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HN is the first place I realized the political spectrum is less of a line with end points (or more commonly represented as going infinitely in each direction),

HN is the first place I realized the political spectrum is less of a line with end points (or more commonly represented as going infinitely in each direction), and more of a circle. Go far enough towards one extreme, and you start approaching the other side. I didn't come to thing because people here are horrible, but because the community allowed different people enough of voice that their could explain their views usefully right along side people with very different views. I'll note this idea itself is a poor approximation for what is really going on, which is that there are multiple aspects being mapped and they don't all match the traditional political spectrum line. That said, it's still a useful way to think. E.g. there are are two paths to fascism, but people usually only see the one their opponents are on, not their own.

dublinben 7y ago
This is known as Horseshoe Theory, and it's a pretty lame model of political ideology.¹ In reality, most people can't be placed on a single dimension that accurately captures their political identity. Most political scientists prefer at least a biaxial spectrum, comprising of the left/right axis and another major axis like libertarian/authoritarian.² 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoe_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoe_theory 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_spectrum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_spectrum
- kbenson 7y ago
  > it's a pretty lame model of political ideology. Well, I did say it's a poor approximation. The usefulness I alluded to is to understand that all these approximations are flawed in various ways, firstly because they are approximations, but more-so because they are all hopeless simplistic representations for what is being modeled. Biaxial is better than a single axis, but that doesn't make it better. The thing the horseshoe theory represents is something that the biaxial representation doesn't represent at all, a similarity of some aspects of though in the common extremes we see in reality. There's often a difference between diagrams that allow everything to be represented clearly and diagrams that help steer you into associations that are useful. Both have their place.

dublinben 7y ago

This is known as Horseshoe Theory, and it's a pretty lame model of political ideology.¹ In reality, most people can't be placed on a single dimension that accurately captures their political identity. Most political scientists prefer at least a biaxial spectrum, comprising of the left/right axis and another major axis like libertarian/authoritarian.² 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoe_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoe_theory 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_spectrum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_spectrum

kbenson 7y ago
> it's a pretty lame model of political ideology. Well, I did say it's a poor approximation. The usefulness I alluded to is to understand that all these approximations are flawed in various ways, firstly because they are approximations, but more-so because they are all hopeless simplistic representations for what is being modeled. Biaxial is better than a single axis, but that doesn't make it better. The thing the horseshoe theory represents is something that the biaxial representation doesn't represent at all, a similarity of some aspects of though in the common extremes we see in reality. There's often a difference between diagrams that allow everything to be represented clearly and diagrams that help steer you into associations that are useful. Both have their place.