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The Ultimate Test in Personality & Ideological Analysis

by Mark Dankof

I have a friend. I will call him Paul. In recent years, we have met approximately once a week in a park on the premises of the apartment complex both of us live in, located in suburban Philadelphia.

Paul is an extremely affable and interesting man. I estimate him to be in his late 50s to early 60s. His look is professorial, as he sports a neatly trimmed beard and fashionably longer, but cleanly groomed hair. He wears eye-glasses that one would associate with a middle-aged doctor, researcher, or academician. Our encounters in the park began when we crossed paths in walking our dogs in early morning hours. His was a Golden Retriever; mine a Long-Haired Dachshund. His canine companion has since sadly passed away. Paul is divorced, lives alone, and is devoted to a grown daughter approximately my own age. In this sometimes isolated context-in-life, he looks especially forward to encountering me when I walk my Dachshund, now 12 ½ years old and a rescued, ex-homeless canine-refugee thanks to caring agents of Dachshund Rescue in San Antonio, Texas.

One might guess that Paul would be a professor and a clinical psychologist by profession. One is less likely to guess that several generations ago, he was with the United States Army in Vietnam and witnessed the horrors of insurgency and counter-insurgency warfare at close range while serving with the 101^st Airborne Division now based in Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He speaks about the specifics with me only very occasionally and most sparingly. For purposes of this article, suffice it to say that his experiences in Southeast Asia are now used to help psychologically traumatized victims of every category, including some of the recent victims of Gulf War II. Since I am a Lutheran clergyman and pastoral chaplain, personally and professionally involved in helping the injured and traumatized, Paul occasionally passes along gems of insight. His acknowledged professional expertise and personal focus involves helping those with the infamous Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome.

One of these involves a test of Personal and Ideological Analysis, devised by Paul himself. He does not mind if I share it with you, both for fun and self-understanding. He finds it better for his own studies and therapies with patients than MMPI, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, or any of the other diagnostic tools we have both used for ourselves and others over the years. Paul has not yet explained to me how he scores the results, but my own test questions, answers, and diagnosis are provided for my readers without charge. Have fun with my own honest answers; check yourself and your family members for home and office discussion.

The Ultimate Test in Personality and Ideological Analysis by Paul in Philadelphia for Mark Dankof

Section One: Musical Tastes

Your three (3) favorite Male Vocalists

Mark Dankof Answers:

Eddy Arnold

Ed Ames

Perry Como

Your three (3) favorite Female Vocalists

Mark Dankof Answers:

Anne Murray

Sarah Brightman

Kate Smith

Your five (5) favorite Pop Songs

Mark Dankof Answers:

"Cattle Call" by Eddy Arnold

"You Don’t Know Me" by Eddy Arnold

"My Cup Runneth Over" by Ed Ames

"Who Will Answer" by Ed Ames

"MacArthur Park" by Richard Harris

Your five (5) Most Detested Musical Artists

Mark Dankof Answers:

Any five Rap Artists you care to choose.

Your five (5) Most Detested Songs

Mark Dankof Answers:

Any five Rap singles you care to choose.

Your favorite Classical Composer

Mark Dankof Answers:

Johann Sebastian Bach

Your three (3) favorite Classical Compositions:

Mark Dankof Answers:

"St. Matthew’s Passion" by J. S. Bach

"Mass in B Minor" by J. S. Bach

Numerous Gregorian Chant compositions and offerings

Section Two: TV Favorites

Your five (5) favorite TV Characters/Personalities

Mark Dankof Answers:

Vic Morrow as Sergeant Saunders in Combat!

James Arness as Matt Dillon in Gunsmoke

Dan Blocker as Hoss Cartwright in Bonanza

Clayton Moore as The Lone Ranger

Edward Woodward as Robert McCall in The Equalizer

What appeals to you about the five (5) TV Characters You Listed?

Mark Dankof Answers:

All five are a unique combination of strength, courage, and compassion.

Section Three: Presidential Preferences

Will you vote for Bush or Kerry in this election?

Mark Dankof Answers:

Try neither of them. I will vote for Michael Peroutka of the Constitution Party.

Your three (3) favorite American Presidents:

Mark Dankof Answers:

Andrew Jackson

George Washington

Thomas Jefferson

Your three (3) least favorite American Presidents:

Mark Dankof Answers:

Abraham Lincoln

A Laundry List of his emulators in this century (especially Woodrow Wilson and FDR).

The Miserable Trinity of Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and anyone with the last name Bush.

Your ideal American President would have:

Mark Dankof Answers:

The ideology of Washington, Jackson, and Jefferson; the courage, steel and resolve of Ike Eisenhower; the charisma, looks, and communication skills of JFK and Ronald Reagan; and hopefully an IQ higher than that of the collective numerical total of Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush.

Your three (3) favorite American politicians (current)

Mark Dankof Answers:

Michael Peroutka, Constitution Party candidate for President

Congressman Ron Paul (R.-TX)

The Honorable Howard Phillips, Chairman of Conservative Caucus, Washington, D. C.

Your three (3) least favorite American politicians (current)

Mark Dankof Answers:

Senator Hillary Clinton (D.-N.Y.)

Senator Ted Kennedy (D.-MA)

Congressman Barney Frank (D.-MA)

Do you have three (3) admired American military figures as favorites?

Mark Dankof Answers:

Yes.

General Robert E. Lee, C. S. A.

John Singleton Mosby, C. S. A.

