Archives for posts with tag: Collective identity

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I received a message containing this picture in my mail, accompanied by some text extolling Truman’s actions after he left the White House. Whenever I want to check something found in the Internet I use Snopes.com. This was one of those rare occasions when the verdict was ‘mostly true’. 

What happened to us in such a short period of time?
Have we lost the good habit of telling bedtime stories to our children and this has already changed us?

“”Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.” — Harry S. Truman 

After President Truman retired from office in 1952, he was left with an income consisting of basically just a U.S. Army pension, reported to have been only $13,507.72 a year. Congress, noting that he was paying for his stamps and personally licking them, granted him an “allowance” and, later, a retroactive pension of $25,000 per year. When offered corporate positions at large salaries, he declined, stating, “You don’t want me. You want the office of the president, and that doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to the American people and it’s not for sale.” 

Even later, on May 6, 1971, when Congress was preparing to award him the Medal of Honor on his 87th birthday, he refused to accept it, writing, “I don’t consider that I have done anything which should be the reason for any award, Congressional or otherwise.” 

We now see that other past presidents, have found a new level of success in cashing in on the presidency, resulting in untold wealth. Today, many in Congress also have found a way to become quite wealthy while enjoying the fruits of their offices. Obviously, political offices are now for sale. 

Good old Harry Truman could have been correct when he observed, “My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth, there’s hardly any difference. I, for one, believe the piano player job to be much more honorable than current politicians.” “
Read more at http://www.snopes.com/quotes/truman/truman.asp#QXuDo347lVhWWO1F.99

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A couple of days ago I stumbled upon a link from Upworthy about an al Jazeera interview with a legislator who is pushing an antiabortion bill. Since the story was nicely packaged I followed the link.

Rachel Maddow/MSNBC resuming what happened in the interview before the question that started all this:

“He tells al Jazeera that what he really wants is for there to be no legal abortion at all in Ohio except to save a woman’s life.”

And now we get to see an excerpt from that interview:
“- Reporter: What do you think makes a woman want to have an abortion?
– State Rep. Jim Buchy: Well, there’s probably a lot of… I’m not a woman, so I… I’m thinking, if I’m a woman, why would I want to get a… Some of it has to do with economics. A lot of it has to do with economics. I don’t know, it’s a question I’ve never even thought about.”

As an ethnic Romanian who lived for 20 years in a country were women were sometimes left to die at the orders of the secret police if they had tried to induce abortions on themselves and doctors were regularly sent to prison if they dared perform one outside the extremely narrow limits of the (communist) law I shared the link on my FB wall.

I received this very pertinent and absolutely logical comment:

“Somebody proposes we have a law that prohibits individuals killing other individuals… unless in self-defense. Someone asks somebody – Why would someone want to kill somebody? I never thought about why someone would want to kill somebody… he just forgot to add that that has little to do with the proposed ordinance … which seeks to protect life! Now why would one want to protect life… the answer is self evident!”

And this was my answer:

“(Dear friend) from the point of view that ‘life has to be preserved, no matter what’ you are, of course, right. All that is left for us to do is to settle among ourselves the exact moment when an embryo becomes life.
I’m afraid though that all this is about something different. Not more important than (individual) human life, just different.
About how others get to determine what happens to/with US based on THEIR convictions.

‘I don’t really care about what makes a woman wish to have an abortion, I just say she shouldn’t have any opportunity to do such a thing’.”

The world is turning on its head and he’s spinning fairy tales…
Besides that, what  on Earth does Putin have to do with anything?

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Bear with me and your curiosity will be satisfied.

Most of us believe that bed time stories come from the ancient past, that they were passed on across generations by the regular folks, from the ancient equivalent of you and me to our nephews.

Lets give this idea a second thought.

First of all there weren’t so many ‘you and me’-s readily available until recently. No more than 50 years ago very few people had enough free time, or energy, to spend on such frivolous topics. In those times most people worked/fought hard to make a living and a small minority was rich/powerful enough to live somewhat insulated from the daily worries of the commoners – ‘what will I be eating/feeding my kids tomorrow’. The rich and powerful had their own set of worries, even if of a different kind: how to rule efficiently enough as to maintain/enhance their power and how to pass on to their heirs  the skills they needed in order to ‘keep the show in working order’.
In those times the commoners, and their children, worked so hard that they usually fell asleep while eating ‘dinner’, thus having no use for any bed time stories.
Meanwhile the rich and powerful were so busy with their daily business/routine that they didn’t have time to spend with their children so they hired teachers and helpers to raise their offspring. Oftentimes this entire ‘nursery crew’ was under the authority of a spinster aunt or something similar but regardless of that almost none of them had the guts to  contradict and chastise the ‘young princes’ directly. The deadlock was at least partially solved through the use of bed-time stories and fables.

Seems far-fetched? I must remind you of two things. Not so long ago, Europe, and the Arab world, were choke full of story tellers. Remember the minstrels who spread out the story about Tristan and Isolde or Scheherazade, the world’s first spin doctor? So there were plenty of stories waiting to be reshaped into learning materiel for the offspring of the ruling class. And the second thing was that the ruling class had enough means to hire the best teachers available. So sharp minds plus plenty of raw material equals a lot of excellent  ‘bed time’ stories that actually started as lessons for future rulers.

And when did all this come to an end?
When the rulers had became careless and/or unable to maintain the entire kingdom in working order?
When the entire situation had became complicated enough so no individual ruler, no matter how capable, was no longer able to remain on top of things?
When the commoners, enticed by the incessant humming of the minstrels who kept distributing to the general public the same stories which were originally meant to the future rulers and somewhat empowered by the technological advances which had made even their humble lives a little easier and a little safer, became emboldened in their natural quest for autonomy? When all these three conditions/developments ‘merged’ into the explosive situation commonly known as pre-Revolutionary France or, in other circles, as the Enlightenment?

The point I’m trying to make here is that ‘bedtime stories’ are extremely important.
The next generation needs to be initiated in the mores of the old one.
Each new generation needs to understand and keep alive the traditions which have helped to build the society which had borne and educated its members.
Simultaneously, the young must maintain enough independence to understand that traditions are only guidelines and that they can be fine-tuned in order to fit each particular situation

If, for no matter what reason, the flow of information that needs to run from one generation to another is perturbed in any way the ‘train’ is in great danger. If the flow is too strong and the manner in which the information is presented becomes too imposing the ‘education process’ becomes a ‘training session’, the next generation looses it’s ability to think for itself and to solve by its own the smallest of crises, The whole thing eventually ends up in a catastrophe.
If the flow is too weak, either because the ‘teachers’ have lost heart or ‘the pupils’ were allowed to become too cocky – or both – the situation starts to resemble a railway with no rails: the train simply has no clue as to where ‘the way’ is and either grinds to a halt or ends up in a ravine.

OK but …”what  on Earth does Putin have to do with anything?”
Well, my favorite story is the one about the emperor who, at the advice of two of his courtiers (his ‘esteemed couturiers’  actually) started to walk naked through the main square of his capital city.
Do you remember that story?

http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt/TheEmperorsNewClothes_e.html

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“God cleans up your past, fixes your present and makes sure your future will be bright.”

I’d rather put it a little differently.
God offers you indeed all these generous opportunities but doesn’t do your part too.
It’s you that has to perform the hard work needed to put them in practice.

So stop ‘liking’ or whatever you were doing and start building your future.

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Well… the fact that we’ll indeed never completely get rid of bullying shouldn’t stop us from trying.
As to what we should be teaching our children… How about both?
Standing up for themselves will teach them how many things are within their grasp and that some are indeed outside that grasp. It will also teach them that they need to try in order to determine which thing lies where.
Standing up for others will help them, all of them, live in a better world than we did. And that will be a world of victors, not victims. ‘Cause bullies don’t stand a chance if enough of us stand up when needed.

Wearing pink shirts and passing bylaws doesn’t turn us into victims. Refusal to stand up for someone else does. The bullies love that, they would just take us down one by one while the rest of us turn their heads ‘it’s not my business, let that pussy fend for himself’!

And yes, there is a second way by which we can become a society of victims. A short cut of the first one. Let somebody else take care of the situation. Instead of standing up ourselves, together, to let/expect somebody else do that for us.
That would be akin to inviting a bully to ‘take us under his wing’!

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This 27,000-year-old dog skull unearthed in the Czech Republic has a mammoth bone fragment in its mouth, one of many discoveries that suggest Paleolithic people may have used dogs to hunt mammoths. 

Really? So we found a dead dog’s skull with a piece of mammoth bone between its teeth and we jump to the conclusion that men ‘may have used dogs to hunt mammoths’?

In fact the only certain thing that can be inferred for sure from this is that dogs, then as now, used to chew on bones.
And if we go on assuming things that might have happened what can stop us from asking ‘were mammoths bones toxic for ancient dogs, so poisonous in fact as to provoke instant death’?

Have you stopped laughing yet?

‘Cause this is no laughing matter. This is exactly how science works. Some people jump to conclusions, sometimes farfetched, and then try for decades to muster enough proof for their conclusions to be accepted by the ‘scientific community’ while others – earnestly, jokingly or sometimes even disrespectfully – try to prove them wrong.

The truth is that it doesn’t matter who’s right and who’s wrong, both sides are doing the excellent job of keeping alight the flame of knowledge.
Had one side, no matter which, given up its efforts, science as we know it – a dynamic process that churns out continuously vast quantities of new information only to be proven false or at least incomplete at a later time – would grind to a halt.
If the ‘enthusiasts’  would get the upper hand in no time they would drive ‘science’ so far away from the hard reality that what they would eventually propose as a ‘corpus of knowledge’ would be absolutely useless.
If the naysayers would be as ‘aggressive’ as I was in the beginning, get things out of context, just as I did, and then criticize the ‘findings’ grounded on a seemingly logical failure then the whole process would stop altogether. In these conditions further improvement in our understanding of the world would become practically impossible.

So let’s keep going as we are already used to, only a little less emphatically.
After all nobody is exactly right in the long time, right?

For those of you who want to learn more about how ancient people might have been using dogs to hunt mammoth, you have here a link to the article that inspired this post. It appeared in the Science magazine.

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“A new study tested whether people believe free will arises from a metaphysical basis or mental capacity. Even though most respondents said they believed humans to have souls, they judged free will and assigned blame for transgressions based on pragmatic considerations—such as whether the actor in question had the capacity to make an intentional and independent choice.” 

OK so people have understood that what sets us apart from the other animals is our ability “to make an intentional and independent choice“.

But don’t you think we need to exercise in order to maintain that ‘capacity’? “Use it or loose it”, remember?

Yet everyday we give up some of our autonomy. Sometime in the name of safety, as in this case, other times in the name of increased efficiency/smaller prices.

No, I’m not exaggerating and no, I don’t think Google does it on purpose.
You see, so many of us have boring jobs where we don’t have anything else to do but to almost blindly follow procedures. This way we slowly become automata. We work (‘operate’?!?) like one, we eat standardized food, we learn the same ‘common core’, we watch the same bland and undemanding TV shows. A considerable proportion of the modern day people exercise their free will and ability to ‘fend off on their own’ only when driving, mostly to and from the workplace. Now we are going to give this up, too.
I don’t think Google is part of a worldwide conspiracy meant to transform most of us in dumb consumers/lame but highly productive workers, it’s just that they happen to have at their disposal what it takes to implement this technology and the rational incentive to do it. What else for the people being transported to do during this ‘freed’ time but to happily Google away on the interactive touch screen those ‘cars’ will come adorned with? Now who would have thought of a thing like that?!?

But I repeat and the study I cited from above proves me right. We should not blame ‘the technology’! It can not choose so it cannot be at fault for anything. It is only us that can decide how to use whatever technology lies in wait under our fingertips.

We are sole responsible for our fate.

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Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against this concept, as such. Wonderful things can be achieved using this technology, just watch the video below. But please use every opportunity you have to exercise your ability to decide for yourself.

