Objections to the Political Ideology Thread

[John Simkin]

The list of prospective contributors is interestings: Why on earth does ANYONE have to DECLARE a political preference? More than a century ago, common people made sacrifices in order to retain their preferences, their thoughts and their fears from the powers ' that be'. The current trend of nailing ones' affiliations to the public post is based on ....what? It reflects an assumption of the pseudo-security of one side of an almost polarized society where the common people follow allegiances which are traditional and accepted without any deep thought....very similar to football/rugby support!

Why does anyone wish to circumvent the PRIVACY of the ballot box? Maybe those whe declare their colours are playing a game i.e. 'look...I'm one of you..'. The exceptionally well paid politicians do appreciate your back-up!!!

Do those who CLAIM to be active/committed in a political sense really sit back and SERIOUSLY look at all the angles or are they seeking some sort of reassurance, a sense of belonging, a companionship.....?

I can appreciate the value of 'teaching' politics'....I worry when I see that the contributors do not reflect the wider spectrum.

Me?...I have never ever missed a voting oportunity.,even to spoil a vote.,and I have never belonged to any political group.....I vote with my conscience and stuff the media and the slick 'suits' and perhaps that is the message that young, emerging adults should hear.

Thank you for these words. I refrained myself until today to post on this thread because my thoughts were similar to yours:

“What in heaven is going on here ………!?”

On the other hand it’s quite possible that I will add my own more carefully formulated thoughts on this subject later.

Thank you for these words. I refrained myself until today to post on this thread because my thoughts were similar to yours:

“What in heaven is going on here ………!?”

What is going on here??

A number of public spirited teachers and educators are contributing to an online lesson on political ideology. Nothing to get agitated about. I am grateful to members who feel comfortable in getting involved

[Mike Tribe]

I thought I'd written something about this but I must have pushed the wrong button. What I wanted to say is that I think this is an excellent use of the forum. One of the most interesting and worrying things I've found since moving back to teaching history after 20-odd years teaching in the elementary school is the level of political illiteracy amongst the students I teach. I didn't expect 14-year-olds to have a very firm grasp of dialectical materialism or anything, but many of the 18-year olds, who can, after all, vote, have only the very flimsiest concept of the ideals of the parties which are vying for their votes. I think this is a failure of the way we teach history, and of the lack of emphasis schools (and educational administrators, governments, etc) put on the teaching of history...

I'm afraid I can feel another Iran anecdote coming up -- sorry about that! A few months after the Islamic Revolution, I was at a small, rather nervous party with a group of Iranian "liberals". One of the men there had been the Minister of Housing in the short-lived Bakhtiar government which was overthrown on Khomeini's return. At one point in our chat, he said, rather plaintively, "Who would have thought six months ago that it would all end up like this?" I felt like saying that ANYONE who'd studied the French or Russian Revolutions would have been able to predict with some accuracy the rapid slide into extremism which followed the revolution in Iran. I didn't because it would have been pointless. The Shah had prohibited the teaching of either the French or Russian Revolutions in schools because he felt it might give people nasty ideas...

Keep up the good work, Andy. This is a very useful project to which the forum lends itself beautifully...