You must log in or register to comment.
Granted. Everything they say automatically becomes fact.
Why is it that I think someone actually asked this of a monkey’s paw and got your version granted? I hate my timeline.
Granted. Everything is now extraordinarily boring and complicated, with every time someone opens their mouth, a long, dry, analytical summary of various problems and different theoretical solutions is given, with a long, nuanced list of potential pros and cons for each, presented in a realistic way where it is made apparent that not everyone can be made happy.
With no drama anymore, active voting percentage drops to the low double-digits for a period. Eventually populism disappears and only policy wonks are left running, and without obstructionism, they begin to actually try new things and solve some problems.
… I think I did this wrong.
“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. The planet, from a human perspective, will die within most of your lifetimes. I’m just here killing time. I have no real ability to prevent the looting of your futures. The people who are profiting are so avaricious and stunted that they’re not really even getting any enjoyment from the whole process. It’s purely the results of their own pathology, and our system malfunctioned and put them in charge because it was never designed on purpose. It all just happened that way, and so we’re all fucked.” A small murmur went through the pin-drop silent press pool at the expletive.
“Me too,” he continued blankly, as the silence returned. “I’m actually trying to help, but the system makes it impossible for me to produce the level of change that’s required. All I’m doing is producing angst and anxiety for myself and my family. I’m simply outnumbered by, basically, millions of malfunctioning AI models in suits trying to maximize a goal number even if it destroys us all. I did my best. I tried, but I’m just as much hampered by my own personal human limits as any of you are. The system is immensely powerful, easily capable of rejecting and replacing anyone who tries to produce genuine change. Each of us in government must either work to strengthen it and be rewarded, or reject it and be cast out, or resign ourselves to working for change within its parameters and therefore accomplishing nothing of lasting value with our lives.”
“I’m happy to take any questions. We’ve got plenty of time today, as ironic as that is to say. Anyone …? Yes, Hodges? NBC?”
I’d say those politicians are as fictional as the ones in The West Wing. The real ones would be more cynical and doing it all for profit.
Granted. You find out that your most hated politician was telling the truth all along and everything you believed your whole life was a lie.
I read “Mein Kampf.” Hitler said something in it that really stuck with me. Basically: The people do not want democracy. They don’t feel qualified. If you tell them they need to be the ones to chart the course for the country, they’ll get uncomfortable, because they don’t feel they have a good grasp of the issues and they have enough on their plate with their daily lives.
What they want is for someone to say: I understand the issues, I know exactly what to do, I’m strong enough to keep you safe and solve the problems. Don’t worry about it. I can take care of it if you just put me in charge. I’ll get rid of our anxieties about the world and make things good and everything will be fine. That’s the type of leader and government they gravitate to, not someone who’ll go into all the details or tell them that they get to make the decisions.
I do not agree with his prescription for what makes good government (hopefully goes without saying), but his grasp of how people operate, I think was spot-on.
