A Sad Day For London

"Buffalo Bill vs. Chris Crash"

sorry, couldn't resist... such good wrestling names...

Bill would win, I'm not tough at all, unless we do WWF style, then i think i can grow a mullet faster, and would have the advantage.

Sorry, but 55% of the electorate didn't vote at all. So how is staying at home on polling day challenging the conventional wisdom?

What idea is it that I am supposed to embrace by not voting? 'Everything is fucked, let's go down the pub'? Or something else, which you haven't yet deigned to share with us?

I believe that democracy as practiced in the UK and the US leads to undemocratic results. But it is still worth voting, when there are people who are worth voting for. I think Sian Berry was worth voting for, and so were Jenny Jones and Darren Johnson. Those three people have clearly made a difference to lives of Londoners in a very real and meaningful way. It would be rude not to vote for them.

Whereas you haven't articulated a single coherent argument. In fact, I would go so far as to say that you have just trolled this thread. More fool me for feeding you.

So I'll think I'll stick to voting as opposed to not voting, and writing letters and all the rest of the other things. It's called critical engagement.

bill you have failed to address my concern with democracy, and instead called my apathetic, and a nihilist (neither of which i dissagree with, though i probably would be a better nihilist if i was not so apathetic towards it).

My problem with democracy isn't that it is inherently oppressive (which it is) but that it is an enactment of the logical fallacy of Ad Populum. In fact i do not believe that you, or any one could address this problem with the theory and practice of democracy, and that is perhaps why you have failed to respond to my point with out Ad Hominem.

Now lets engage a second problem with democracy: if, as you say, 55% of those entitled to vote do not, shouldn't a democratic government disband as it clearly, according to its own (flawed) theory, has no mandate to rule?

The conventional wisdom i referred to Bill is that engagement in the democratic process as it currently stands on an individual level will have a marked impact. I do not believe this to be true, and even though I would find believing it comforting have been shown that it is not now, nor will it become true in the near future. I believe that not challenging this assumption is more apathetic then pointing out the flaws in this system, even if I can offer no alternative at this point.

Bill I like you as a person, and have a lot of respect for you. Most of the things that i respect you for (Moving Target, and the way you treat your riders are big ones) probably stem from your Critical Engagement. I meant no disrespect to you in any of my posts. We disagree on a few issues about humanity, but as two intelligent adults I felt we could discus our views, and even if we fail to persuade one another, we could each refine our own theories, with out lose respect for one another.