(no subject)
Our political conversation is a shared resource, which none of us owns and all of us benefit from. It's how we decide where to bestow our votes, our source of information about the world and how we as a nation fit into it, our debating-ground for how our lives are led.
There are people who get money and power from this shared resource: politicians and pundits work the ground of our discourse for profit. But though there is some money and power to be obtained from working it honestly and sustainably, there’s more to be made by exploiting it. Lies and vitriol, hate and hysteria, populism and tribalism all pollute the political atmosphere even as they allow the people who use them to profit. They take the benefit, but we all pay the cost.
Sound familiar? It's the Tragedy of the Commons
.
There are people who get money and power from this shared resource: politicians and pundits work the ground of our discourse for profit. But though there is some money and power to be obtained from working it honestly and sustainably, there’s more to be made by exploiting it. Lies and vitriol, hate and hysteria, populism and tribalism all pollute the political atmosphere even as they allow the people who use them to profit. They take the benefit, but we all pay the cost.
Sound familiar? It's the Tragedy of the Commons
.