4 ms·

Sometimes I suspect lawmakers are among the dumbest of all possible human beings.

by geff82 10y ago

maxerickson 10y ago
Hanlon's razor? I think in the case of many politicians it's necessary to invoke the 'adequately' and look for the malice.
- omegaham 10y ago
  I wouldn't call it malice - just indifference. A politician's job is to get reelected. Ideally, he gets reelected by doing a good job, but that's not actually necessary (and it might not even be a good idea in some circumstances). His goal is to energize a base of excited, passionate voters who will overwhelm any challenges to the incumbency. After all, most people don't vote, so if he has a reliable, excited base, he is guaranteed victory. And you don't do that through rational thought. You do that by appealing to people who are easy to rile up with fear, hate, and prejudice. Fear and hate drives people to the polls. Educated opinion makes people shrug and stay home because they don't feel that strongly about it. What better way to rile up fear than talking about sex trafficking and children? Raise this specter of menace over the good people of this state and demonstrate that you're going to Do Something About It. Never mind the fact that your proposed measure does absolutely nothing to prevent sex trafficking and has catastrophic side effects - the electorate couldn't give less of a fuck about that because they vote based on feels, not reals. This isn't malice; it's just "I'll say whatever I need to say and do whatever I need to do to stay in office." It's a symptom of a societal ill, not a personal one. If this Congressman wasn't willing to do it, he would be replaced by a Congressman who would. --- And before people start chiming in with GOP-hatred, the Democrats do the exact same thing, especially at the local level.
  - maxerickson 10y ago
    I disagree, politicians acting like their job is to get reelected is malice.
- walrus01 10y ago
  more like, dunning kruger effect. The sort of persons who are least qualified to regulate the internet or computers are also the persons most likely to THINK that they need to do so and introduce legislation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect

Sometimes I suspect lawmakers are among the dumbest of all possible human beings.

by geff82 10y ago

Sometimes I suspect lawmakers are among the dumbest of all possible human beings.

Hanlon's razor? I think in the case of many politicians it's necessary to invoke the 'adequately' and look for the malice.

omegaham 10y ago
I wouldn't call it malice - just indifference. A politician's job is to get reelected. Ideally, he gets reelected by doing a good job, but that's not actually necessary (and it might not even be a good idea in some circumstances). His goal is to energize a base of excited, passionate voters who will overwhelm any challenges to the incumbency. After all, most people don't vote, so if he has a reliable, excited base, he is guaranteed victory. And you don't do that through rational thought. You do that by appealing to people who are easy to rile up with fear, hate, and prejudice. Fear and hate drives people to the polls. Educated opinion makes people shrug and stay home because they don't feel that strongly about it. What better way to rile up fear than talking about sex trafficking and children? Raise this specter of menace over the good people of this state and demonstrate that you're going to Do Something About It. Never mind the fact that your proposed measure does absolutely nothing to prevent sex trafficking and has catastrophic side effects - the electorate couldn't give less of a fuck about that because they vote based on feels, not reals. This isn't malice; it's just "I'll say whatever I need to say and do whatever I need to do to stay in office." It's a symptom of a societal ill, not a personal one. If this Congressman wasn't willing to do it, he would be replaced by a Congressman who would. --- And before people start chiming in with GOP-hatred, the Democrats do the exact same thing, especially at the local level.
- maxerickson 10y ago
  I disagree, politicians acting like their job is to get reelected is malice.
walrus01 10y ago
more like, dunning kruger effect. The sort of persons who are least qualified to regulate the internet or computers are also the persons most likely to THINK that they need to do so and introduce legislation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect