Are most people partisan/political hacks?

[noname223]

Do you think most people don't develop their own views in a rational way rather choosing a team and defend all their policies.
I try not to be one but it is difficult. To a certain degree I am probably one. And I think to some part it is really difficult not to become one.

When I was a teenager I was in favor of the christian democratic party. But I always was a huge supporter of liberal assisted suicide laws. I especially defended that right when I was in the minority position like in religion classes.

I think there are different reasons why people become political hacks. It is difficult to keep on track with all the policy proposals. You cannot be an expert on every issue except you have infinite amount of freetime and dedicate your whole life for it.

When I was a teenager I was more of a contrarian but maybe I become too much part of a tribe. I am still very hesitant on the legalisation of drugs which most lefties or people in my age cannot understand.

Do you have any policies that don't really fit into your usual politicals beliefs?

I once thought it would be a smart move to leave nuclear energy behind but maybe I was wrong. The technology was very unpopular in my country before the war and energy crisis. The media was outraged about leaving Afghanistan, I was kind of sceptical about their reporting. One person was shocked when I told my thoughts on it. I was kind of scrared to be morally judged by that person. We did not know us that closely to that time. I was scared to leave a bad impression.

I never was sure what to think about Russia. Many lefties in my country admired Russia before the war. They said we had a negative bias on Putin. I was always ambivalent. I listened to different positions.Never was sure on that topic. Some claimed basically diametrical facts. Now I have a very bad view about Russia. I am kind of sad the hawks in my country were right. People who say let's invade other countries for their safety. I still think this is no good idea. But I am fully in favor of giving weapons to Ukraine.

I think in contrast to most Germans I like my country more. Maybe it is some kind of patriotism. But I think a more nuanced one mixed with harsh criticism what has to get better. Some form of enlightened patriotism which is quite seldom for lefites. But I appreciate to live here. Many people live in way worse countries.

Cannot think on more policies which I contradict my other lefty friends. Don't have much more time to think about it. A new thread is waiting for me.

Do you think most people are polticial hacks?

 

[Raskolnikov's Axe]

I am a young man and I have found the explanation for my political indecisiveness in the paragraphs you penned. I don't like tribalism. I don't like "owning the libs/conservatards". I lean towards the left but I find myself in some form of disagreement with every political ideology. Sometimes I think that I am just a coward too frightened to commit and to believe in something and that I subconsciously justify it with these moralistic ramblings of mine.

I never was sure what to think about Russia. Many lefties in my country admired Russia before the war. They said we had a negative bias on Putin. I was always ambivalent. I listened to different positions.Never was sure on that topic. Some claimed basically diametrical facts. Now I have a very bad view about Russia. I am kind of sad the hawks in my country were right. People who say let's invade other countries for their safety. I still think this is no good idea. But I am fully in favor of giving weapons to Ukraine.

IMO, Russia that the revolutionaries imagined disappeared pretty quickly after 1924. I never understood the left's idolization of Stalin. Even if we are to disregard imperialist propaganda, the man was an incompetent, vengeful despot. Soviets prevailed over the Reich despite of him, not because of him. And let's not get even started on his abysmal conduct in the Polish Soviet war, the purges, the ML pact and the military purge. I may be a bit of an idealist when I say this, but Trotsky would have been a way better leader. He recognized the Nazi threat and would have dealt with it accordingly.

So yeah, I think that Russia/Soviet union had a chance at greatness, which they greatly squandered.

Do you think most people are political hacks?

People will always rather blindly follow the side they were indoctrinated to follow then question their worldview and attempt to change it. I don't know if that makes them hacks. Maybe it only makes them human.

 

[GrumpyFrog]

I don't really subscribe to any particular political system for this exact reason. I believe what you describe is precisely the way politicians are playing us all. We're fooled into accepting decisions that we do not agree with and into believing it is our own choice by convincing the general public that political beliefs are a package deal and you've got to support everything that comes in your package. It's not about making sacrifices that are a natural outcome of making a decision to improve something, like with the budget where to increase the funding of A you've got to either cut the funding on B or increase taxes on C - it is simply accepting totally arbitrary interconnection of beliefs that are completely independent of each other, and accepting that if you want A you are obligated to accept B and not accept C, even if A, B and C have nothing to do with each other, simply because that's the ideology. You support separation of religion from the state and equal rights for everyone? You must like central planning of the economy too! You firmly believe in a right to bear arms? You must be an anti-abortion, anti-immigrant and anti-gay traditionalist! It gets even crazier than that when you see how geopolitics play into it. For example, in the West both liberal ideas related to progress, equality, minority rights etc. and the more positive attitude to communism/socialism are "left-wing ideas". But as someone who lives in a post-Soviet country, I have to testify that water does circle the drain counter-clockwise in Australia - here in the post-Soviet space decidedly conservative and traditionalist beliefs are firmly linked to Soviet revisionism and positive attitude to communism/socialism (and blaming everything on goddamn liberals with their goddamn free market, feminism, LGBT and amoral lifestyle). Which is especially jarring when it results in Russia's current ideological traditionalist bullshit cocktail where poor brainwashed children are taught that Virgin Mary was protecting the Red army and Stalin (I wish I was joking).
We're led to believe that in a democratic society we can pick and choose our policies like picking an order from a menu in a restaurant, but somehow we always end up eating a shit sandwich and realizing that we can only choose the condiments. Because somehow instead of voting on particular decisions we end up voting to choose the least despicable corrupt manipulative psychopaths among those available and then they make all decisions for us for an arbitrary period of time. And since we're picking out "leaders" and not laws or policies, we end up with a whole package of beliefs that is attached to those people and suffer the consequences. In an ideal world, I would rather see all important decisions being made via referendums, with an additional requirements to pass a quiz to check your comprehension of pros and cons of the options you're voting for before you're allowed to vote, to weed out all kinds of metaphorical (and literal) flat-earthers.
I think most people aren't even "political hacks" - I'd say that under normal circumstances, most people are mostly ambivalent to politics and indifferent to all policies that do not affect whatever is important to them personally. This does create some problems - firstly, when elections come up most people are only interested in the candidate's stance on one or two issues that matter to them personally and make decisions based on that at best, or just vote for whomever their family/buddies/coworkers vote at worst. And secondly, I stress the "under normal circumstances" part because in an event of a crisis society is often rapidly radicalized, and it's largely because people who never took any interest in politics before are very easily manipulated into accepting any insane belief that seems to offer some solace and safety when a crisis suddenly forces them to pay attention to politics.
So yeah, doing your research before you vote is important, and accepting some obvious crap just because it's a part of your political ideology is not a good idea.

 

[hamvil]

I think the problems exists and it is exacerbated in countries that favour two parties systems like the US. I believe that in most EU countries we tend to have a wider array of political parties allowing the citizen to be less polarised. Anyway even in this case tribalism remains and in my country political debate looks more like football.

Al over europe, but also north america people are looking for simple answer to complex problem. The brexit and the current situation with russia are two good examples.