Thoughts on world (or any country's) politics. Controversial?

[Cas]

I'm used to the fact that all thoughts on politics are controversial. "Let us not talk about politics, please" says somebody at the table in Mother's Day after a barbecue or maybe at the office during a break. Surprisingly, people are more willing to accept the taboo than each other's ideas... even if it's just about listening. Does this taboo do any good?  And would abandoning this taboo fix anything anyway?

Yesterday (and this is not fiction), the pizza shop where I buy empanadas once a week (this is a common thing in Argentina) blew up. Exactly as I'm saying it. The owner arrived in the afternoon to open his shop as every other day. Maybe somebody didn't realise and left the gas running. Who knows?  I was able to hear the explosion from a distance of about 15 blocks, where I was at the time. The shop was completely demolished. It was a miracle that only three people suffered minor injuries, yet the business owner was renting the place and his employees probably weren't correctly registered. Again, who knows?  I can't help imagining the land owner claiming on the business owner, the electrician also being beckoned at, the employee who left the gas on, etc. Of course, neighbours were all super curious and formed a crowd around the place and we're just going to pick another pizza shop next time. Nobody will help; everybody will demand. As usual. The spectacular event was broadcast on TV. Not the explosion itself, but the aftermath. People love watching these things and talking about them. Even myself, I admit!  Now all this... was an accident.

Pick a random country. Of course, for every scandal, there will be one that will fit best, but all in all, any will do as an approximation. Spectacular events... and often not accidental. Or are they?  After all, if the guy at the pizza shop had been putting attention, he could've, in theory, prevented the explosion by always checking on the gas. So... not putting attention, not realising of what can happen, not considering the risks, in a way, turns a crime into an accident. Then maybe what we, common people, do when we vote is nothing but random and maybe what the people we vote for do afterwards is just accidental. That is, these politicians are all so predictable we should be able to see it coming. But we're human. We're forgiven.

"Don't you see this guy is an imperialist?"... "And don't you see this other one want to be a caudillo?"... Each of us surely has cried one of these questions to somebody else and has heard the other and largely ignored it. We're faction-based individuals. We vote for our favourite colour, not for whatever is right. Anyway, we don't even know what that is. We hear no warning. We just want to win.

A few months ago, I came across a video on YouTube in which a guy explained "democracy" in a very logical way. I had never heard somebody say it so clearly. He was claiming that what most "democratic" countries today have is not real democracy. That it's just the republican system. That democracy is about the people directly governing whereas, in a republic, it's the representatives. I already knew this, but one kinds of forget it and tends to use the two words interchangeably most of the time. The point is, to this guy, and it makes sense to me, "democracy" existed in the very far past in a few city-states, but does not exist today because, well, it usually doesn't work... like at all!  You can't have people just all decide everything. So majority vote is a system that creates the "illusion" of a democracy.

Now I had thought that I had always supported democracy, but after this and now, in expectation of my country blowing up at any time just like the pizza shop did, I am considering that maybe, not even the majority vote is fair. Not even this illusion works. Because the majority is not the wisdom of the people. It's just that: a majority. The same majority that watches stupid shows on TV or listens to horrible music at discos or gets horribly drunk and then drives. Picture this: a five-member family; the parents and three children. If the majority were to make the decisions, the children outnumber the parents, so they would be the ones to decide what's to be done in the house. Would that be fair?  And if not, why not?  Because it's the parents that work and bring everything to the house?  Well, something rings a bell here... I've head this thing before, haven't you?  But no, I'm not trying to convince you guys of anything or to create flame wars and I'm not sticking to my faction. I'm only calling to reason, to logic... maybe this same thinking, or any other... but... reason.

Thinking differently is not bad at all. Not thinking... well, that's the problem. Just wanted to share this. Thank you

[afullo]

I use to remember a famous quote by Isaac Asimov regarding the relation between freedom of thought and facts: Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge. In my opinion, this is the root of several problems with the conception of democracy and republic by people, today.

[Cas]

Thanks. I didn't know that quote, mate, but it's really good. And I have read a lot from Asimov. It's true, people just want to argue and win and it does not matter to them how much reason there is in the position they pick. I feel pretty helpless in a society in which everything turns around the whim of fanatics and reasoning is left forgotten. I wish my country, by some miracle, shall be spared, but if it is not, I hope you guys don't have to go through the same and that you all spend some time everyday to just think and reflect peacefully (not in anger, that doesn't help)... and then teach your children to think too. It's healthy and one day, we'll have a better world that way.

In the meantime, I'm saving a few bucks in case I have to run away from here. I don't feel like spending the next two or three decades in a dictatorship. One Venezuela is enough.

[afullo]

and then teach your children to think too. It's healthy and one day, we'll have a better world that way.

