quote:

Originally posted by trancaholic The problem of lies affecting the political navigation in democracies, should be handled in another way IMO: Give up democracy, or restrict voting rights to those who have elementary grasp on political facts. This might not include me, but as long as those with less insight than me is prevented from voting, I am fine by that. I do not know if that is cynical, but that's how I feel

I never get this mentality.

If you are too stupid to get stupid people to vote for you, why should you be elected?

I prefer the guy who can get the most stupid (and smart) people to vote for him, as he at least demonstrates realistic understanding.


If you can't herd the sheep, you shouldn't be their leader.

___________________
SAVE ZIONIST MUSTARD: BUY ZIONIST KETCHUP!


Click here to support the free mustard alliance.

quote:

Originally posted by trancaholic Mentally preparing yourself for your stay in North America, heh? I'm not really the best person to ask that question, as I am a *very* liberal person believing in personal responsibility. To me the restriction on freedom imposed by a law on on lies, and the potential problems that might arise, are more important than the odd screwball being misled. I believe that the media, due to competition, will keep each other in check, and those who subscribe only to one news source, and thus runs the risk of being misled, are hopeless cases who would probably get facts mixed up anyway. At least the sample population that is the TA-forums seems to indicate a connection between number of news sources subscribed to and ability to think. The problem of lies affecting the political navigation in democracies, should be handled in another way IMO: Give up democracy, or restrict voting rights to those who have elementary grasp on political facts. This might not include me, but as long as those with less insight than me is prevented from voting, I am fine by that. I do not know if that is cynical, but that's how I feel

I largely agree with this assessment. The dangers of a regulatory body preventing the media from "lying" swings both ways. What kind of mandate would this regulatory body abide to? The press does exposes on what it perceives to be government corruption or wrongdoing all the time despite the fact that it may not have all the facts or know all the truths. So shall this regulatory body step in to prevent the story in order to avoid the dissemination of "lies"? It goes against the principles of a "free" press. A free press, by definition, should not be subject to ANY regulatory, governmental organization. They should be regulated by the public alone. If the public were to some reason desire to be lied to, than they wouldn't watch the media to begin with. In the event that a media source is blatantly fabricating news, than they'll be held accountable by other media sources and ultimately the public.

___________________
Retro ...

it's not like they can censor just because it's a law against it. sure fox news can lie if they want, but they will be sued afterwards much like with slander, i guess there's no problems in the US to sue someone for that? does that makes the press less free? and it's not harder to tell the difference between if it is or not there really either.

quote:

Originally posted by trancaholic The problem of lies affecting the political navigation in democracies, should be handled in another way IMO: Give up democracy, or restrict voting rights to those who have elementary grasp on political facts. This might not include me, but as long as those with less insight than me is prevented from voting, I am fine by that. I do not know if that is cynical, but that's how I feel

i agree that that would be a more perfect system. tho who should be able to tell the difference between someone who is capable and someone who's not... it's impossible

but yeah, everytime our government encurrage everyone to go and vote "you don't need to know how this work to vote, but it is important to use your democratic right", that annoys the shit out of me, don't encourage the stupid ones to go and vote

btw, canada is not US, so i will still somewhat stick to the european side