“Then there are spurious intellectual discussions about ‘voter apathy’ and so on, as if such factors could possibly explain and somehow justify massive disengagement from our political processes. Indeed, such discussion is hugely insulting to those who choose to abstain… — Paul McLaughlin Copy Share Image
“The provision of news and information, for example, has been ‘dumbed down’ to a previously unimaginable degree, and the line between Hollywood fiction and journalistic fact is increasingly blurry. Between the latest action blockbuster and a Fox News ‘embedded’ exclusive – or, at an ‘advanced’ level, between some sentimental Oscar-bait and a John Simpson BBC news report – locating the… — Paul McLaughlin Copy Share
“Political democracy, judged on its own terms (as a basic political value in itself), is not to be judged (consequentially) in terms of its outcomes (successful or otherwise), but in terms of engagement. This is obviously reflected, quite basically, in electoral turnout figures (which, according to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, are in global decline); but it… — Paul McLaughlin Copy Share
“Bertrand Russell, writing during World War I, castigates intellectuals for exactly this tendency: ‘In modern times, philosophers, professors, and intellectuals generally undertake willingly to provide their respective governments with those ingenious distortions and those subtle untruths by which it is made to appear that all good is on one side and all wickedness on the other.’ Thus ‘learned men’ seem… — Paul McLaughlin Copy Share
“Then there are spurious intellectual discussions about ‘voter apathy’ and so on, as if such factors could possibly explain and somehow justify massive disengagement… — Paul McLaughlin Copy Share Image
“The familiar claim – or ‘moral’ exhortation – that ‘if you don’t vote, you’ve no right to complain’ surely has it the wrong way… — Paul McLaughlin Copy Share Image
