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

[David Boxall]

On 4/05/2012 11:21 AM, jim birch wrote:
> On David Boxall <david.boxall at hunterlink.net.au
> <mailto: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."
> ...

When John Howard engineered the Tampa incident, he bet that the 
electorate is ignorant, selfish and bigoted. He won the subsequent election.

Are "We, the people" really fit to choose our leaders? I'm surprised to 
find myself asking that question, but the likes of John Howard, Tony 
Abbott and the war against climate science lead me to it. I find 
perverse comfort in the fact that the current government is less adept 
at misleading us.

-- 
David Boxall                         | "Cheer up" they said.
                                     | "Things could be worse."
http://david.boxall.id.au            | So I cheered up and,
                                     | Sure enough, things got worse.
                                     |              --Murphy's musing