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I'm so sick of politics... I know it's a byproduct of democracy, but this behavior becoming widespread - or at least more noticeable/transparent/obvious. Even

I'm so sick of politics... I know it's a byproduct of democracy, but this behavior becoming widespread - or at least more noticeable/transparent/obvious. Even in a crises where scientist should be the shot callers, and regulators should be on their best game... no... They became tools of politicians. It's not only in the US. It's not just another "Trump thing". It's a worldwide phenomena. Every matter goes through the lens of politicians to get a refraction, or a twist. Doesn't matter if it's a technical issue, or a scientific issue, that would required technical or scientific solutions - it all dilutes into politics. The majority seems to be trying to leverage this pandemic for their political gains, even if that means cutting corners, hide or manipulate information. It's disgusting.

aphextron 6y ago
And now you understand that everything is politics. There is no avoiding it. The moment you begin to make any form of decision that affects more than yourself, you are engaging in a political act. Ignoring this fact and doing things without political discussion is what we call authoritarianism.
- gnusty_gnurc 6y ago
  > Ignoring this fact and doing things without political discussion is what we call authoritarianism. This is a broad statement and makes me think of how readily people talk about "fascism" and "neo-nazis" nowadays with little regard to whether the people they're describing bear any relation to Mussolini or Hitler.
  - aphextron 6y ago
    >This is a broad statement and makes me think of how readily people talk about "fascism" and "neo-nazis" nowadays with little regard to whether the people they're describing bear any relation to Mussolini or Hitler. Those were totalitarian states. Authoritarian is general term which can be used to describe any entity engaging in autocratic decision making.
    - gnusty_gnurc 6y ago
      At least in America, you don't have to be engaged in "political discussion" once you're elected. Or even before for that matter. You're responsible to the Constitution. Once you violate that you're arguably authoritarian. Blind submission to power without regard for protections against it...that's authoritarianism.
rsynnott 6y ago
> It's not only in the US. It's not just another "Trump thing". Eh, at least on vaccine approval, it... kind of is? The only cases I'm aware of are this one and the Russian one, and the Russian one was really more of a publicity exercise (they're 'approving' it, but only for very limited distribution, making it rather similar to a normal phase 3 in practice). I think part of this is how the US govt is structured, rather than politics per se. It's particularly easy in the US for the executive to lean on government agencies; if nothing else it can get rid of heads of agencies without much fuss, whereas this would be anything from a major political scandal to just outright impossible in many developed countries. Also, of course, the executive is one person; in a parliamentary system this sort of leaning would require multiple people to make decisions that were, as Yes Minister put it, 'brave' (ie potentially career-ending).

aphextron 6y ago

And now you understand that everything is politics. There is no avoiding it. The moment you begin to make any form of decision that affects more than yourself, you are engaging in a political act. Ignoring this fact and doing things without political discussion is what we call authoritarianism.

gnusty_gnurc 6y ago
> Ignoring this fact and doing things without political discussion is what we call authoritarianism. This is a broad statement and makes me think of how readily people talk about "fascism" and "neo-nazis" nowadays with little regard to whether the people they're describing bear any relation to Mussolini or Hitler.
- aphextron 6y ago
  >This is a broad statement and makes me think of how readily people talk about "fascism" and "neo-nazis" nowadays with little regard to whether the people they're describing bear any relation to Mussolini or Hitler. Those were totalitarian states. Authoritarian is general term which can be used to describe any entity engaging in autocratic decision making.
  - gnusty_gnurc 6y ago
    At least in America, you don't have to be engaged in "political discussion" once you're elected. Or even before for that matter. You're responsible to the Constitution. Once you violate that you're arguably authoritarian. Blind submission to power without regard for protections against it...that's authoritarianism.

rsynnott 6y ago

> It's not only in the US. It's not just another "Trump thing". Eh, at least on vaccine approval, it... kind of is? The only cases I'm aware of are this one and the Russian one, and the Russian one was really more of a publicity exercise (they're 'approving' it, but only for very limited distribution, making it rather similar to a normal phase 3 in practice). I think part of this is how the US govt is structured, rather than politics per se. It's particularly easy in the US for the executive to lean on government agencies; if nothing else it can get rid of heads of agencies without much fuss, whereas this would be anything from a major political scandal to just outright impossible in many developed countries. Also, of course, the executive is one person; in a parliamentary system this sort of leaning would require multiple people to make decisions that were, as Yes Minister put it, 'brave' (ie potentially career-ending).