On the other hand, the default position of "I can affect everything" seems equally naive, and more costly in terms of mental energy.
Besides-it doesn't matter if the position is rational or not, it only matters if it's an accurate representation of Bury-Head-In-Sanders thought processes. What's more relevant is figuring out how to counter that thought process.
edited 17th Apr '11 5:53:29 PM by TheyCallMeTomu
What do you suggest I do about politics? It's not like I can even vote on the national government until 2012 and it almost certainly won't make any difference then. Meanwhile, writing a letter or something is both costly in terms of time and equally useless.
edited 17th Apr '11 5:56:51 PM by storyyeller
Blind Final Fantasy 6 Let's PlayThe thing with ignorance is this:
The society you live in affords you many benefits. But they do not come for free. It's your responsibility to keep the crazy people out of power. One way to do that is to make sure you vote, and that you vote for the sane people.
^ Where do you live? What state and district, assuming that you're in the United States?
edited 17th Apr '11 6:06:07 PM by GlennMagusHarvey
Also, there are lots of local elections.
For example, we just had this (regularly-scheduled) election in Wisconsin, for Supreme Court Justice, as well as for at least two County Executive positions and a bunch of Democratic and Republican primary elections.
In other news, watch out for ads for "Energy Citizens"—they're just another right-wing group trying to be apologists for oil companies. I've been seeing their ads around.
The Wisconsin State Supreme Court election had the chance to up-end the balance of power in Wisconsin and put it on a track towards fixing the severe problems that are going on there.
You know that old environmental saying, "Think global, act local"? That applies to politics, too. One of the strategies that the Republicans have used in the past was to take over state assemblies and re-district the states so that Republicans have an easier time controlling Congress.
Now they've dispensed with the pretenses and are going after the core mechanics that allows non-Republicans to compete on a national level by dismantling Democrats' biggest support structure, the unions. They're putting "financial managers" in place of duly elected local and school governments. Local government has become vitally important, because one of the national parties is putting effort behind taking over the country by changing the rules from local government up (because they're stalled on a national level by only having The House of Representatives).
Writing one letter might seem like a waste of time, but writing a lot of letters, attending rallies, and getting the word out to sign recall petitions for legislators or executives who have gone well off of the reservation in service to national Republican agendas adds to a growing wave of resistance. Remember how Obama matched and exceeded his opponents' money in the 2008 election with the average contribution being a hundred bucks or something? That was a lot of people working together to fight the inertia of apathy and resistance to change.
That's basically what solidarity is: working together to make something important happen.
"The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules." - E. Gary Gygax
Not all supporters of the Republican party are themselves bad people. A lot of especially older folks are lifelong Republicans and don't really understand what's happened to them over time. Others are one issue wonks who don't really care about anything but their one issue, which Republicans may support. The majority of the rest are simply people who believe that they will one day be rich and qualify for the special treatment that the Republican party affords rich folks.
Most people just don't pay attention to the national agendas of our political parties. If they did, they would realize that the Republican agenda is cynical in the extreme, and panders to the worst natures of humanity.
"The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules." - E. Gary GygaxGlenn Magus Harvey: I don't really follow Tom's posts all that much, but it's pretty common with conservatives I've talked to. One guy I correspond with is currently unemployed, but he plans on making upper bracket dollars someday, and wants a libertarian government who won't touch his big money when that happens (while, currently, he's recieving unemployment and loathing himself for doing it).
"The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules." - E. Gary GygaxI would like to blame the Randians, but it can't all be their fault. Their economic theory assumes that working hard will yeild a vast amount of money, but that assumes that the system in place isn't actively working against them.
Very big Daydream Believer. "That's not knowledge, that's a crapshoot!" -Al Murray "Welcome to QI" -Stephen FryNext time, try challenging his reasoning. Go through calculations with him and stuff.
Many people who go along with this faux populism from Republicans like Scott Walker don't realize that benefits they've taken for granted without even knowing it come from difficult struggles endured by their predecessors.
...Seriously? Prosser is saying that a recount would be "Frivolous," unwarranted and costly.
The vote came well within the .5% margin where a free recount is allowed, and there is significant controversy in this election! Calling it Frivolous is completely unwarranted!
See, I wanna get a Computer Science degree so I can make video games. I almost certainly won't make millions, nor do I have delusions otherwise. But if I can make even a few games that people enjoy, I'll be happy. And maybe get a software engineering position that pays well enough to support a family.
None of which would put me in brackets where I'd face the taxes of the ultra rich anyway.
Fun fact: in the 2010 midterm elections, Florida passed state constitution amendments making gerrymandering illegal. I was fucking floored because I didn't realize it wasn't already illegal. They passed... and then our fucktard governor backpedaled about implementing it. God I hate Rick Scott.
Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.

But how would you know if there are or aren't meaningful actions to be taken unless you do the research?
Adopting that policy as the de-facto stance is just too damaging. And unless you look into it you can't know which subjects you can't affect.
Look, you can't make me speak in a logical, coherent, intelligent bananna.