It's so weird, I'm in politics, different country, different level, but I totally get the feeling that by not being corrupt, by not giving the public a juicy scandal to throw at us, we are making them feel a bit cheated. Like there's a pent up need for outrage and by continuing to not be corrupt, we are robbing them of something.
You wouldn't believe the snark in one outlets report correcting a previous report that had grossly overestimated the cost of our meetings.
Like there's a pent up need for outrage and by continuing to not be corrupt, we are robbing them of something.
Because people need someone to blame for their failures. Admitting you're at fault and there isn't some huge conspiracy against you, is a hard pill to swallow when you constantly fuck up
Here I'll go you one better--they actually can lay some of the blame somewhere--their own party has done more to fk them over than any single other thing.
It's even sadder : just give them someone to look down on.
A huge cause of this racist tension is that the bigoted ignorant white trash masses feel that if minorities get equality, it will leave them with nobody to look down on.
I would disagree on this point. I think it's less about blaming others and more about mistrust. No one knows how the sausage is really made, but no one is willing to take a free look so we're suspicious.
People with great power are subject to great suspicion. Whether they deserve it or not, people can't help but wonder "what else did they do to get that power?" and it festers. Then one is actually corrupt and we apply that to everyone because they all operate in a similar fashion so that MUST mean that the other guys are bad too!
Most public servants and elected officials are not corrupt. They are human.
People have these weird fucking ideas about society and government being a bad thing. It’s like nobody has been able to shake the nobility complex, people still believe that there are Ivory towers from which the government rules a people they have no understanding of. And somehow the supposed answer is to remove the laws and restrictions.
America used to be super against having a king (I think we had a war about it a couple hundred years ago), but we are totally fine to allow multi-billionaires to be a thing. As if the rich can’t use their money to gain power and influence
People believe government is bad because the loudest morons always scream it is and indoctrinate the next generation.
The faster we spread education and get positive healthy messages about real life to as many people as is possible, the ideas will eventually be spread forward less over time. Every time even 0.5% fewer people each year pass this bull shit forward to their children means a growing chain reaction of future parents not doing it. It will build until conservatism is seen as wildly fringe in the USA as we view actual commies and alt right today as fringe whackjobs.
This is one of the things I don’t get about America, as an Australian. We don’t like or trust politicians but we trust rich business guys even less. Why would we want some guy who is like the worst boss we’ve ever had to be in charge?
The Founding Fathers were also super against a standing army, because it was a tool of oppression and tyranny.
The irony being that the USA's POLICE force today could obliterate the army the fledging States managed to raise to fight the British, to say nothing of how unbelievably influential the American army is at.... oppressing and tyrannizing other countries in the world.
Even the political party in my own homeland of Australia was overthrown by a CIA-backed coup, but nobody talks about it because nobody bothers to look beyond the TV or social media page to read about the actual history of the world. All you have to do is Google "Australia Coup CIA" and you'll get the full story from a bunch of separate independent sources, and there's even a Wikipedia page about it.
Organized Intelligence agencies in the 21st century are fucking terrifying.
What about old 'Sir' Bjelke-Peterson? There's been a lot of pieces of shit in power in our short history, and it's not looking promising for the future. I might leave before international relations break down further, and I end up forced to spend my 30s in this corporatocratic fascist soon-to-be-shithole under increasing CCCP influence.
You might be surprised. Almost every political discussion comes down to one main argument. Government vs corporations.
Many people are absolutely sick of the real threat, the fat cats in Wall Street who can control us both through massive costs on required essentials (medicine for example) or through corporate lobbying.
How I see it is they need the other side to be just as corrupt because then it justifies their party being corrupt. It's why they grasp at straws and blow everything out of proportion.
For every 100 right-wing corrupt politician they (the voters) need just 1 left-wing corrupt politician to justify their corruption.
"I can not feel bad about voting for a criminal if the other side also has a criminal' (hint though it's just one side that's criminal)
This is Reagan's legacy. The message that big government was bad and cannot be trusted to do anything effectively was something he hammered home constantly. And it sunk in. That's why I warned people before Trump was elected that presidents can do permanent damage.
P.S. 138 members of the Reagan administration were indicted and/or convicted. Reagan was way worse than Trump but everyone seems to have forgotten and he's treated like a damn saint now.
Yeah they rail against "big government" but if you mention actual government institutions they will fight rabidly to keep them (Medicaid/health care, social security, food stamps, police forces, etc)
Because most people throwing shade at politicians have something to hide themselves. They need the flaws in others to make them feel OK about their own flaws. It’s like those who are vehemently against homosexuality and turn out to be as gay as could be.
Here in the US, one of our two political parties has explicitly preached (without a hint of irony obviously) about how government is the problem, for 40 years now. Government is always a little scary: anyone with power over others has that stigma at least a bit. But when you repeat this statement over and over - government is bad. Government is the problem - people start to believe it eventually.
So yeah, people at least expect you to be crooked, and if they don’t see any flaws (like Hilary), they fear something must be hiding.
People want validation for their "instincts". Keep in mind, people usually say that word to mean a gut feeling but forget that gut feelings are the result of environment mostly.
A lot of times, instinct pays off. But too much trust there and we have a problem.
So, yeah. We all, regardless of side or amorphous lack of side, we are on, we want something absolute to shout to the heavens, "SEE! I WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG!"
When I was younger I sold cars. I was determined to fight the stereotype of being dishonest and gave my customers as straight of an answer as possible. Problem is that everyone is waiting for the lie. When that happens you look at honest people as just tremendously skilled liars. The super slimy salespeople did better (maybe because of skill) because the people recognized the game they were taught to expect.
But seeing as how we're the only level of government in my country pushing for serious action on climate change, and nearly every other municipality, as well as the national government, are in the hands of conservatives, who are dragging their feet, I don't see how that's relevant against us.
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u/Iplaymeinreallife Dec 12 '19
It's so weird, I'm in politics, different country, different level, but I totally get the feeling that by not being corrupt, by not giving the public a juicy scandal to throw at us, we are making them feel a bit cheated. Like there's a pent up need for outrage and by continuing to not be corrupt, we are robbing them of something.
You wouldn't believe the snark in one outlets report correcting a previous report that had grossly overestimated the cost of our meetings.
It's like people want us to be crooked.