Why are We Here interested in Politics, but the Vast Herds are Not?

[Philosoraptor]

Only a tiny percent of people care about things political. I think it may be that way all over the world, only 10% of folks seem to give a damn about politics.

On any given day you'll hear folks talking about all sorts of things, American Idol, The World Cup, last night's football game, but the discussion of politics only happens rarely.

Is it because it's too hard to understand? Is it because it's all over the road? Is it because it always breaks out into arguments? And why do we care about it, when most folks don't seem to?

Are we wired wrong? Are we freaks among the crowd? Only a tiny percentage of Americans vote, and only a tiny percent of them are smart enough to do even that, and our elections are decided by a mere handful of people interested in politics.

Some vote straight R or straight D or they vote based on charisma or a desire to see your team win, as if it were a game. Many vote for silly reasons, and have no clue what they're voting for.

Why are we here? Why do we like to discuss politics? How can we get the rest of the crowd to participate? Phil wants to know.

[Saturday]

1. It's just my opinion but,

I think most people have enough problems just in their own lives. Politics seem far away and people think they can't change anything anyway, that all politicians are the same, yada yada yada so why try. I have to admit I sometimes feel the same.

[Minnesota Libra]

2. I and thousands of others have been asking that same............

.....question with no answer so far. But if you are lucky enough to get an answer you just let us all know because we too would like to wake the masses up. Maybe we could turn this country around before it is too late if we could :banghead: wake the masses up before November:banghead:

[mrcheerful]

3. Which is the reason we lost control

of our government to big business. Everyones complaining about the system but the vast majority out there throw up their hands and say theres nothing I can do about it, besides I got more important things to do. Then theres the old stand by excuse, well my vote don't matter anyhow.

Then when things get really bad well its time we get a third party in to fix things for us. The american way let someone else fix things rather then doing it yourself. I asked a third party voter why he trusted a third party, his answer, they hadn't been bought by big business so he could trust them. I explained to him the only reason that was is because theres been no third party thats been elected. Oh no mt party can't be bought, these are the people that make up this country and you wonder why.

[annabanana]

4. more are than we may think...

It doesn't get discussed in line at the supermarket, because the subject is so touchy and most people don't like arguing.

[Clovis Sangrail]

5. because we're a nation of sheep

I really believe we are more of a cultivated consumer base than citizens of a nation.
My personal experience is that people who are "not interested in politics" in other countries tend to be far more aware of politics than our "not interested in politics" people.

I think this is because the majority of people take their cues as to what is socially relevant from the media; and, for various reasons, our media studiously avoids talking about important issues. I don't think this is a month by month or issue by issue reaction but something that has built over the last 15 years.

The corporations who forcefeed us the "news" often have a vested interest in getting people to believe/support one thing or another. That doesn't mean that everything they report is wrong; it does, however, explain why there was never any serious discussion of the broadcast flag (as one example) by any of the major media outlets.

[babylonsister]

6. I asked my step-son that very question. His response

was that he likes sports, women, and cars. :eyes: In a bit of a defense for him, he has a good job, just had his 3rd child, and is living with a debilitating disease, so he doesn't have much time to immerse himself in politics. His wife claims she doesn't need to be more depressed than she already is.

[doc mercer]

7. Masses

The SHEEP have FOX and Limbaugh to turn to ... who needs anything more ???

[TheFarseer]

14. The majority does not watch that stuff

The majority is listening to top 40 on the radio or adult contemporary and watching American Idol, MTV, The Apprentice, (insert your own mindless show here) I don't think they realize how much politics impacts their lives or else they think they are doing well in life already. And of course, it took 53 million or so votes to elect president dipstick, one less in Oklahoma won't change anything.

[bklyncowgirl]

8. I love history--how can I not be interested in what's happening now?

The history that our grandkids and greatgrandkids will study is being written about is happening today.

I love reading about history. There's something fascinating about the interplay of personalities and events on the world stage. How could I not be interested in the same interplay that is going on before my eyes.

