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Mar. 5th, 2012
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Interesting Links for 05-03-2012
Mar. 5th, 2012 11:00 am- People Aren't Smart Enough for Democracy to Flourish
- Sex and the modern girl: living in a world where women aren't ashamed of their desires
- Archie gay marriage comic sells out in face of boycott call
- Bechdel Testing Comics
- The Daily Mail is serializing an account of British war crimes
- Why I'm saddened by Scotland going Gaelic
- The truth behind the food revolution (some interesting facts, and a huge amount of whining)
- Edinburgh has its first council homes in more than 30 years. Huzzah!
- reddit/r/preteen_bitches/ (totally worksafe)
- We will not pick up signals from other solar systems unless they are directed straight at us
- The Tiny Humanity Bubble
- Possum breaks into bakery, eats so much it can't move
- Cat plays with a theremin (video)
- The Most Insane Search Suggestions Ever Seen On Google
- The Reference is Lost: Stuff From Old Cartoons That Made Sense at the Time
- Is it time to force women into boardrooms?
- Agrictulture: The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race
Tags:
- agriculture,
- astronomy,
- bechdel,
- broadcasting,
- business,
- cartoon,
- cat,
- comics,
- cooking,
- cute,
- democracy,
- edinburgh,
- falklands,
- feminism,
- food,
- france,
- funny,
- gaelic,
- gender,
- google,
- history,
- housing,
- intelligence,
- language,
- lgbt,
- links,
- media,
- music,
- photo,
- photos,
- politics,
- possum,
- radio,
- reddit,
- scotland,
- sex,
- sexuality,
- society,
- space,
- uk,
- video,
- visualization,
- warcrimes,
- women
That would be a political question
Mar. 5th, 2012 11:30 amTaking for (vague) definitions:
A democratic system increases the amount that the will of the people matters.
An effective system is one that puts smart/informed in charge to make things happen.
A system that maximises freedom enshrines certain rights so that they can't be changed even if the people don't like them.
Which would you prefer the system to prioritise?
[Poll #1824202]
At the moment we in the UK obviously have a hotch-potch. Representative democracy means that we elect (theoretically) informed people to one chamber to carry out our wishes, within a framework laid down by human rights legislation. And we also appoint people to a second chamber to make sure the first lot are doing their job well. Given that the democracy for the house of commons is demonstrably rubbish, and the democracy in the House Of Lords is basically lacking, our system clearly priorities effectiveness over democracy, with a side-order of whining that we're forced to obey any human rights legislation at all.
A democratic system increases the amount that the will of the people matters.
An effective system is one that puts smart/informed in charge to make things happen.
A system that maximises freedom enshrines certain rights so that they can't be changed even if the people don't like them.
Which would you prefer the system to prioritise?
[Poll #1824202]
At the moment we in the UK obviously have a hotch-potch. Representative democracy means that we elect (theoretically) informed people to one chamber to carry out our wishes, within a framework laid down by human rights legislation. And we also appoint people to a second chamber to make sure the first lot are doing their job well. Given that the democracy for the house of commons is demonstrably rubbish, and the democracy in the House Of Lords is basically lacking, our system clearly priorities effectiveness over democracy, with a side-order of whining that we're forced to obey any human rights legislation at all.