13th April 2018, 11:38 PM
For that issue, I'd say that the problem is that people like leaders to take charge and lead. That seems to often lead to a dislike of opposition, to wanting to consolidate power and take over, etc. America in the past did a good job of keeping the worse of that kind of person away from the Presidency, in part because the Founders knew of that danger and tried to create a system which wouldn't fall to that, but with Trump that barrier cracked open for a bunch of reasons, but because of racism and sexism for the most part. So yeah, why did our system fail this time? Racism and sexism is why.
So then the question is, can our political system survive this? Will the nation survive as a democracy, or not? And so far, it's surviving. The Republican Party is doing a lot to undermine that, but between the Democrats (as incompetent as they are), the court system (Trump has done badly in court, despite trying to appoint a lot of far-right judges...), the bureaucracy (such as the Trump-appointed District Attorney of New York who had donated over $5000 to Trump's campaign, but when faced with the Cohen raid authorization recused himself instead of trying to block it, because he apparently believes in doing the right thing in such a case), the voters (who are crushing the Republicans at the polls in special elections), and such, so far the system is barely holding up. I'm getting a little bit more optimistic about America's chances of getting through the Trump era with democracy intact. Still, however, that he won at all is an incredibly negative sign for the future, and if we see someone like Trump but competent it'll be really bad. But for now, his and his peoples' corruption and incompetence is keeping them from acheiving more of their goals, and may take them down.
As for other things you're talking about here, revelations about how bad some people are apart from the issue of Trump, there isn't always a way to know for sure what people are like in private; some people are very good at pretending to be nice and good in public, but do awful things in private -- see the latest awful revelations about Channel Awesome there. I never watched much of their stuff so that growing debacle isn't something I care too deeply about myself on a 'I watched those people' level, but still it's sad stuff, particularly the sexual assault allegations of course. How could people have known about that? Well, apparently a few people did try to warn Channel Awesome leadership, but they ignored it. That's obviously something which should not happen. Perhaps in this new, post-Harvey Weinstein world that kind of behavior, simply not caring enough about harassment and worse to follow up on it, is changing. I sure hope so.
On that note, The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland, is a great book that centers around a conflict based on exactly that question -- what is the kind of thing in history that should be changed? Should you change a thing that makes things better for one group, at the expense of most? And such.
So then the question is, can our political system survive this? Will the nation survive as a democracy, or not? And so far, it's surviving. The Republican Party is doing a lot to undermine that, but between the Democrats (as incompetent as they are), the court system (Trump has done badly in court, despite trying to appoint a lot of far-right judges...), the bureaucracy (such as the Trump-appointed District Attorney of New York who had donated over $5000 to Trump's campaign, but when faced with the Cohen raid authorization recused himself instead of trying to block it, because he apparently believes in doing the right thing in such a case), the voters (who are crushing the Republicans at the polls in special elections), and such, so far the system is barely holding up. I'm getting a little bit more optimistic about America's chances of getting through the Trump era with democracy intact. Still, however, that he won at all is an incredibly negative sign for the future, and if we see someone like Trump but competent it'll be really bad. But for now, his and his peoples' corruption and incompetence is keeping them from acheiving more of their goals, and may take them down.
As for other things you're talking about here, revelations about how bad some people are apart from the issue of Trump, there isn't always a way to know for sure what people are like in private; some people are very good at pretending to be nice and good in public, but do awful things in private -- see the latest awful revelations about Channel Awesome there. I never watched much of their stuff so that growing debacle isn't something I care too deeply about myself on a 'I watched those people' level, but still it's sad stuff, particularly the sexual assault allegations of course. How could people have known about that? Well, apparently a few people did try to warn Channel Awesome leadership, but they ignored it. That's obviously something which should not happen. Perhaps in this new, post-Harvey Weinstein world that kind of behavior, simply not caring enough about harassment and worse to follow up on it, is changing. I sure hope so.
Quote: What I'm suggesting is, if someone acts selfish and talks as though only they matter, they don't get to be in a position of leadership. Ever. We should instantly be suspicious of the charismatic.Isn't it human nature to be both attracted towards, as well as repulsed from, people like that though? People shouldn't listen to that kind of person, but some will. And anyway, you need at least some amount of charisma to be popular enough to win an election. There's a fine line here that makes what you're saying hard, though it is correct. As the (probably made up) saying goes, democracy is the worst form of government ever... except for all the others.
Quote:The problem with the Minority Report approach (other than not really being a good movie) is, they could have just prevented the crime! Why arrest them before they do it, when they can literally just change a few things and prevent it that way? Why time travel murder Hitler, when you can time travel adopt and raise him as a good boy?That's true, that probably would be a more effective approach... but it wouldn't tell the story the movie ( / short story) is trying to tell, so it doesn't. Time travel is a whole different field of science fiction, and what you're describing here is much more of a time-travel-book plot. There are a lot of ways those efforts can go wrong too, of course, depending on what someone is trying to change and their motivations...
On that note, The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland, is a great book that centers around a conflict based on exactly that question -- what is the kind of thing in history that should be changed? Should you change a thing that makes things better for one group, at the expense of most? And such.