General Curtis E. LeMay, USAF father of the Strategic Air Command (SAC)

Section Four: Your Movie Preferences

Your favorite Movie Star

Mark Dankof Answers

John Wayne

Your Most Detested Movie Stars

Mark Dankof Answers

This would be too long a list for my readers. We can begin with Barbra Streisand.

Your Favorite Movies

Mark Dankof Answers:

Robert Duvall in Ron Maxwell’s Civil War epic "Gods and Generals" (pro-South, pro-Christian)

John Wayne in "The Shootist"

Kevin Kostner in "Thirteen Days"

Charlton Heston in "Midway"

Your Movie Picks to recommend from recent years:

Mark Dankof Answers:

"Children of Heaven" (Iranian film about two wonderful kids in Iran. English subtitles.)

"Marooned in Iraq" (foreign film about Kurds in Iraq. English subtitles.)

"Bonhoeffer" (film about German Lutheran pastor and martyr in Nazi Germany)

Section Five: Most Important Books You Have Read in the Last Several Years

Mark Dankof Answers:

"The Real Lincoln" by Dr. Thomas Di Lorenzo

"Day of Deceit: The Truth About FDR and Pearl Harbor" by Robert Stinnett

"Final Judgment" by Michael Collins Piper

"The Iranians" by Sandra Mackey

"The Persian Sphinx" by Abbas Milani

"The Great New Game: Blood and Oil in Central Asia" by Lutz Kleveman

"All the Shah’s Men" by Stephen Kinzer

"An Enduring Love" by Empress Farah Pahlavi of Iran

Section Six: Favorite Sports Stars

List Your Favorites of All-Time in Your Favorite Sports

Mark Dankof Answers

Baseball: Willie McCovey, San Francisco Giants

Football: Sonny Jurgensen/ Bobby Mitchell/ Pat Fischer, Washington Redskins

Basketball: Bill Russell, Boston Celtics

Golf: Arnold Palmer

List Your Most Lasting Memory from the World of Sports

Mark Dankof Answers

Football: December 31,1967. The Bart Starr-led Green Bay Packer offensive drive against the Dallas Cowboys in -52 Fahrenheit windchill and on frozen gridiron tundra. It went 69 yards with 4: 31 to play and culminated in Starr’s one-yard sneak into the endzone with the winning touchdown behind the blocks of Jerry Kramer (guard) and Ken Bowman (center) on Dallas Defensive End Jethro Pugh.

Section Seven: Is there a Greatest Living American?

Mark Dankof Answers

Yes. Arnold Palmer, championship golfer/gentleman/humanitarian. Hands down.

Section Eight: What foreign personality or leader do you admire the most?

Mark Dankof Answers

Empress Farah Pahlavi, Shahbanou of Iran. Hands down.

Section Nine: The adjective "despicable" brings an initial thought of:

Mark Dankof Answers

Howard Stern, obscene disk jockey. Hands down.

Section Ten: Depression

Do you ever suffer from depression or despair?

Mark Dankof Answers

Let me put it this way. America is in a no-win war. I believe it will expand. Our economy is tanking. Our culture and spiritual condition is in the toilet. We are in a Presidential election year. The choices are Bush and Kerry. What do you think?

What are your usual strategies for dealing with depression, despair, discouragement?

Mark Dankof Answers

Regular Consultation with the Word of God (The Old and New Testament).

Prayer and Meditation.

Forgetting myself and helping a person in need.

Listening to Eddy Arnold, Ed Ames, Gregorian Chant and Johann Sebastian Bach on my CD player.

Reading secular books by people with something to say whom I respect and admire.

Playing with my Long-Haired Dachshund.

Calling a family member or close confidant to chat.

Physical exercise.

Turning off TV when Bush and Kerry appear on the screen.

Section Eleven: Favorite Artists?

Who are they?

Mark Dankof Answers

Albrecht Durer (German wood cuts and engravings, 16^th century)

Charles Russell (American Western Artist)

Section Twelve: The Written Sources

What are the written sources which would provide a window of understanding to your psyche?

Mark Dankof Answers

The Athanasian Creed (4^th century)

The Formula of Concord (16^th century, 1577)

The Constitution of the United States

Paul’s Professional Diagnosis of Mark Dankof

The word paradox is the enigmatic key to understanding this person. His psyche is a unique combination of German Objectivism and Romantic Visceralism. He is a person with a rigid belief system rooted in the concept of trustworthy divine revelation, yet he has flexibility in relationships and many friends and associates who agree with few or none of his views and related feelings. He is both a reactionary and a revolutionary in political, theological, and cultural viewpoints and perspectives. He is a person of tact, diplomacy, and deference: yet equally committed to principled conflict at any proportional, appropriate level when a perceived core principle is at stake. He values the love and friendship of others, but has an uncanny ability to "go-it-alone" when his perceived core values and principles are threatened.

Mark Dankof’s Advice to Readers

Play the game with your family, associates, and friends. Have as much fun with the comparisons, arguments, and analyses that follow!

(Mark Dankof is a Lutheran pastor and free-lance journalist, occasionally contributing to Iran Dokht, Al Bawaba, Nile Media, CASCFEN, PersianMirror, DixieInternet.com, and other Internet news sites. Once a 3^rd party candidate for the United States Senate in Delaware [2000], he maintains the web-site Mark Dankof’s America while pursuing post-graduate theological education at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia.) His commentary may be found regularly on SARTRE's Old American Right and Republic news site, Breaking All the Rules. His interview with 3^rd party American Presidential candidate Michael Peroutka of the Constitution Party is widely available on various sites on the World Wide Web.)

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