I'm going to become father soon, I will do my best to grow up a girl that would be able to make use of her thought in a critical manner, which is rare also in young generations.

[afullo]

B Ö [...] Ö F F ! ! !

Indeed, several politicians all around the world do not deepen their speeches really further than catch-words or phrases. But maybe they only reflect their electorate.

[Cas]

Well, in a way, yes. I've heard many times the phrase that "a country has the politicians it deserves, since people chose them", but the thing is it's not just "people"... it's the "majority" that chose them. We could say politicians represent the average inhabitant. It's true. I just don't feel represented, ever. But... I prefer the republican system, not because it's good, but because every other option sucks too much.

Giving your child the ability to form a criterion is something very special. It won't exactly make her "happy", because understanding what goes on in society leads to profound disappointment... realising how little reason there is in it. But not understanding this is much worse. It's strange, because ignorants don't seem to suffer their ignorance, still, we thinkers value our thinking so much... knowing that it causes sorrow. Yet somehow, it's the right thing to do, to pass on any wisdom we have, however modest. Passing the torch in hope one of us will get it to cross the line one day is the best we can do, mate, in my opinion.

[afullo]

Well, in a way, yes. I've heard many times the phrase that "a country has the politicians it deserves, since people chose them", but the thing is it's not just "people"... it's the "majority" that chose them. We could say politicians represent the average inhabitant. It's true. I just don't feel represented, ever. But... I prefer the republican system, not because it's good, but because every other option sucks too much.

At least in a republican system there are people in power (e.g., minoritarian deputies) controlling other people in power (e.g., the government in charge), thus preventing excesses which in other systems cannot be dealt with. Apart from this, I give often this example: I own a PhD in Mathematics, and you know that Mathematics is behind every technological device, and we are now basically dependent of technology; despite this, I guess that more of 50% of the people in every developed country, despite instructional systems which often work regardless of funds available (at least for public schools), believes that a mathematician solve problems just for his/her sake. This is why we cannot base our decisions simply on the "majority rule".

Giving your child the ability to form a criterion is something very special. It won't exactly make her "happy", because understanding what goes on in society leads to profound disappointment... realising how little reason there is in it. But not understanding this is much worse. It's strange, because ignorants don't seem to suffer their ignorance, still, we thinkers value our thinking so much... knowing that it causes sorrow. Yet somehow, it's the right thing to do, to pass on any wisdom we have, however modest. Passing the torch in hope one of us will get it to cross the line one day is the best we can do, mate, in my opinion.

I know. A lot of people just live in the moment, not worrying about what the future can reserve for themselves if they do not do the right things. And this is acceptable while being a child or a teenager, so your parents have to guide you, but when you become an adult, nobody cares about your lacking of long-term plans anymore, if you have not learnt in the meantime how to manage them. Teaching your son or daughter that he or she has to do his or her homework because otherwise he or she would not learn the lesson, and not because otherwise you would not allow him to play Fortnite or you would not buy her the dress she wants for the school party, for example, could be a first step toward a right conscience of how to deal with important things in life.

[Cas]

I totally agree with you. I hope we can find the words to make other people understand what reason is about. Many feel that reason is cold and opposed to feelings, which are good and pure. Nothing could be more mistaken. When somebody, like a child, does not yet have a thinking structure developed, it's hard to make them see this. You can try and tell them "No, it's not that I don't want you to do this. YOU don't want to do this. It's just you still haven't realised."
   I'm not a professional, but I'm a number-person too. I should be a physicist, but I wasn't concentrated enough while at University and I left, distracted by my job at a call centre and a few things that had gone wrong in my life during that time. I've given private math lessons to highschool kids sometimes. I've found that my case helps, because I have the profile, yet I haven't gone all the way, so I haven't completely forgotten what ignorance feels like, ha, ha.
   I like pointing out things like the fact that while unlikely things are unlikely independently, it's really unlikely that nothing unlikely will happen to you from time to time, because there are too many unlikely things to happen. This is a common misunderstanding about "majority" or "most common thing" and the main reason why so many people believe in UFOs and miracles. Same way, if you have a bag with balls and each has a number from 1 to 100 and you remove the one with the number 100 and replace it with another 1, then you shuffle and you pick a ball randomly. The "most likely thing to happen" is that you'll get number 1, it's twice as likely as any other. But also, the most likely thing is that you will NOT get the number 1. It's 98 to 2. If common people would see these simple facts, they would vote very differently and they would approach their problems very differently too

[CTG]

O1G

[alanrotoi]

 How do you live you and in general in Hungary about Orban? Is he inside the NATO but a friend of Putin? (If so, do you see it good or a bad thing?).

Hungary had a strong dependence of the Russian oil and gas (please confirm). How are the prices now? Where do you get energy? Is it from USA? Algeria? Russian oil from Turkey? Is it much expensive?