oldschool CxC

Friday, September 29, 2006

political ignorance is rational

posted by $9,000,000,000 Write Off @ 9:21 AM 

3 Comments:

Blogger R·E said...

Last point of that article,
"The problem of political ignorance is not going to be solved anytime soon. But it may be possible to ensure that more people possess at least basic political knowledge. At the same time, we should consider the possibility that a government with fewer functions might be easier for voters to understand and control."

There is no 'problem of political ignorance'. There is a system of political ignorance and fostering ignorance.

I think for Republican right-wingers, it's an advantageous system b/c uninformed poor people will vote for big money party b/c they didn't know. Clearly, it pays for wealthy people to make education difficult for poor people.

I guess the IT revolution had many thinking the rich would allow poor people to get an education -- to administer their routers & so on....

2:33 AM  
Blogger $9,000,000,000 Write Off said...

That's a common liberal complaint-- that poor people don't vote their interest-- but I've always considered that insulting, elitist and wrong. Maybe poor people see redistributionist policies as (1) immoral and (2) counterrevolutionary. After all, free market capitalism is the most revolutionary, liberating and uplifting force in history. Putting the brakes on it in order to feed the fat, oppressive governement is not in anyone's interest.

Its true that many (and really, nearly all currently serving) Republicans are not free market capitalist; they're as statist as any liberal. But some, as opposed to no democrats, get it. That's why the cunning poor people vote their way.

6:35 PM  
Blogger R·E said...

Sony, do you even believe what you're saying? The 'cunning poor' believe in free markets?

Do they believe this AS they're being exploited, or have they figured a way around being exploited b/c they're so smart?

It might be a liberal complaint, but I'm not a common liberal.

Last comment: "After all, free market capitalism is the most revolutionary, liberating and uplifting force in history."

Another beauty -- what country actually follows 'free market capitalism"? The US doesn't follow free market policies for trade or food, Europe has sheltered economies, and S. America & Africa were decimated by colonialization -- and THEN are expected to cut soc spending to allow international free market 'exploitation' to rape & plunder.

Free market capitalism is a myth. To a certain degree, supply and demand do work. But at a certain point, those systems short out b/c of morals, politics, militarism, and wealthy elites controlling markets.

What's so wrong with a pro-humanist bottom line underlying a 'free market' fantasy?

Please read the Chomsky speech I hacked and tell me what I made him say is untrue.

The only evidence that free market capitalism works is when workers collectivize and strike for their rights -- then their value is higher than their co's need to oppress them.
But where do union rights, rights to collectivize and so on, fall under 'free market capitalism'?

Any pro-poor labor movements now fall under the "rebellion" and "insurgency" catagories, and the poor people that fight for their basic natural rights have been killed in droves by American-backed counter-revolutionary forces (C.Amer, S.Amer, Asia, E.Eur, Africa, M.East).

I say, screw free market capitalism. It's a shameful philosophy for a planet where sentient creatures exist. Why not have the green "triple bottom line" steer the 'free market' (ie wealthy) to more humanist investment approaches?

12:21 PM  

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