How Do You Explain Politics to a 22 YO?

[Valka D'Ur]

She can look them up somewhere like finding out about anything else.

"Google it yourself" is a poor response to someone who asks a question because she wants to know the answer. That's true of online and in-person interactions.

Online can't necessarily give local examples of policies that either worked or didn't work or are open to interpretation, depending on which party you support.

 

[Zardnaar]

"Google it yourself" is a poor response to someone who asks a question because she wants to know the answer. That's true of online and in-person interactions.

Online can't necessarily give local examples of policies that either worked or didn't work or are open to interpretation, depending on which party you support.

It was also a very quick conversation. She was at the table when we were talking about the election.

Polls are 61-59 atm to the right.

 

[choxorn]

It all has an impact on everyone but my vote doesn't matter. Local politics could be useful to engage with

Well yeah, local politics will likely impact your day-to-day life more than national politics, but what makes you think your vote doesn't matter?

 

[Narz]

but what makes you think your vote doesn't matter?

I came to that conclusion in 2000 when Florida threw out a bunch of Gore votes. Gore was the last politician I actually liked.

 

[Hygro]

They threw out those votes because they mattered.

 

[stfoskey12]

Election here in a couple of months. Anyway my cousin is 22 years old and I think she's voting Greens and likes the idea of a flat rate student allowance and student youth leader debates. She's a student wants to be a vet.

But she doesn't really know what terms like liberal, conservative, left, right, progressive, liberal mean or if we refer to the Republicans as GoP.

Best I can explain it is imagine the Democrats in USA split into 4 parties they map to XYZ equivalents parties here + Te Pati Maori. And the right is generally pro business/farmer pro corporate tax cuts lefts more pro social policies and working class.

FiL is a labour voter who thinks they're doomed, cousin thinks the Greens are going to do gangbusters, I'm voting labour and think they'll squeak in, wife's green or labour voter is gonna vote labour out of no great enthusiasm and has similar opinion to me as to who wins (polls are neck and neck).

Cousins pro lgbtq rights, doesn't like Trump wants "free money" (everyone does ubi, tax cut, student debt relief, bigger student allowances etc) and that's about it.

Doesn't bother me who she votes for she's an adult can make her own decisions.

She's an adult, just explain it like you were talking to any other adult who didn't know what those terms meant. But it is true that a lot of those terms are confusing because they mean different things in different times and places.

 

[GenMarshall]

"Google it yourself" is a poor response to someone who asks a question because she wants to know the answer. That's true of online and in-person interactions.

It’s why it annoys me when I ask a question, especially to a progressive or leftist person, I’m immediately told “It’s not my job to educate you!”.

I’ve gotten so jaded by that phrase that my only response to them is:

 

[Valka D'Ur]

It’s why it annoys me when I ask a question, especially to a progressive or leftist person, I’m immediately told “It’s not my job to educate you!”.

I’ve gotten so jaded by that phrase that my only response to them is:

Will you concede that I at least do try to answer to the best of my ability, often erring on the side of too much information (ie. much more than you wanted)?

"It's not my job to educate you" is what I often get from the right-wing UCP followers on FB. They make up such a lot of BS that makes no sense, and when you ask them for a link to prove what they say, they either say it's not their job to do that, or they insist that they don't trust "mainstream/Liberal news."

 

[E.man]

She's not tgat interested

Well... not interested is not interested I guess.

 

[GenMarshall]

View attachment 667451

Will you concede that I at least do try to answer to the best of my ability, often erring on the side of too much information (ie. much more than you wanted)?

I give you credit that you do answer to the best of your ability and do appreciate the good faith efforts .

"It's not my job to educate you" is what I often get from the right-wing UCP followers on FB. They make up such a lot of BS that makes no sense, and when you ask them for a link to prove what they say, they either say it's not their job to do that, or they insist that they don't trust "mainstream/Liberal news."

Most, if not all, of the time that don’t want you or I to actually go in-depth of the article itself to debunk their claims. I’ve slowly came to that suspicion when I stumble upon a few lefty videos on YouTube where they go and debunk any of the anti-SJW creator’s statement by tracking down the original article and looking at it themselves. It’s almost like the Oz in Wizard of Oz where they put on a big spectacular show and they don’t want anyone to pull back the curtain in the corner.

 

[Narz]

My fave is when my anecdotes are throw out as anecdotes but some other yahoo's anecdotes are deeply meaningful cause that's his "lived experience" or some such.

