Re: <nettime> The Rise of dot-communism [2x]

["nettime's_digestive_system" <nettime-l@bbs.thing.net>]

1........Jeff Gandy <jeff@mindspear.com>
2........Newmedia@aol.com



Date: Thu, 04 Nov 1999 12:56:50 -0700
From: Jeff Gandy <jeff@mindspear.com>
To: nettime-l@bbs.thing.net
Subject: Re: <nettime> The Rise of dot-communism

> The expression of "popular will" -- what some think of as "democracy" --
> has always been a serious issue but, with the addition of technology (i.e.
> the capacity for mass-scale social "simulation"), the problem becomes much
> worse.

If you consider the expression of popular will to be a problem, then yes, the
current trends towards increased involvement by a diverse population would
certainly be deemed worse.

Of course, if someone does not a problem, then it's better.

> Dick Morris (the always-rebounding, hooker-dating political manipulator)
> has just teamed up with "Dickie" Scruggs (the whip-'em up and
> cash-in-yer-chips, populist Big Tobacco litigator) in their latest scheme,
> www.vote.com.  They paid $250,000 for the URL (some report) and they are
> going to turn "democracy" loose.  Perhaps you've heard of it.
>
> Is that what you mean by "democracy"?

What do you find so offensive about a site which attempts to gather public
opinion?  The commercial viability is somewhat dubious at this stage.  Someday
when accuracy is verifiable it may show some promise.  But your point throughout
this posting seems to be a genuine fear of what will happen when the masses have
easier access to determining public policy.

And if that is the case, the thought of online voting should petrify you.

Sincerely,

Jeff G.


==========|||||||||||| ============


From: Newmedia@aol.com
Date: Thu, 4 Nov 1999 16:19:03 EST
Subject: Re: <nettime> The Rise of dot-communism
To: nettime-l@bbs.thing.net


Jeff:

Yup, the prospect of direct popuar voting on any complex issue terrifies me and
anyone else who has written and/or thought about this much over the past few
thousand years.

As I've mentioned, in Attic Greece, only the "Demos" voted and they did not
include the slaves who did the work or the women who kept their mouths shut. The
idea of direct general voting would have certainly terrified the original
"democrats."

I once thought about launching an anti-opinion-polling campaign under the
slogan, "Just Say, I Don't Know."

If anyone ever asked you what your opinion was on, say, the Nuclear Test Ban
Treaty, or Gays in the Military, you would say, "I just don't know."

You would then continue, "But, I'll make you a deal.  I'll quit my job and study
the issue really hard for a year -- if you'll agree to pay me during that time
-- and after the year is up, I'll give you my opinion."

If you're involved with public opinion polling, you might already know that the
percentage of people who refuse to answer such polls is approaching 50%. Add to
this the number of people who are "undecided" -- i.e. don't know but are too
polite to tell the pollster to bugger off -- and you've got 75% of the
population who know that they don't know.

Now imagine who would "vote", if you had direct- (or what is often called
hyper-) democracy.  Who are the 25% who pretend they do know?

The idiots!

Now, don't get me wrong, I mean that term in the best of all possible ways. Look
it up in the dictionary if you don't believe me.

An idiot is simply someone who prizes their own opinions.  "Idio . . ." as in
"idiosyncracy."

So, thanks to your query, I'd like to propose a new name for
"direct/hyper-democracy", since that name is clearly getting far to long for
anyone to remember it.  Ugh!  Too long.

The new name is "idiocracy" -- rule by idiots.

Personally, I prefer "xenocracy" -- rule by strangeness, but that's a personal
idiosyncracy.

Best,

Mark Stahlman





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