Never underestimate the ignorance of politicians
Let me first say – I never vote in polls, and I never read the outcome of polls. I understand why they exist, but they do nothing to sway my oppinion. I mean, what’s the point? Is my oppinion in any way better or worse when I find out that 537 other people think the same? Of course not – the only thing that I can be sure of is that I’m now a part of a statistic that will eventually be used … or misused by a politician.
Let me give an example – I answer that “Yes, it’s okay to have video-surveillance on public property” in a questionaire. That is a black and white question. Does it allow me to actually explain why I think this – and in which instances I would think it okay? No, it represents that in maybe 20 different scenarios, I would be okay with having more video-surveillance on public property in over 10 of these scenarios. Now imagine the politicians looking at this poll… Wow! 80% of everyone wants all the surveillance they can get! When in reality if you examine the matter more closely – it might represent that mostly everyone wants surveillance in the Subway, in front of banks and otherwise would very much like to be left alone.
What I would like politicians to do instead is… grow a spine for goodness sake! Think what do I want, talk to experts and be enlightened – and then vote accordingly. To hell with the polls… they do not exist to tell the politician what to think and vote. Why does it matter that you are in opposition to 80% of the general population when your own voters are among the last 20%?
In my oppinion, polls distort the image more than they help. Statistics are a very simplified version of reality. The next time you see a poll-result, try asking 10 of your friends and then see if you reach the same conclusion as the poll… I bet that you might be close, but there are a lot of grey areas that the poll simply does not cover. Then notice afterwards to which political ends the poll is used… You will pretty often be hard-pressed to recognize your friends’ oppinions in it.
The problem in my oppinion is that black/white statements are easy to relate to. Politicians know this and try to make the debate black/white – and thereby loosing all the greys which is actually the important stuff. It’s not long ago, a president claimed that “You are either with us or against us!” To hell I am – I might agree with some of the things you do, but I strongly dissagree with a lot in your country. But after stating that oppinion, this president has actually made it very clear that it isn’t up for discussion – it’s black and white – and I’m not in the black faction, right? RIGHT? It’s not democracy, it’s manipulation at it’s worst.