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There's a quote in the article from the leader of the Irish green party, Eamon Ryan, that to me underlines why this is important, "We want transparency about on
by Gwafa_Hazid 8y ago
There's a quote in the article from the leader of the Irish green party, Eamon Ryan, that to me underlines why this is important, "We want transparency about online political advertising so hidden funding does not distort the democratic process."
It's that hidden funding that scares me. Whether it's massive spending by mega-corporations or targeted ads by foreign intelligence agencies. We can't understand how our democracy is being affected unless we know who is behind the money.
- yellowcherry 8y agoI'd take this concern seriously if we weren't 50 years or more into carefully chosen and promoted intentionally divisive issues shaping what everyone thinks of politics.
- duxup 8y agoWhat does that mean?
- Retric 8y agoAbortion is exactly the kind of issue that has zero impact on those in power, who can always go to another country, but influences elections. In terms of shaping views, welfare was designed to allow single mothers to stay home and raise their kids. Yet by twisting the issue people no longer support the idea. Unions are no longer seen as something that helps 'you', they now help 'other' people.
- duxup 8y agoAre you saying they don't actually care about the issue?
- Retric 8y agoClearly some people care about the issue and many say they care about it. But in terms of overall importance the tax bill for example got vastly more support. So, I suspect actual support is rather low. In other words people might vote yes, yet at the same time prefer it not come up for a vote.
- duxup 8y agoI'm not sure I get where you are going. It might be a divisive issue but saying that simply because it comes up and you think something else is more important doesn't mean it is being used just to be divisive.
- yellowcherry 8y agoIt doesn't "simply come up" Tens of millions of dollars keep it in the forefront of your brain. There is no accident here. There is no "simply comes up"
- duxup 8y agoSo the amount of money spent means people don't really care or it's an illegitimate topic or something? I'm suspicious of some topics and the support they get myself, but your approach here seems much too fast to dismiss a topic that maybe you don't like. It's way too easy to just say something is not organic or illegitimate when the issue is unpleasant rather than really deal with it. I don't know if anyone has a good way of getting their finger on legitimate, or topics that are more "important" than others in a democracy.
- yellowcherry 8y agoI couldn't care less about abortion on a personal level. It has zero impact on my life and never will. But it's very clear to me that it's an artificially promoted issue that plays on people's emotions. Divisive issues are not accidents. They're focusgrouped and marketed with extreme care.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]