Left/right is so last century. Blow your nose the wrong way (I don't know either) and you'll be called far right.

A better classification for leaders and governments is Evil, Mad and/or Stupid. (To head you off at the pass, this might not apply to ordinary citizens.)

E.g.:

Russia = Evil and Mad
China = Evil
USA = was Stupid, soon to be Mad
Canada = was Stupid
EU = Stupid
UK = Stupid with A Touch of Evil

Of course, there's "Mad" and there's mad. 

I don’t know about mad - mental health is such a touchy subject. As for the US, the garbage elected a man who is most definitely evil and stupid. The guy who bought him is a caricature of pure evil, to the extent that Ian Fleming would have lost credibility if he had written him in as a Bond villain.

"Mad" is more unpredictable/inexplicable, as opposed to Caligulaesque. That's a great movie, isn't it?!

Germany - stupid (one more month),
France - stupid,
Italy - none of the above. Today Italy is an island of stability in a fractious Europe.

PS. Don't underestimate the EU. Maybe Mrs von der Leyen as a person is just stupid but thers's a lot of structural evil in the EU.

Germany - stupid (one more month),
France - stupid,
Italy - none of the above. Today Italy is an island of stability in a fractious Europe.

PS. Don't underestimate the EU. Maybe Mrs von der Leyen as a person is just stupid but thers's a lot of structural evil in the EU.

Right. And it wouldn’t be surprising if Meloni is pregnant with Elon’s 117th child.

Don't die for the past, bearish, you have to go with the living.

Don't die for the past, bearish, you have to go with the living.

Sound advice, I’m sure! I have no idea how it relates to the prior discussion, though. Musk and Trump are (still!) living. But, then again, so is Keir Starmer. So, not sure what to make of that.

The answer is in another thread: political correctness is, if not dead, then dying. And what is happening now is as much about Musk and Trump as the French Revolution was about Danton and Robespierre. So - don't die for the ancien régime. Or die if you can't do otherwise.

A damp squib. Don't shoot with fascism, it won't give the effect. It was the establishment's favourite weapon and has been used, abused and misused so many times that it is completely worn out.

More refinement of terms needed.

My take:

"Evil" is a callous disregard for the well-being of others.

"Mad" is being delusional; relying on perceptions that either are clearly false or that are far too unsubstantiated to be relied upon in the way you do.

"Stupid" is being unable to make fairly clear inferences based upon available evidence.

So, for perspectives on global warming, for example:

Evil: "Maybe it's true but I'll be dead before it gets very bad, so I'm not interested in doing anything about it."

Mad: "God has a plan, so the problem will be addressed to our benefit without our having done anything about it."

Stupid: "It snowed yesterday, so obviously there's no such thing as global warming."

That is helpful. Religion does seem to play an outsized role in that grey area of intersection between evil, mad, and stupid.

This is very alarming! I find myself totally aligned with Steve Bannon (another one of those convicted felons about to take over the country).

A damp squib. Don't shoot with fascism, it won't give the effect. It was the establishment's favourite weapon and has been used, abused and misused so many times that it is completely worn out.

Dude, I'm not the one here saying "the future belongs to me".

Of course. Neither the past.