[LINK] OT: Re: Hardies decision ...

[jim birch]

On David Boxall <david.boxall at hunterlink.net.au> wrote:

> I'm coming to think it's a pity that we elect our governments. With the
> increasing sophistication of information
> manipulation/falsification/perversion, Democracy is beginning to look
> unworkable.
>

There is a piece on the subject of democracy in the internet age on ABC's
Occams Razor by Nick Gruen.  I just started the podcast so haven't got a
full opinion but bit I heard to sounded but thoughtful and realistic, as I
would expect from Gruen.

"In much discussion of the ills of our democracy ‘we the people’ figure as
innocent victims of the depredations of others: Of the sensationalism of
the media, of the duplicity of our politicians.  But the media doesn’t run
the sensationalist, empty, narcissistic rubbish it runs and politicians
don’t engage in the dark arts of spin and character assassination because
they are a lower form of life.  They do it because our decisions mean that
it works.  We buy the papers.  We voted for John Howard in 2004 though by
then we knew of his lies about children overboard.  We voted for Paul
Keating in 1993 because he demonised the GST, the same policy he described
as an economic necessity a few years earlier.

This self-indulgence about ‘we the people’ can lead to magical thinking.
In our republican debate how often have you heard someone say that they
don’t want our politicians to appoint our head of state because we want
something better than a typical politician?  They conclude that ‘we the
people’ should keep it in our own hands by electing them ourselves."

Podcast or transcript:
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/ockhamsrazor/beyond-vox-pop-democracy3a-deepening-democracy-in-the-internet/3976072

Jim