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There seem to be two sides to politics: 1) Deciding the really important issues. This occurs with minimal public involvement, and that always to the overt reti
by mrexcess 7mo ago
There seem to be two sides to politics:
1) Deciding the really important issues. This occurs with minimal public involvement, and that always to the overt reticence of the ruling class. "Expert" voices are projected downward to the masses, pronouncing authoritatively both about objective truth and characterizing the subjective preferences of the masses.
2) What are often called "wedge issues", or more recently "culture war" issues. These issues are often sensational by nature, and further sensationalized by the media to evidently encourage public participation in the discourse. Expert voices continue to guide the conversation along an established Overton window, but without making the public feel unqualified to give their opinion, just the opposite.
Is this what democracy is supposed to resemble? The hoi polloi fighting amongst themselves over what genres of pornography are acceptable, while the leaders run off to back rooms to make global-reach decisions about war, macroeconomics, and the shape of our society to come?
I just can't imagine a functional democracy where the main discussion or topic of focus for any serious person, at this time, is incest porn.
- delfinom 7mo ago>while the leaders run off to back rooms to make global-reach decisions about war, macroeconomics, and the shape of our society to come? Don't forget abusing children
- ModernMech 7mo agoActually I think that's the crux of it. After repeatedly delaying, dismissing, and dodging they were forced to arrest one of their own for his sex crimes. Now they are making more sex crimes to arrest common people for, because it cannot be the case that only the rich elites are arrested for their sex crimes. Normal people aren't involved in child sex rings at remote islands, so step porn it is.
- wavemode 7mo agoPolitical debate suffers from Sayre's law: "In any dispute the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the issues at stake." Most people simply aren't knowledgeable enough to have an informed opinion on truly important issues. This is, by the way, a fundamental limitation of democracies, and why we tend to establish republics instead. It's not realistic to expect people to become informed about geopolitics, and economics, and education, and ciminal justice, and 100 other things, before casting a vote. So rather than vote on these things directly, we elect people whose job it is to know about these things and/or consult with experts who do.
- ModernMech 7mo agoWar with Iran? Who can really say if that's right or wrong, we don't have all the info, I'm sure they're doing what's best for the nation. A MtF person in a restroom? We cannot abide this, we must pass laws banning this throughout the nation, to end this travesty and the harm it is causing everyone.
- tstrimple 7mo agoJust once I want the proponents of anti-trans measures to say where trans men should go to the bathroom. You know they would freak the fuck out if they saw a bearded muscular dude washing his hands next to their daughter.
- ModernMech 7mo agoYeah, most of the people who are so incensed about trans people in the bathroom have probably been in a bathroom with a trans person and were none the wiser.
- cahut 7mo agoThe female bathroom, obviously. It's weird how people are so invested in invading bathroom spaces of the opposite sex. It's like they have no concept of boundaries.
- ModernMech 7mo agoMy favorite part about this reply is how they felt this needed to be said so badly and added to the conversation that they created a new account to do so, thus proving the point originally raised.
- mamonster 7mo agoI agree. More and more of day to day politics is devolving into "anime filler arc" episodes as real issues seem to be decided elsewhere. That said the last time British people voted on a serious issue they voted for Brexit so maybe these diversions are justified.
- wavemode 7mo agoYeah, I remember thinking to myself "I wish the US had a referendum system like the UK", then I looked it up and found out that the UK has only ever had 3 national referendums, only 2 in the 21st century, and one of those was Brexit. So yeah... Congress is really useless sometimes, but would the general public really be better at legislating important issues? Meh.