RE: It's Apathy and Education

[Nils K. Hammer <nh0g@andrew.cmu.edu>]

I've discussed voter apathy in the past, and some of us suspect
that we've seen an actual intent in advertising to make politics
more distasteful and discouraging. If this were a real plan, then
by decreasing the total number of voters while maintaining a core
set of obedient voters, an organization could make an end-run
around the whole democratic process. One friend tells me this is
an old commie-trick. 

I gave a high school presentation on the cold war last week and
met some very, very sharp students, so they are capable of being
educated, but they weren't comfortable being noticed speaking out
on serious topics. I think I'd have to add culture to your list
of important things. If we don't have information, we can't vote.
A culture that doesn't permit speaking out won't get information.
Then there is the old man I met on the bus. I congratulated him
on his old fashioned American forthrightness, but he said to me
that if you speak out too much you will be asassinated.