Politics for Dilettantes
Kawaii -- Wednesday, October 08, 2003 -- 10:08:43 PMApathetic? Uninformed? Don't even vote? Have your bread and want your circus?
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That and I forgot to have an idea to start off the discussion.
Seems appropriate for such a thread.
Consider me lurking with interest.
Consider me loitering with intent.
All stripes. I thought it would be a nifty idea to make a thread with a really low barrier to entry for people who don't explode cranial blood vessels when they want to discuss politics or where people don't feel like they have to write up a policy statement for every opinion they post.
It has nothing to do with making the thread nicey-nice, but thinking more about it, there are more ways for this to fail than not.
Apathetics aren't going to care. Those who like politics as entertainment don't tend to be dabblers. Non-dilettantes could start referring each other over here when they say something stupid. If it doesn't die off quickly, it could get overrun by people with an agenda.
There was a similar attempt earlier, focused on Iraq: "I'm on the fence about this war." It actually ran along rather nicely for awhile, and had a pretty decent conversation going, but eventually it did get overrun by people with an agenda (one of whom was me).
Still, a decent conversation for a while is something.
I am kind of hoping the crushing power of apathy can keep the flames down. Fight fire with water and all.
How hard am I kicking myself because I've forgotten what it was that gave me the idea for the thread?
Not it, but: Is Bush made of teflon or what? Careers have been ended with the accusation of a fraction of things that have been thrown at him. Nothing sticks, how did he get to be such a golden boy?
I think it is the same as with Arnold: Bush is a very likable guy: he isn't mean, he is friendly, he doesn't put on airs. People like him, people trust him, so they are more willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Plus, a lot of the people who accuse him of stuff are clearly rabid, so their accusations are discounted.
Eh. I feared "dilettantes" was code for "apathetic but still somewhat partisan liberal-leaners."
Is Bush made of teflon or what? Careers have been ended with the accusation of a fraction of things that have been thrown at him. Nothing sticks, how did he get to be such a golden boy?
Gee, you'd have to go back... three years to find a President accused of worse behavior.
Christ. That's like, last milennium and shit.
I'd disagree that nothing sticks. If you've seen a graph of his approval numbers since he's been in office, you'll notice a sawtooth effect: they drop steadily in a straight line until 9-11, jump sky-high but immediately resume dropping, jump again during the war in Iraq but immediately resume dropping, until now, when they're around 50% depending on the poll you use. That's certainly not a spectacular approval rating.
By the way, Weaver, Ace: The thread was founded for dilettantes, which I take to mean people who do not already regularly post in Politics. Neither you nor I qualify under that heading. I don't plan to initiate any discussions here, but I will respond to posts by other Politics regulars. That said, I think the thread will function best as intended if we all stay out of it.
I think it's just a mirror image of the Clinton effect. One end of the spectrum is for him no matter what, the other is against him no matter what, and in the middle, as LB points out, the ratings fluctuate all the time. To those of us on the against-him-no-matter-what end it looks like nothing sticks, and it looked the same way to those on that end of the Clinton spectrum.
I don't intended at all to be a safe place for the those of liberal tendencies and this isn't moderated, no one is going to be yanking any posts to protect sensitivities.
I never found Clinton or Bush to be particularly likeable or trustworthy. I don't think they are evil, but I don't sense the magic of their charisma.
edit: heh, Brigit. Me too.