The Political Spectrum, Left vs Right

left-vs-rightDavid McCandless and Stefanie Posavec collaborated on created a nice infographic that showcases the differences between the US “Right” (Conservative) & “Left” (Liberal), shown now on Information is Beautiful.

This kind of visual approach to mapping concepts really excites me. I like the way it coaxes me to entertain two apparently contradictory value systems at the same time. Or, in other words, I like the way it f**ks with my head.

His site is suffering a bit under the load, so click on the image above to see it.

via Left vs Right | Information Is Beautiful.

PG

This story written by Randall Hand

Randall Hand is a computer graphics programmer and news junky that's been working in the field for the last 15 years. He's responsible for visualizations generated on some of the most powerful supercomputers in the world, ytnef, mullion support in ParaView, and VizWorld.com.

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  • Guest

    How can I get a copy of this?

  • Joe

    Excellent! What’s most interesting is the “seemingly”
    contradictory(although accurate) attitudes within each side that you
    might expect on the other side. For instance “Liberal” on the “Left”
    sounds very “Right” as in “FREEDOM” however it is ones’ definition of
    FREEDOM that matters and what that definition implies in terms of
    society.
    The diagram crystallizes how these beliefs are developed in
    the transition between the family and the adult which might not
    otherwise be obvious. And that ever so subtle distinction between
    ETHICS(rules) and MORALS(principles) which again can seem a bit
    contradictory given the pacifism and strictness on the opposite sides.

    It
    also clearly explains why I am a moderate and in my opinion why a
    balance between the two is what works in the real the world.

    This should be discussed as part of every school curriculum to stimulate some badly needed critical thinking.

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