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Why People Are Irrational about Politics

spot.colorado.edu

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Re: Why People Are Irrational about Politics

#4
It's not that people are irrational. People have different prefences. There are winners and losers in politics, and peoples' preferences are often mutually exclusive.

The idea that there is some kind of "correct" political position is absurd and grossly ignorant of what politics IS.

Example: Some people think there shouldn't be an income tax. Someone else thinks there should be. There is no such thing as a "correct" position, just a winning position.

“War is politics by other means,” as Carl von Clausewitz said.

Re: Why People Are Irrational about Politics

#6

It's not that people are irrational. People have different prefences . There are winners and losers in politics, and peoples' preferences are often mutually exclusive. The idea that there is some kind of "correct" political position is absurd and grossly ignorant of what politics IS. Example: Some people think there shouldn't be an income tax. Someone else thinks there should be. There is no such thing as a "correct"…

What do you think of the points he brings up in section 3, where he addresses this?

Re: Why People Are Irrational about Politics

#8

It's not that people are irrational. People have different prefences . There are winners and losers in politics, and peoples' preferences are often mutually exclusive. The idea that there is some kind of "correct" political position is absurd and grossly ignorant of what politics IS. Example: Some people think there shouldn't be an income tax. Someone else thinks there should be. There is no such thing as a "correct"…

Did you read the article? There is whole section (3) on why simply having different preferences does not explain irrationality in politics.

Re: Why People Are Irrational about Politics

#9

Weird, this gives false choices. (Or I've missed the discussion of propaganda.) Massively-funded propaganda specifically promotes things like "Beliefs as self-image constructors" and "Beliefs as tools of social bonding".

Now propaganda makes it onto mass social media campaigns. Techniques include propagandizing "nudging" 'social influencers' who are hubs of social bonding and information. The US is known to use celebrities in their Twitter campaigns targeting the Middle East.

Can you speak more about what literature you are aware of?

Re: Why People Are Irrational about Politics

#10

It's not that people are irrational. People have different prefences . There are winners and losers in politics, and peoples' preferences are often mutually exclusive. The idea that there is some kind of "correct" political position is absurd and grossly ignorant of what politics IS. Example: Some people think there shouldn't be an income tax. Someone else thinks there should be. There is no such thing as a "correct"…

What do you think of the points he brings up in section 3, where he addresses this?

It's wrong. He ignores that political candidates have their own preferences and strawmans that voter's preferences directly coincide with candidate preferences. He also strawmans that preferences are static and coincide with some sort of fundamental values.
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