Apparently, I’m one of several hundred people graduating Uni this semester! Yey! I haven’t felt this special since I found my name on a random list one time while google-searching for my blog.
Current friends I have that I. . .
. . .went to elementary school with: 1 that I still talk to, 3 that I don’t, but probably should. . .
. . .went to high school with: 4.
. . .went to university with: Just about everyone else (how big a number this is depends on how optimistic I am that day)
. . .met in my first job at (baseball stadium): 0.5
. . .met in my second job at (A & S newsletter): 0
. . .met in my third job at (campus newspaper): 10
. . .met from age 0-10: 1
. . .met from age 11-20: All but 3
. . .met this past summer: 1 to 6 (depending on your definition of ‘friend‘)
. . .met in Australia: At least 10.
Rule: “Change up some of the details but leave the essence. . . also the details and $20 by my night stand.”
I tag seth, ex_cal and breakerslion.
Warning: sociopolitical analytical post.
This is part two of a two part series. The question for this post is: “Why do Americans vote?” The analysis is broader than the U.S., however and can be applied to any large western country.
Why do people vote?
In Australia and certain other countries it’s because the law demands it. I’m still not sure how I feel about that, but it seems to work fine most times. In other countries where it’s not compulsory, people vote because they don’t want to ‘shirk’ their democratic rights and responsibilities, because they have a candidate or issue they ‘care’ about or (in the case of my friend Frank) because they just hate incumbents.
Sadly, I think Frank is on to something. At the very least he has a reason to vote. Most times, people go out on election day to help a bill or candidate pass (or to hinder its progress). Unfortunately, these bills are rarely local and so one vote makes so little difference that it’s no more effective than just crossing your fingers.
Additionally unfortunately, there is usually more than one bill or candidate on any ballot box. So what do people do when they finish voting for the issue or person they care about? They keep voting.
They wouldn’t want to shirk their democratic duty to add randomness to any electoral outcome, would they?
Warning: sociopolitical analytical post.
This is part one of a two part series. The question for this post is: “Why don’t Americans vote?” The analysis is broader than the U.S., however and can be applied to any large western country.
Why don’t people vote?
The reasons are many, but they all boil down to lack of time, lack of confidence, lack of information and lack of expectations. In other words, people don’t know the system, don’t have time to know the system, don’t trust the system and don’t think there is any way they can effect the system. Psychologists call this ‘learned helplessness.’
If you take a dog and put him in a room where he is electrocuted and nothing he does can change that, he will learn to accept it and– when there is a chance to change it all– he won’t. Because he has learned to accept that he cannot change anything.
“Learned helplessness” offered a model to explain human depression, in which apathy and submission prevail, causing the individual to rely fully on others for help. This can result when life circumstances cause the individual to experience life choices as irrelevant.
Am I saying that non-voters are depressed? In a certain form of the word, yes. But I liken it to another phenomenon that psychologists equate with learned helplessness. Battered Person’s Syndrome.