The Swift Test
I propose a new psychological test based on which race of satirical characters from GULLIVER’S TRAVELS one might be:
- Lilliputian — petty and vicious
- Brobdingnagian — magnanimous but contemptuous of mankind
- Laputan — clumsy, dazed and impractical intellectual, fearful of comets and other unreal problems, often cuckolded
- Balnibarbi — even more impractical intellectuals, wasteful, fussy, perhaps insane, but always frantic to follow the latest fad or fashion
- Luggnagg — Respects the past, listens to the wisdom of honored dead
- Struldbrugs– Typical Leftist: seeks an earthly eternity or utopia, but lives in misery
- Japanese — Tramples the cross
- Houyhnhnm — logical, remorselessly rational
- Yahoo — poop-flinging brute
- Englishmen — all of the above, but worse and not as funny
The test is that you place yourself on the island where you think you best fit, and then your friends secretly vote and say where you actually fit.
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
January 29, 2016 @ 1:03 pm
