Posted on 01/19/2005 8:18:40 AM PST by Valin
The 40 Question Reality-Based Community Quiz Many people on the left refer to themselves as members of the "reality based community" which is quite fascinating when you consider all of the bizarre beliefs and conspiracy theories that they buy into.
So, as I was pondering this, I thought back to the 8 questions that Kevin Drum came up with a while back and an idea was born.
I decided to put together a little 40 question, "yes/no" quiz for liberals, based on things that I've seen written by liberal columnists, on lefty blogs, and in left-wing forums.
Furthermore, I'm actually hoping that some liberal bloggers will give their answers to these questions. In fact, I plan to link to any left-wing blog that actually finishes this quiz and lets me know about it.
Seriously, spread the word to bloggers on the left and let's see how they score. RWN's leftie commentators are welcome to participate as well. I'd love to see where they really stand on these questions...
The "Reality-Based" Community Yes/No Quiz
1) Do you think a significant percentage of prominent Republicans would secretly like to see the US become a theocracy?
2) Do you believe it was a mistake to go to war in Afghanistan?
3) In your opinion, is it a myth that American soldiers were spit on when they returned from Vietnam?
4) Michael Moore's distribution group, Front Row Entertainment, received help marketing "Fahrenheit 9/11" in Lebanon from the terrorist group Hezbollah. Do you believe that was appropriate?
5) Do you think you can be a patriotic American and support Iraq's anti-occupation resistance?
6) Do you think there is a significant chance that the capture of Saddam Hussein was timed to help George Bush politically?
7) In your opinion, is there a significant chance that Diebold is rigging elections in order to help the GOP?
8) Is George Bush more "evil" than Saddam Hussein?
9) In your opinion, is there a significant chance that Republicans rigged some of the Senate races in 2002?
10) Was Ingrid Newkirk right when she said, "There is no rational basis for saying that a human being has special rights. A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy. They're all mammals"?
11) Is there any nation in the world that's more of a force for good than the United States?
12) In your opinion, is the US a "stingy" country?
13) Is there a significant chance that America will become a fascist state in let's say the next 10 years?
14) Do you think there's a significant possibility that liberals will be rounded up and put into some sort of camps in let's say the next 10 years?
15) Is America an imperialist nation in your opinion?
16) Do you think "losing" in Vietnam was good for America?
17) Are you sometimes ashamed to be an American?
18) Do you think it's wrong for the President to put the welfare of Americans ahead of the welfare of people in other countries?
19) Do you see significant, noteworthy, parallels between America and Nazi Germany?
20) In your opinion, was Iraq primarily a "war for oil"?
21) What about Afghanistan? Was that primarily a "war for oil" as well?
22) Do you think it's likely a draft will be declared by the end of George Bush's term?
23) Do you think Iraq was preordained and planned before 9/11 ever took place?
24) In your opinion, is sleep deprivation a form of torture?
25) Would you prefer that we lose in Iraq?
26) Do you believe anyone who goes to Afghanistan or Iraq as a soldier is fighting for an evil cause under an evil commander in chief?
27) Was Michael Moore correct when he said, "There is no terrorist threat in this country. This is a lie?"
28) Is there in your opinion a significant chance that the Bush administration either was behind 9/11 or knew it was coming and allowed it to happened?
29) Do you think there is a significant possibility that the Bush administration had a hand in Paul Wellstone's death?
30) Do you believe that somebody rigged the vote in Ohio during the 2004 Presidential election?
31) In your opinion, do you think there is a significant chance that the Bush administration was behind the anthrax letters that were mailed out to some members of the media and US Senate?
32) Had George Bush lost the election, do you believe there was a significant chance Republicans would have thrown a coup?
33) Do you believe there's a significant chance that Karl Rove or someone else in the Bush administration had something to do with the last minute appearance of the Bin Laden tape right before the Nov. 2nd election?
34) Do you believe comparisons of George Bush to Hitler are appropriate?
35) Do you think Communism could work if the right people were running it?
36) Do you believe that black Americans who support and vote Republican are betraying their race?
37) Do you think people who say Al-Qaeda doesn't exist are right?
38) Are the insurgents in Iraq roughly comparable to Americans who fought against the British in your opinion?
39) Do you believe Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur was correct when she said, "One could say that Osama bin Laden and these non-nation-state fighters with religious purpose are very similar to those kind of atypical revolutionaries that helped to cast off the British crown"?
40) Do you believe there's a significant chance that the US Government knows where Bin Laden is and is deliberately allowing him to remain free?
Scoring
1-5 Yes Answers: Everybody has a few oddball beliefs, so this is nothing to worry about.
6-10 Yes Answers: OK, now you should be starting to get worried...well, maybe not if you're a contrarian....hmmm...uh....
11-15 Yes Answers: If you scored this high, you should be comfortable at the Democratic Underground.
16-20 Yes Answers: Hello "Reality Based Community", good-bye reality!
21-40 Yes Answers: Hello Noam Chomsky, Ted Rall, & Norman Mailer. When people talk about the "loony left," they mean you!
Hey there, I'm a liberal too (check my profile). People here are generally mature and cool-headed. What's kept me out of trouble (so far) is that I don't argue ideology. I don't see freerepublic as a place for that. This is, to me, a conservative forum. Trying to make it into a generic debate site would cheapen it, I think. I like to post on generic threads like this one (with quizzes and fun stuff like that), or on non-ideological topics (sports sometimes, or science), because the people here are pretty groovy.
So yeah, my advice is to not try to argue liberal ideology here unless you have a real meaty point to make. Otherwise, well, blood in the water, gonna need a bigger boat, all that applies.
FromTheLeft
Nobody By That Name.
The dreaded Vikings Kitties strike again.
Wow, I thought his post was a little troll-y but not that bad. Maybe he did something on another thread, though.
You can be patriotic, believe that the US presence in Iraq is counterproductive, and want the occupation to end immediately. You cannot be patriotic and support the *tactics* of the "resistance".
20) In your opinion, was Iraq primarily a "war for oil"?
Well, if you go down the chain of reasoning far enough, our interest in the Middle East is mostly about oil, so in that sense yes is a plausible answer. Of course many liberals will take the more direct approach and claim that we went into Iraq solely to steal their oil and enrich Halliburton.
24) In your opinion, is sleep deprivation a form of torture?
Depending on the specifics, it can be.
40) Do you believe there's a significant chance that the US Government knows where Bin Laden is and is deliberately allowing him to remain free?
It's slightly possible that we know where OBL is and are not capturing him immediately so that we can monitor his communications and gain further intelligence. This is of course distinct from the moonbat theory that Bush is letting OBL remain at large in order to keep us scared of terrorists.
1-40, all no
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