(no subject)
5 Reasons Humanity Is Terrible at Democracy
Ask the average person what's wrong with government and you'll hear all about corrupt politicians, corporate lobbyists and shady backroom deals. But, of course, we elected those corrupt politicians, and the more you look at the situation, the more it appears that as people, we are just really bad at democracy.
#5. Our Opinion on an Issue Is Based on How It's Worded
#4. Watching the News Actually Makes Us Stupider
#3. Political Pundits Are Even Worse Than the News
#2. The More Informed You Are, the More Partisan You Are
#1. We Hate Each Other Over Imaginary Differences
I think we can see a lot of this even here on this community. Do a quick check at what topics people argue about and you'll see evidence for #1. Check out how strident those of us who are informed on an issue are, for whichever side we're on, and that is the evidence for #2. I doubt anyone here would disagree with #3 or #5. #4 might not be so obvious, but those of us who use the Internet to get news instead of watching tv news might have a gut feeling that it's correct.
I think #2 is the most interesting though, even though it's fairly intuitive. We all understand how echo chambers work, especially online, so it's good that this community isn't one, although any given post might act like one because of who comments on it.
Ask the average person what's wrong with government and you'll hear all about corrupt politicians, corporate lobbyists and shady backroom deals. But, of course, we elected those corrupt politicians, and the more you look at the situation, the more it appears that as people, we are just really bad at democracy.
#5. Our Opinion on an Issue Is Based on How It's Worded
#4. Watching the News Actually Makes Us Stupider
#3. Political Pundits Are Even Worse Than the News
#2. The More Informed You Are, the More Partisan You Are
#1. We Hate Each Other Over Imaginary Differences
I think we can see a lot of this even here on this community. Do a quick check at what topics people argue about and you'll see evidence for #1. Check out how strident those of us who are informed on an issue are, for whichever side we're on, and that is the evidence for #2. I doubt anyone here would disagree with #3 or #5. #4 might not be so obvious, but those of us who use the Internet to get news instead of watching tv news might have a gut feeling that it's correct.
I think #2 is the most interesting though, even though it's fairly intuitive. We all understand how echo chambers work, especially online, so it's good that this community isn't one, although any given post might act like one because of who comments on it.