why do people vote against their own interests? January 31st, 2010
i just read a great article on BBC’s site on the above topic. interesting stuff- here’s the link
especially when you consider the fact that those poor Brits have had nationalized health care shoved down their throats for years. I wonder how they deal with such an oppressive regime? [sarcasm mine]
here’s a quote
“It’s like a French Revolution in reverse in which the workers come pouring down the street screaming more power to the aristocracy.”
check it out and tell me what you think.
2 Responses to “why do people vote against their own interests?”
Leave a Reply
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
Cool article! A smart dude has coined the fancy phrase “system justification” to describe this kind of thing (defending things that hurt you). Here’s a neat excerpt from a longer video on this. (They bring up the What’s the Matter with Kansas book referenced in the BBC article.)
The creepy thing about this is that those of us hurt the most by unjust institutions have a stronger tendency to justify their existence. Since finding out about this, I know I’ve caught myself justifying bad stuff just because it’s the status quo a lot.
I also really like the BBC article’s mention of our preference for stories, not facts. It reminds me of the best video I watched last year: Tyler Cowen on the Story Bias.
thanks sean,
i’m (finally) checking out those links…