#political #rationality
Politics was so easy when I was a teenager. Some things were obviously right, some things were obviously wrong, and anyone who disagreed with those positions were either idiots who had been misled, or had bad intent themselves.
With experience and wider understanding, things get a lot more difficult. Now if something looks like "obviously the right answer", and I can't figure out why anyone would oppose it unless they were stupid or malicious - then in reality it's more likely that I haven't understood the opposing position very well, that the issue had more facets than I understood, that there *was* no simple easy satisfying answer that's practically feasible.
They don't say "Ignorance is bliss" for nothing!
Started thinking about this when I came across a political (Indian) post and was tempted to boost it. I generally avoid political stuff, but found myself thinking "this is *obviously* the correct side in this issue though, I can't imagine this annoying any right-thinking person". I realized I only knew the "correct" side, and had never heard a single argument from someone on the "wrong" side before coming to the conclusion.
@digital_carver things get really fuzzy and complicated when you define common terminology in the game of politics.
(Social) power is the capacity to influence the behavior of others. A government is merely a codification of the power structure of a group of people, generally to allow for the smooth transition of power. Politics is the study of power and government. Given these definitions, what is right and wrong in politics is determined only by the power that is able to be leveraged by other people. When you then mix it in with philosophy, it gets very blurry indeed. Nowadays, I just think of right in wrong politics as "power which is able to be leveraged" and see it more as a big game, but with real consequences.