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Comment by rlucas | Hacker News Reader

My circle of friends used to joke about the "Republican Test." You administer it like this: play the song "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," ideally the Marvin Gaye version, and ask the subject to "clap along with the music" however he or she feels.

Our unscientific observations showed a high correlation with 1/3 clapping and being old, square, uptight, or an alien from an unfunky and obsolete dying planet.

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Conversely, how do you detect a Democrat?

Don't worry, it's easy. They go around calling anyone who disagrees with them names, like "old, square, uptight, or alien."

Oh.

And we all just learned not to expect Republicans or Libertarians to understand the concept of..."joke".

You just confirmed the parent comment's point.

Democrats definitely think that Republicans are morally inferior to them, and vice versa. You can't really make jokes in a context like that because there is no distinction between a joke and an actual malignment. I definitely make jokes about Democrats, just not around Democrats, because there is just no point in maligning people to their face.

That should read culturally inferior, not morally.

Easy, bud. You're risking seeming uptight ;)

The alien thing is a reference to "Unfunky UFO," by Parliament. I recommend you listen to it. And don't clap on the 2s and 4s.

Maybe it's more accurate than it appears at first glance. I consider myself centrist. I just did your test fur fun and found myself regularly switching back and forth between 1/3 and 2/4, depending on the part of the song.

I bet Lee Atwater would have failed that test..

I didn't know this, which I assume is what you're referring to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Hq2VQ8P_9o

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