Readers, I am sorry for not posting lately, but it is because the debates have been pithy, the sniping has been absurd, and I have had to make choices about which candidates to back.
So, let me start with some bad news: Tom Tancredo has bowed out of the race. Thanks, Sir, for bringing immigration to the front of everyone's consciousness. It is projected that Chris Dodd will likely be joining him soon. I would also like to wish my condolences to the Kucinich family on their loss.
Good News: Mike Huckabee has officially graduated to the first tier and Ron Paul is not far behind.
Endorsements: It is the opinion of this author that there are only two candidates from each party worth voting for. As a result, though I do not agree with all of their stances, I find their integrity so redeeming that these are the candidates that I will either vote for or encourage my friends, family, and readers to vote for. Duncan Hunter, Dennis Kucinich, Bill Richardson, and Ron Paul have earned my respect and the endorsement of this blog.
Showing posts with label choice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label choice. Show all posts
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Friday, November 9, 2007
Illusion of Choice
I was frequenting my favourite blogs over the past few days to catch up on my reading when I read a post about the current state of the gaming industry. Now, normally, this kind of thing makes so much sense to me that I fail to see the need to post about it. But, this one got me thinking.
A quick summary is that we used to have distinct choices in consoles, Sega/Atari/Nintendo. Among those choices, we didn't have variants that were so nuanced that we really had no clue. But now, with Microsoft and Sony, we do. Well, unless you want the a product made by Nintendo. The problem is that with all the variations, it really ads up to a lot of confusion to the consumer and gets the consumer either becoming cattle and buying what they perceive to be the "popular" choice, or they choose not to buy a product because the cost/benefit ratio just isn't big enough to override the confusion.
Well, guess what? That got me thinking about voter apathy in the current generation and other illusions of choice. And we have voter apathy and the illusion of choice caused by too many choices in spades. The Democratic Party has 8 current candidates, all of whom are nuanced variants of one another. The Republicans have 9 candidates, and all the front-runners are either nuances of each other or nuances of their Democratic rivals. Heck, even their second tier, while different from the front runners, are nuanced variants of one another.
Of course, politics are not the only place where choice is an illusion. Look at all your various drugs. Yet again, for one problem, there are twenty different choices all with side effects that make not a single one appealing. So like our politicians and game consoles, we are left wondering if we are better off living with the problem rather than dealing with choosing bad solutions.
Maybe that's why I'm a registered Liberterian. Maybe that is why most of the younger generation of politically inclined citizens have registered as independents.
A quick summary is that we used to have distinct choices in consoles, Sega/Atari/Nintendo. Among those choices, we didn't have variants that were so nuanced that we really had no clue. But now, with Microsoft and Sony, we do. Well, unless you want the a product made by Nintendo. The problem is that with all the variations, it really ads up to a lot of confusion to the consumer and gets the consumer either becoming cattle and buying what they perceive to be the "popular" choice, or they choose not to buy a product because the cost/benefit ratio just isn't big enough to override the confusion.
Well, guess what? That got me thinking about voter apathy in the current generation and other illusions of choice. And we have voter apathy and the illusion of choice caused by too many choices in spades. The Democratic Party has 8 current candidates, all of whom are nuanced variants of one another. The Republicans have 9 candidates, and all the front-runners are either nuances of each other or nuances of their Democratic rivals. Heck, even their second tier, while different from the front runners, are nuanced variants of one another.
Of course, politics are not the only place where choice is an illusion. Look at all your various drugs. Yet again, for one problem, there are twenty different choices all with side effects that make not a single one appealing. So like our politicians and game consoles, we are left wondering if we are better off living with the problem rather than dealing with choosing bad solutions.
Maybe that's why I'm a registered Liberterian. Maybe that is why most of the younger generation of politically inclined citizens have registered as independents.
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