Of course it's not like being able to sit back and chuckle over the excesses of the Julio-Claudian Emperors. These clowns who are running our country have the potential to ruin the lives of everyone on the planet. I feel I have to do my duty as a citizen and do what I can to get good people into power--or as is usually the case--people who are a little less toxic than the other guys.

So I end up picking sides. As much as I'd like it to be otherwise, there are only two major parties in this country. Given my view of the world I end up supporting the Democrats. Supporting the Democrats is alot like supporting a losing baseball team--you cheer when they win, you curse when they lose, you feel (with some evidence) that the other guys are cheating and that the umpires' have it in for your guys and there are team members you adore and those that you can't stand because they're screwing up the game.

It's the world's best spectator sport--except it's serious--deadly serious.

[subchicagogal]

9. I believe its all part of the "dumbing down of America".........

I honestly believe since the 70's there has been a conscious effort to dumb down Americans, with making things like sports (how many sports talk radio shows do we have now???)and entertainment (how many Access Hollywood type shows do we have now???) FAR more important and talked about than they should be. I like sports and entertainment as much as the next person, but it kills me when people are more aware of these things than what is going on in Iraq. But, I think this was deliberate and it is a great way to keep the masses under control. It's also how they get their 10 second sound bites to be so effective - "we found the WMD" - the masses don't know better, so they buy it hook, line, and sinker. Just my opinion.........

[mrcheerful]

11. Think about this

basket ball in the 70's was shown at 2am in most eastern states and nobody really watched it but die hard fans. Now look at it today and thats all you see after superbowl sunday until after march maddness. Somehow african americans have been told that watching sports was supporting black people and anything that had black people in it was to be watched, especially if it parted them from their money in their pockets. A few black people that I hung around were buying sport team jackets, music cds and other stuff, I asked why. They said they had to buy the stuff because it was supporting and promoting black people. I said no actually your giving your money to fat rich white guys and the black stars were only getting a small kick back from the money you spend. Their answer, well Michael Jordons rich. Wonder whats wrong with america, ask.

[Philosoraptor]

17. I want to grow up to be a Basketball or Rap Star.

Good points, advertising makes basketball players morph from athletes to gods.

[The2ndWheel]

10. Specialization

It creates detachment. We have organizations that worry about this and that, think tanks and such. We have career politicians that know how Washington works, you don't want just any schlub walking into that town, that's not too good for democracy.

[izzie]

12. Why have I always falling asleep when a football game is on TV?

It is dull and I have no interest in it and a waste of my time. Now politics are a real sport of Kings. Need I say more?

[Philosoraptor]

18. It's an apt comparison.

Football widows and CSPAN widows can attest to this.

[KyuzoGator]

13. Because interest in politics requires cognitive dissonance.

And more Americans vote for American Idol than for the President.

[crikkett]

23. you can stay up all night voting for American Idol, over+over, in fact.

-- not really a great comparison.

[Hubert Flottz]

15. Because they have no freakin' idea...

That what they think, is the friendly old sheep dog, watching out for them, is really the hungry old wolf, field dressing them with his eyes.

Edit...Bovinity will get you eat up, BTW.

[JHB]

16. Hmmm. Having people characterize you as a "herd" isn't ...

...particularly inviting, either.

Yes, people can be exasperating, but you're not going to win them over with conscending "elitist" generalizations like that.

[Philosoraptor]

19. Yeah, I'm just an old elitist.

The herd will never notice that I referred to them thusly. How am I an elitist?

[Hubert Flottz]

21. Managing the Human Herd

These influences culminate with Bernays, who happened to be a double nephew of Sigmund Freud. (His mother was Freud's sister; his father was Freud's wife's brother.) Bernays combined Le Bon's fear of the masses with the theories of Freud and others regarding the subconscious, irrational motivations of human behavior. In books titled Crystallizing Public Opinion, Engineering Consent and Propaganda, he defined public relations as an "applied social science" which society's masters could use to manage the human herd. "If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind," he argued, it would be possible to "control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing it. . . . Theory and practice have combined with sufficient success to permit us to know that in certain cases we can effect some change in public opinion with a fair degree of accuracy by operating a certain mechanism, just as the motorist can regulate the speed of his car by manipulating the flow of gasoline."

