[adhir1]

When people say you have a left wing idealogy or a right wing ideology....what does it mean??? I need to know this for school...hopefully someone can help me oout...

[AirJordan™]

Edited: Nevermind.

Lol, I clicked on this thread thinking it was about hockey.

[speedythief]

Left wing is supposed to be more liberal, progressive. Right wing is supposed to be more conservative.

[adhir1]

could you go a little more specific speedy? thanks a lot man...

[speedythief]

Well people will claim that the Republicans in the United States are very conservative. Contrast them with the Green Party or the NDP in Canada and you might get an idea for the differing ideologies those groups proliferate.

A staple for conservative or right-wing groups is the nostalgic view of the past. In the United States there is an idealized version of the 1950's that some conservatives present, an era that to them represents "wholesome family values" and economic growth following the second World War. Nevermind the fact that everyone who wasn't a white male born in the United States was held down in almost any facet of life you can think of.

Right-wing figures and thinking can go to the extreme, from militant groups to authoriarians and dictators. Typically right-wing groups and ideologies are put together with conservativism but right-wing groups can still be radical. The KKK/Stormfront and groups like that would generally be considered radically conservative and hateful.

On the other end of the spectrum you can also get extremists like the Black Hand terrorist group that sparked the first World War through assassination of the Archduke (I think? somebody in high school correct me if I'm off). You can also find groups like the Animal Liberation Front who are a psuedo-terrorist group that has destroyed animal hospitals and ransacked zoos in order to "free" the captive animals.

Like conservatives, liberals have more moderate, powerful political groups that tend to disassociate with both extreme ends of the political and ideological spectrum. The Democrats/Liberals in North America are both considered left-leaning, the Liberal Party being more so, the NDPs being much more so, almost to the point of quasi-socialism.

Overall if you want to look at left wingers and right wingers there are numerous examples through history like Stalin, Ghandi, Hitler, Mao, etc.

[speedythief]

If you're writing a report something relevant to talk about might be the connection in the United States with liberalism and intellectualism, and conservativism with the whole "grassroots," "salt of the Earth" mentality. Anti-intellectualism is growing in some parts of the United States and is being propagated by the ruling class who, ironically, would be more easily classified as intellectuals than as proletarians.

[MonkeyBallZJr]

Originally Posted by speedythief

Well people will claim that the Republicans in the United States are very conservative. Contrast them with the Green Party or the NDP in Canada and you might get an idea for the differing ideologies those groups proliferate.

A staple for conservative or right-wing groups is the nostalgic view of the past. In the United States there is an idealized version of the 1950's that some conservatives present, an era that to them represents "wholesome family values" and economic growth following the second World War. Nevermind the fact that everyone who wasn't a white male born in the United States was held down in almost any facet of life you can think of.

Right-wing figures and thinking can go to the extreme, from militant groups to authoriarians and dictators. Typically right-wing groups and ideologies are put together with conservativism but right-wing groups can still be radical. The KKK/Stormfront and groups like that would generally be considered radically conservative and hateful.

On the other end of the spectrum you can also get extremists like the Black Hand terrorist group that sparked the first World War through assassination of the Archduke (I think? somebody in high school correct me if I'm off). You can also find groups like the Animal Liberation Front who are a psuedo-terrorist group that has destroyed animal hospitals and ransacked zoos in order to "free" the captive animals.

Like conservatives, liberals have more moderate, powerful political groups that tend to disassociate with both extreme ends of the political and ideological spectrum. The Democrats/Liberals in North America are both considered left-leaning, the Liberal Party being more so, the NDPs being much more so, almost to the point of quasi-socialism.

Overall if you want to look at left wingers and right wingers there are numerous examples through history like Stalin, Ghandi, Hitler, Mao, etc.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austro-Hungary

Political spectrum

left wing centrist right wing
-------------------------------------------------/--------------------------------------------
Communism-------------Socialism---------Liberalism---------Conservatism--------------Facism

and Speedy pretty much covered the ideological differences.

[adhir1]

ok thanks guys but no its not for a paper...basically i have a test on thursday and my professor said we would have to discuss these topic and say what the left and what the right wing would have to say about the following topics


1. Judicial Activism
2. Crime and Policing
3. Aboriginal Issues
4. Debate over Media Bias
5. Federal Elction....

[Benis007]

2- both the extreme left and right wing will use a secret police force to enforce the best interests of the state.

Communist Russia had the KGB

Facist Italy had the "black caps"

3- The extreme left wing in a purely communist society would have equal rights among all members of the nation. so aboriginals would have the same oppurtunities as the rest of the population.

[TRON]

It took me years before I fully understood the whole right-left wing political spectrum

you have to understand political ideologies to fully appreciate what it means

Original Scarface outlined the bases of political thought and you have to know what...
Solicalists, Communists stand for as well as the "ism" groups, Liberalism, Conservatism, and Facism

ie/crime and policing

right-wing: tougher pelalties and longer minumum sentencings, maybe push for conservative majority judges to uphold conservative ideology, similar to the States. Toughen up gun crimes, re-criminalization of Marijuana, ect. eg./Patriot act in the U.S, taking away of civil liberaties, police state mentality. Ronald Regans professed "War on Drugs" in the 80's.

Left-wing: Increase social spending to combat the plight of the poor and crimal activity. push for mandatory rehabilitation and reformation, rather than tougher sentencing and mandatory minimums.
eg./decriminalization of Marijuana. Liberals overall are looked at as much easier on crime/policing than Conservative right-wingers

[no_free_baskets]

its quite easy to differentiate between the two...here are simpler analogies:

left wing = freedom of choice of the individual in terms of abortion right wing = anti-abortion
left wing = for legalization of marijuana right wing = anti legalization of marijuana

i'm sure you get it the general idea of it by now, but if not, just picture this to get the general idea:

left wing = hippy type right wing = redneck, or highly religious, conservative bible belt folk...

good luck with your test...

[NeoSamurai]

just to add whats already been said:

if you have a right-wing mentality, you are in favor of less government involvement in the economy (ie/ you are open to foreign investors, believe that the "market" should be as free as possible) and fewer taxes (and ultimately that means you have more money in your pocket, but it could also mean you'll receive fewer benefits from the government like health care, education, etc.)

left-wing ideologists: just the opposite of whats said above (ie/ more taxes, more social welfare services, heavily restricted markets in order to protect your domestic businesses)