• Hanrahan@slrpnk.net
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    6 months ago

    Exactly, it’s a voter problem. We have a ranked choice voting system in Australia with cumpolsory voting, same as everywhere, we mostly elect fools and asshats.

    But then some some 2000 years ago

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_circuses

    Juvenal originally used it to decry the “selfishness” of common people and their neglect of wider concerns. The phrase implies a population’s erosion or ignorance of civic duty as a priority.

    80% simply don’t really give a shit.

    Susan Sontag was asked what she had learned from the Holocaust, and she said that 10% of any population is cruel, no matter what, and that 10% is merciful, no matter what, and that the remaining 80% could be  moved in either direction” —Kurt Vonnegut

    • anarchiddy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      6 months ago

      It’s not a voter problem, it’s a capitalism problem.

      In a capitalist democracy, it’s capital that sets the rules for governance, not the other way around. You can have a social democracy, but you can’t undo capital in a capitalist democracy by voting.

      • yucandu@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        You’re incredibly defeatist. You absolutely can, that’s why they keep spending so much money trying to influence our vote.

        • anarchiddy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          6 months ago

          I agree that spending boatloads of money on propaganda is an effective way of dictating the terms of an election.

          It’s possible that you just don’t agree that capital owners have more money and influence than the rest of the country by orders of magnitude, and that somehow if we just yell really really loudly that we can overcome that immense power differential.

          • yucandu@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            I thought YOU were the one arguing to “just yell really really loudly”? I’m the one arguing for actual concrete action, like voting. We’ve overcome it countless times throughout history. But first you have to educate your neighbours. We’ve spent too long saying “it’s not my responsibility to educate you”.