This is scary stuff, and required reading if you want to understand what motivates U.S. businesses to spend over $10 billion a year on PR. But it should be read for what it is--marketing hype, using reverent technocratic imagery to package Bernays' services to his corporate clients as the latest shiny new must-have gizmo.

Lee's "statement of principles" was designed to create the public myth that PR is natural, honorable and honest--part of the "two-way street" process of democratic communications between businesses and their "publics." Bernays' created an equal and opposite corporate myth--that public opinion could be manufactured for a price, bought and sold like any other commodity. Ewen easily debunks Lee's mythology, and he properly deplores the elitism in Bernays. He fails, however, to deal with or even mention the fact that Bernays was a controversial and frequently disliked figure within the PR industry--a man who was not invited to parties, who was deliberately excluded from professional associations, and who had a problem keeping clients.

Bernays was disliked by his peers in part because they considered him a pushy braggart and in part because his books contributed to PR's bad reputation. In addition, his theories of mass psychology sometimes inspired bizarre schemes that led clients to write him off as a harebrained eccentric. The maker of Lucky brand cigarettes, for example, fired him after he spent $30,000 organizing a "green fashions ball" in the hope that it would stimulate women across the country to color-coordinate with Lucky's green packaging. Much More...

http://www.prwatch.org/prwissues/1996Q4/ewen.html

[union_maid]

20. We can't help it, they won't change much

Sometimes I wish I wasn't interested. I look around at the people I know who've paid no attention to any of it as our country has been bought, sold, bankrupted and damaged beyond recognition. Oh, most of them now would probably characterize Bush as an idiot, but then don't think about it all the time. The truth is, for knowing what's going on, I'm no better off than they are and probably worse off than many of them. I'm also not as happy. It's kind of hard to convince someone to join you in a depressing sense of desperation and, too often, a feeling of futility.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

22. "All politics is local" - Tip O'neil

For most people, if it doesn't affect them personally, they have better things to do with their lives then pay attention to the antics of politicians.

"The war will end when enough of their kids come home in bodybags and they have to reach for their wallet to pay for it." - Words of a sympathetic PoliSci professor whose class we were disrupting during the Vietnam war.

Which is exactly what happened.

[WePurrsevere]

24. It requires caring about things & people outside your own little world.

It's not that they're bad people... it's just not the way some people are wired. The good news is that it's soft wiring for most and they can still be changed.

My eldest daughter's deep interest in politics and the world rubbed off on her SO. He's over 30 and has never even registered to vote. He felt why bother since it wouldn't make any difference and he was caught up in his own problems he had to worry about. Her passion about issues and her being able to vocalize why those issues were important to her, and woke him up out of his stupor and he's now interested, going to be registering to vote (if he hasn't already) and voting... Dem of course. :D

[Warpy]

25. Some people just prefer American Idol or Survivor

or People Magazine. Some people just want untroubled lives, to live undisturbed by knowledge of the wider world. Since drugs aren't socially acceptable, they tune into manufactured pop culture, zone out, and think the world is a fair and beautiful place.

That's why.

Others are curious, always poking into things, taking things apart to see how they work, asking questions nobody quite knows how to answer, willing to see the world like it is, even if some of it is hideously ugly, and hoping there is a way to make it better for everybody.

That's us.

[Philosoraptor]

26. CSPAN caller: "Like the vast majority of Americans, I just don't care

referring to the Abramhoff scandal.

[Philosoraptor]

27. 2nd CSPAN caller, "I don't care either"

She complained only republicans are being investigated in the Abramhoff scandal.

[nancyr]

28. I care too much

I care so much that it literally makes me sick. Sadly, though, most people are content to go to Walmart and McDonald's and watch bad t.v and say they were never interested much in politics. They don't read or bother with learning anything that might disturb their comfort level....I blame general stupidity for the mess we're in. It' all a part of the dumbing-down process.....and it worked great, didn't it?

[YvonneCa]

29. Prozac, Zoloft...

...too easy to have anxiety, be depressed and deal with it by medication, instead of doing the hard work of trying to fix your life and the world around you.