Nicely said, Claiborne. At some level a certain degree of naivete is charming, perhaps even forgivable. On the other hand, stubborn attachment to an ivory tower whitewashed notion about the noble human nature, combined with sympathies for the "poor, downtrodden, uneducated, unwashed masses" is pretty hypocritical.
If you have trouble believing that stupidity, racism, and just plain ugliness are not a very large part of the human equation, and in fact are the major drivers behind much of the flavor of our social network interactions (I just threw that last bit in to appeal to the more academic amongst us), take a quick glance at politics in the Democratic Republic of The Congo: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/27472662#27472662 What are the similarities between their two-party system and ours? Tutsi vs. Hutu, Republican vs. Democrat. A primary strategy employed in either case is for each party to demonize the other. The primary difference between their style of politics and ours is that they use real bullets and machetes to "prove" who's right. Myself, I'd be happy with less ignorance, but I'd settle for more intelligence. --Doug On Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at 2:20 PM, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Greetings, all -- > > The Pauline Kael Syndrome affects all of us to a greater or lesser extent, > I suppose (you may recall that Ms. Kael, film critic for "The New Yorker", > famously commented in 1972, "I live in a rather special world. I only know > one person who voted for Nixon. Where they are I don't know. They're outside > my ken. But sometimes when I'm in a theater I can feel them."). I am a bit > of a cross-kenner, perhaps, in that as a finance guy who's a social > progressive, I have sympathies on both sides -- as do most voters, I'd say. > At the end of the day, however, I'm more confident in the kind of society a > Democrat can offer than any other party. It's also worth noting that > third-parties have never been successful in part because we in the US like > clear winners - no "grand coalitions". The Perot '92 voters are McCain '08 > voters, for the most part, and the Nader '00 voters are mostly Obama '08. > > Maybe the distribution really is along the lines that Nassim Nicholas Taleb > describes -- there's the narrative fallacy (believing in your ability to > recognize patterns where none exists) and confirmation bias (paying > attention only to information that strengthens your argument). > > Our deplorable lack of awareness of the world around us may be a feature, > not a bug. We live in such relative peace and prosperity that politics > doesn't really affect us day in and day out. Indeed, there are many > economists who argue that there's no need to vote, since your single vote is > unlikely to affect the outcome of an election. Of course, we in the sparsely > poplulated West know better, and besides, there's a greater civic > duty/social contract idea behind being a responsible citizen. That's the > message of all the ads on MTV to get out the youth vote, and maybe it will > work this time, but it's hard to force people. Citizens in South Africa and > Iraq and Gaza have much more to gain, it seems, from participating in > elections than we do. That neglects, however, the hard-won right to vote > that our ancestors vouchsafed for us. We owe it to them as much as ourselves > to make our voices heard. > > Like Owen and Doug, I'd like voters to be more intelligent, but I'll settle > for their being less ignorant. > > - Claiborne - > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Douglas Roberts <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam@redfish.com> > Sent: Fri, 31 Oct 2008 1:35 pm > Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Election: Why So Close > > I can't resist: > > On Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at 1:30 PM, Tom Carter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > >> [...] Democrats tend to have at least a little trouble flat out lying . . >> . > > > *Well, that would depend on what the definition of the word "is" is, > wouldn't it?* > > ;-} > > One of the more blatant Democratic lies ever uttered. Its echos are still > reverberating. > > -- > Doug Roberts, RTI International > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > 505-455-7333 - Office > 505-670-8195 - Cell > > ============================================================ > > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > > > ------------------------------ > McCain or Obama? Stay up to date on the latest from the campaign trail with > AOL > News<http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1212075880x1200752631/aol?redir=http://news.aol.com/elections?ncid=emlcntusnews00000001>. > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > -- Doug Roberts, RTI International [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] 505-455-7333 - Office 505-670-8195 - Cell
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