 

[Gorbles]

My fave is when my anecdotes are throw out as anecdotes but some other yahoo's anecdotes are deeply meaningful cause that's his "lived experience" or some such.

Everyone's anecdotes are anecdotes on a statistical scale. They matter to that person. However, they are meaningful if they're reflective of a greater trend. They're less meaningful if they only represent you.

"anecdotal" doesn't mean "they aren't true". But if I had a penny for every time some poster here said the life-threatening circumstances facing our LGBTQ posters "weren't that bad" or they were "making it up", I'd have to declare this place a second job for tax purposes.

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@GenMarshall - I've lost count of the amount of times that folks have tried to explain things to you in good faith. And I haven't even been here as long as some.

I don't know who you're complaining about, but it ain't anyone here. Any bridges burned were once bridges, ya know?

 

[Narz]

However, they are meaningful if they're reflective of a greater trend. They're less meaningful if they only represent you.

They're meaningful regardless of whether others can relate or not.

 

[Gorbles]

They're meaningful regardless of whether others can relate or not.

Statistically meaningful.

Me getting mangled by Harris the Mangler (apologies to any Harris' out there) doesn't mean everyone gets mangled by Harris the Mangler.

However, if Harris the Mangler had mangled 99 other victims who were all similar to me in a bunch of ways, we could argue there's a trend there.

Anecdotes aren't data. Something you went through doesn't mean everyone is, unless there's corroborating evidence. But it's still your lived experience.

 

[Narz]

I don't know who you're complaining about, but it ain't anyone here.

Seen many instances of people dogpilng on him, one poster in particular who is always brining up weird personal stuff

 

[Gorbles]

Seen many instances of people dogpilng on him, one poster in particular who is always brining up weird personal stuff

I see plenty of people call plenty of folks all sorts of different names on here. I see plenty of "dogpiling", including from you (and others). A question isn't just a question anymore. We all have history.

But you know what, let's take something on faith. I was planning on doing this anyway but I didn't want to repeatedly tag him. But let me throw out the offer.

@GenMarshall - throw me a PM about things you want to be educated about and I'll provide a bunch of curated, evidenced articles on pretty much any progressive topic you can think of. I'd be happy to.

 

[Narz]

Statistically meaningful.

Me getting mangled by Harris the Mangler (apologies to any Harris' out there) doesn't mean everyone gets mangled by Harris the Mangler.

However, if Harris the Mangler had mangled 99 other victims who were all similar to me in a bunch of ways, we could argue there's a trend there.

The thing w anecdotes is you have to take them on good faith and there are no stats.

Like childhood abuse or bullying, almost none of it gets reported.

If anything if you were the only one getting mangled by Harris you deserve more empathy not less as you don't have anyone who can relate to what you've been thru

 

[Gorbles]

The thing w anecdotes is you have to take them on good faith and there are no stats.

Like childhood abuse or bullying, almost none of it gets reported.

If anything if you were the only one getting mangled by Harris you deserve more empathy not less as you don't have anyone who can relate to what you've been thru

You will find people take anecdotes by themselves in good faith. You'll also find people using anecdotes to suggest a wider trend, or conspiracy, or something that requires more data than an anecdote, not in good faith. Right?

Having a SIM card in your phone blow up on you sucks. Saying that because of that 5G cell towers are secretly scanning our brains for psychic currency used to power the World Brain Generator is laughable (and no, I'm not saying this is something anyone here is saying or has ever said).

If I were the only person getting mangled by Harris, I still wouldn't be the only person mangled throughout history. I wouldn't even be the only person mangled in a community of this size (theoretically). The reason why minorities need more empathy, and not less, is because they're the mangled people in most contexts where we're discussing minority demographics. Because of what you're saying, in fact. They're the ones suffering things most people don't go through. If I were being realistic, most people experience violence at one point or another during their lives. Some experience it more than others. And a smaller demographic still experience it all the time, with any action they do in public, just because they're "different".

 

[Narz]

Having a SIM card in your phone blow up on you sucks. Saying that because of that 5G cell towers are secretly scanning our brains for psychic currency used to power the World Brain Generator is laughable

Well yeah, correct interpretation is more important than raw data

 

[Narz]

And a smaller demographic still experience it all the time, with any action they do in public, just because they're "different".

Civgeneral is also "different". It's not ideal to look at someone superficially to determine their status.

Lot of folk here do that. Which is ironic because this is an internet forum and we don't even actually know each other or are able to verify anything about each other (well I can verify @Hygro actually has that mustache altho I still don't know for sure that's the guy posting all his messages )