Cultural identity?

[altivo]

Nicked from schnee:

Your result for The Cultural Identity Test...

The Liberal Philosopher

57% Traditionalism, 75% Knowledge, 76% Diversity, 35% Contemporary and 41% Untraditionalism!

You Scored 76% Liberal Philosopher, Congratulations!

Diversity! Cultural awareness! Sharing! Caring!

Congratulations, you're a liberal philosopher! Perhaps a bit bleeding heart at times, and maybe a little too nice for your own good, you nevertheless bring a strong sense of individualism and unity to those around you. Liberating the minds of the traditionalists from their stodgy conformity, you seek to spread the good will of peace, understanding, and diversity.

You likely find little value in the traditions of old, and instead see them as myopic and intolerant. You are very progressive in your ideas towards race and heritage, and are probably pretty much colour blind. Which is good for you, because there's no better way to lead than by example.

You are probably more sensitive to the ideas of other cultures, sometimes even at the expense of your own! But you see this as a good thing, because after all, how can diversity prosper if we cling to our own ways more tightly than to those others? It's a big, beautiful world out there, and you just can't wait to share it with everyone.

Editors Note:

Although it's now taken over twenty hours to complete (and if you calculate in all the years I've spent compiling this information for my own purposes a good deal longer), I'm very pleased with how this test has turned out. Yet even more gratifying are the responses I've been getting from people. If you were wondering, I am a traditionalist, and knowing about my heritage and celebrating my customs is one of the most important aspects of my life. It has been since I was a child, and in reality I created this test more for my own interests and curiosity than for entertainment value. If I succeeded in both then that's just a bonus.

The greatest compliment I've gotten from people is that this test has made them consider their own heritage more deeply, and want to find out more about where they came from. This wasn't a necessarily a goal I had in mind when I created the test, but to hear that I've sparked some interest in a person's lineage, however small, is an incredibly rewarding experience. Our lives are so determined by where we have come from, our past, that to learn more about those indelible links is often times an overwhelming experience. To know that my great, great, great grandfather was a signer of the Declaration of Independence helps me appreciate the history of my country, America, in a much deeper and more personal way. And, like as not, amazing links can be found in almost anyone's history.

Whatever your score, whatever your ideas on the issues I've raised here, I want to sincerely thank you for spending the time to take my test, and hope that you've enjoyed it.

I also have a ton of resources for learning about your own history, and I'd be happy to share them with anyone who was interested. And feel free to send me your thoughts and comments, or even your ideas for the test! I love to read them, and might even post a few in the test itself.

Viel Glück,

- Errantblue

Take The Cultural Identity Test at HelloQuizzy

Comments

[snakeskurt.livejournal.com]

I got the same result!
55% Traditionalism, 71% Knowledge, 78% Diversity, 42% Contemporary and 44% Untraditionalism!
78% Liberal Philosopher

W00t! ^.^

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yep, we do often seem to be on pretty much the same square. :)

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Cool. ^^ Lovely picture, too.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I thought it was a neat picture too. Yet a more conservative viewer just remarked that it symbolizes everyone holding everyone else down or back so that no one is "free."

[schnee.livejournal.com]

I suppose that's another way to interpret it, but - without wanting to offend anyone - I honestly think you'd need to lean at least a bit to the misanthropic and/or pessimistic side in order to see it that way.

Ah well. :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes, well that's the typical thing with "conservatives" and "libertarians". They're like the dwarfs in Narnia: "The dwarfs are for the dwarfs." And to hell with everyone else.

They object to having "our resources taken from us and given to someone else" (meaning they don't want to pay taxes, at all) yet they are the first in line to grab anything they can get. They're the first to bitch about roads not being repaired or airports not getting government handouts. They are the first to want money handed out to keep the stock market going, yet they object to providing any public health care (because they personally don't think they need it.) It's all about selfishness and greed, and taking advantage of others to get what you want.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

That's a rather good description, I'd say, yes. I can respect people who subscribe to the idea that every man (or woman, for that matter) is an island and should only care about himself and who actually act accordingly, too; I'll disagree, of course, quite possibly vehemently so, but I'll respect them.

Of course, experience shows that many only subscribe to these opinions (whether they genuinely do or just claim they do) as long as things are going well for them. (I have yet to hear about someone who campaigns against things like social security etc. actually refuse it when they themselves need it and would legally be entitled to it, for instance, and my own personal guess is that this is because this simply hasn't ever happened.)

