything really. Oh and I love a game of Hold 'Em.

I'm quite an open person, so if there's anything else you'd like to know feel free to ask. I'm also really quite new to this Wiki thing. I mean, I know what a Wiki is, but I've never really done much on one. If you are interested, you can find me on Twitter or Facebook (though I only add real world friends).

Political Views[edit]

I lean towards what John Tomasi and Jason Brennean call neoclassical liberalism^[1]. I strongly believe in free markets, capitalism and equality of opportunity. I support goals of the excellent NHS. I support a robust social safety net. I support democracy but don't believe the majority have a right to oppress minorities or suppress dissent. I don't understand and cannot bring myself to support any form of monarchism. I see a big difference between corporatism and capitalism and I do not support the former.

The Whole Climate Change Thing[edit]

It really annoys me when people reject the science of climate change on the sole basis that it is inconvenient to their political viewpoint. I "believe" man is most likely to be largely responsible for global warming. I am not an expert and so have to defer to their expertise on this. I have no reason not to trust scientists and plenty of reasons to trust them (among them being that my boyfriend is a scientist^[2]). I think there may be a valid argument about the most cost effective response and I think denying the facts just makes any further argument implausible. In any case, dumping pollution into the air, and burning up a valuable finite resource is nasty and wasteful whatever about its impact on the climate.

Political Values Test/Quiz[edit]

From: http://slackhalla.org/~demise/test/socialattitude.php

Radicalism 69.25 Socialism 25 Tenderness 50

These scores indicate that you are a moderate progressive; this is the political profile one might associate with a university professor. It appears that you are skeptical towards religion, and have a pragmatic attitude towards humanity in general.

Your attitudes towards economics appear capitalist, and combined with your social attitudes this creates the picture of someone who would generally be described as libertarian.

To round out the picture you appear to be, political preference aside, a centrist with few strong opinions.

This concludes our analysis; we hope you found your results accurate, useful, and interesting.

Unlike many other political tests found on the Internet which base themselves on untested (and usually ideologically motivated) ideas, this inventory is adapted from Hans Eysenck's own political inventory which was developed after extensive empirical investigations in the 20th Century.