Re: [Fsfe-uk] MSN Thought Thieves

[MJ Ray]

Lee Braiden wrote:
> Because your motivations for participating will be given little if any
> attention, whereas your participation will at least be registered in the
> numbers of people who took part.

I think something like this should be able to attract
enough attention, as long as we are willing to "act in an
attention-grabbing manner". It's a huge target, I think.

> This argument comes up with voting too: is it better to vote for parties you
> don't agree with, and even a system of voting that you don't agree with?  Or
> would it be better for people to stay away en-masse, and therefore to
> invalidate the election, forcing the powers that be to establish a better
> election system and then try again?

I don't think that a low showing in this competition will have
as much effect. Is there any way to tell how many/few entries
there are and do we think reporters will care?

As for voting, I don't think that low turnout will force
reform or invalidate an election unless it gets so low that
a revolution is triggered as a result of unpopular winners
trying to continue... in most cases, I think you're better
off mass-voting for manifestoes which include electoral
reform, if that's your aim, and then acting otherwise too.

I think this comment could apply to that: "Unfortunately, many
people now fear and mistrust politics and feel that participation
in the democratic arena is obsolete (thus leaving decision-making
to those without such doubts). But the democratic arena, for
better or worse, still exists, and it is a proper place in which
to debate and discuss the future of democratic technology." --
Doug Schuler, on http://www.scn.org/ip/commnet/kill-commnets.html

-- 
MJR/slef
http://www.affs.org.uk/~mjr/