And outright hypocrites - those that are more than willing to take what they can get but who still insist that they must never be compelled to give - are even worse, of course. I don't even understand people like that - do they just never think about their actions, their lack of ethics etc., or are they just not bothered by what they are and the way they act? I'm not sure which would be worse.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I think it really does come down to only caring for themselves and no one else. And they are so narrow minded and near sighted that they really can't see that the advantages they have were all gained as a result of the efforts and contributions of others. They insist that they "did it all by themselves and anyone else can too." Yeah, anyone can rob babies and kick people when they are down. It's easy.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Yeah - some people apparently just don't realise that not only is society not a zero-sum game (but that rather, it is possible for everyone to benefit) but that they have benefitted from it already, too, and will continue to do so. It's a matter of standing on the shoulders of giants, with the giants representing everyone - society as a whole.

It's people like that from who you then get statements like "Obama is the communist antichrist, he's out to destroy my business because he hates me personally and everyone who's successful" and so on. And the scary thing is that some people actually believe that. :P

Of course, I'm always rather tempted to reply with something along the lines of "this is America, pal - love or leave it!" then. I imagine that might make some heads explode. ^^

[zenicurean.livejournal.com]

Haha, I was ambushed! It asks you for your ethnic heritage listing "American Heritage" separately from "Native American". But when it wants to know what you'd change your ethnic heritage to, there's no longer an "American Heritage" option on the table.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Quiz is US-Centric, of course, as so many of them are.

[songcoyote.livejournal.com]

52% Traditionalism, 71% Knowledge, 76% Diversity, 43% Contemporary and 48% Untraditionalism!

Interesting quiz. You and I and snakeskurt had very similar scores!

Figures the librarian would get higher Knowledge, though ;)

Light and laughter,
SongCoyote

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I'd have thought you'd score higher on "untraditionalism" but yeah, mostly we are in agreement. The questions were generally good on this one and the selection of answers mostly good, though zenicurean found a glaring omission (see above.)

[songcoyote.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's an interesting little tidbit! Perhaps they don't feel anyone would want to change to American from anything else ;)

I'm unconventional in many ways, yes, but I also have a deep appreciation for the power of ritual and tradition. There is beauty and comfort in such things. I'm completely fine with preserving and cherishing them, though ideally such that they are valued activities and not markers of division. We're all human, we just have different flavors.

Mmm... human-flavored.

Light and laughter,
SongCoyote

[altivo.livejournal.com]

*makes a yuck face*
I'll stick to chicken.

I think the oversight was not in assuming that no one would want to switch to American, but rather than anyone taking the test already *was* American.

[songcoyote.livejournal.com]

I'm not interested in humans as meat per se, mind you, but I do tend to like their flavor ;)

I agree about the oversight; I was just having fun with it.

Humans are all odd, and Americans particularly so. I sometimes wonder what other cultures really think of us... and other times I really don't want to know. It's tricky sometimes to sort out how I feel about it all.

But hey, at least I'm thinking!

Light and laughter,
SongCoyote

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Oh, trust a coyote to be always thinking. :) *hugs*

[songcoyote.livejournal.com]

Oh, aye! Not always thinking well, mind you, but most certainly thinking.

Sometimes about you, lovely horse ;)

Light and laughter,
SongCoyote

[altivo.livejournal.com]

*blushes*

[soanos.livejournal.com]

The Contemporary Idealist

40% Traditionalism, 50% Knowledge, 51% Diversity, 57% Contemporary and 62% Untraditionalism!

LolWut? :D
Is this a good or a bad thing? (the thing is in my LJ for further analysis)

[saythename.livejournal.com]

I scored as the Traditionalist.

You may be suprised that I'm not entirely comfortable with
that. I take it that the test has rated me as basically
racist and judging my heritage as SUPERIOR to all others,
and I find that patently not true. You can love your own
without hating others.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

The values involved are not just related to ethnic heritage or culture, but also to the underlying ideas of flexibility vs. rigidity in the enforcement of cultural standards, and the usual old war between conservatives/libertarians and liberals over both socio-cultural issues and socio-economics.

I don't see anything racist or ethnic in you at all, at least as you present yourself here. However, I'm not surprised that this particular question set detected some resistance to social change. You know, things like gay marriage, women's liberation, single people adopting children, and so forth. In that arena I certainly feel you are rather sternly traditional.

touche

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

Seems a tad silly to me, but since I flirt with things like horoscopes, I geuss it'd be more than a little hypocritical of me to mock it much, huh.