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There are two sides of this.
1. Be frugal and use only the least disruptive tools at your disposal, even if it means subjecting yourself to increased personal danger.
2. Kill everything in sight, move over when done and repeat…

Matei Visniec, unul dintre rarii jurnalisti care stiu care este diferenta intre ‘a reflecta realitatea’ si ‘a reflecta pe marginea realitatii’ intoarce pe dos intrebarea lui Caragiale si ne atrage atentia ca astazi lucrurile nu mai sunt nici macar atat de clare pe cat erau pe vremea lui Conu’ Iancu.

“Partid politic, cǎutam popor”

Cam asta ma roade si pe mine. Ce au incercat sa ne spuna, de fapt, aceia dintre concetatenii nostri cu drept de vot care au considerat necesar sa isi manifeste, in clar, optiunea?

Stiu, exista o multime de sondaje de opinie, ‘electorale’ sau nu, care incearca sa masoare starea de spirit a populatiei. Cred ca fiecare dintre noi a fost intrebat macar o data daca ‘este multumit cu directia in care se indreapta tara’.

Partea proasta cu sondajele astea este ca au o problema fundamentala, sufera din cauza unei erori ‘sistemice’. Sunt ‘proiectate’ de oameni, puse in practica de oameni iar datele cu care lucreaza provin tot de la oameni. Cam prea multa variabilitate pentru gustul meu.

Sunt la curent cu teoria din spatele acestor sondaje si sunt de acord ca daca sunt facute cu onestitate rezultatele obtinute pot fi remarcabil de corecte numai ca nu despre asta e vorba.

Cei care le proiecteaza sunt constienti de faptul ca cei care raspund sunt in mod inevitabil subiectivi: ‘de unde sa stiu eu daca m-oi duce la vot, daca ramane Mirela la mine in noaptea aia cine dracu’ se scoala inainte de 2, 3 dupa-amiaza …. si cine sunt astia…PMP… cred ca totusi ar trebui sa-i spun astuia ceva ca altfel ma ia de prost…”, ca si cei care le efectueaza sunt tot oameni  – la fel de plini de slabiciuni ca noi toti – si atunci folosesc tot felul de mecanisme de natura stochastica si psihologica de a tine fenomenele sub control: esantionare, chei de control, telefoane de verificare etc. Numai ca toate astea creaza o atmosfera destul de artificiala in jurul intregii intreprinderi, atmosfera care se aseaza ca o ceata peste nedeterminarea primordiala.
Cristian Parvulescu spunea in noaptea alegerilor la Digi24 ca ‘sondajele de opinie masoara mai degraba obsesiile sondorilor decat realitatea’. Eu n-as merge atat de departe insa e cert ca fiecare sondor masoara ce vrea el, ce i se pare lui a fi interesant. Ori pe linga faptul ca el se poate insela cu privire la importanta reala a vre-unui aspect s-ar putea ca sondorul respectiv sa nu aiba suficient de multi bani la dispozitie incat sa-si permita sa masoare tot ce i se pare interesant sau chiar ca el sa nu observe anumite lucruri care se vor dovedi in viitor a fi fost foarte interesante/importante.

Din toate aceste motive eu unul ma simt mult mai confortabil atunci cand analizez seturi de date obtinute pe cai ‘naturale’. Poate si pentru ca educatia mea ‘primara’ a fost de sorginte ‘politehnica’. (Nu ‘va radeti’, am auzit expresia asta la televizor, rostita de un politician convins ca isi depasise conditia de membru al ‘intelectualitatii tehnice’ si care acum incerca sa joace la ‘liga mare’: tocmai iesise de la o sedinta a comisiei de cultura, din Camera parca, si discuta ceva in contradictoriu cu niste ziaristi. Nu ma intrebati cine era, radeam prea tare ca sa mai fiu atent la chestii din astea vulgare.)
In orice caz, atunci cand oamenii se duc la vot (Mirela n-o fi ramas peste noapte sau s-or fi dus amandoi, de mana?) atunci nu se mai gandesc la ce ar putea spune ceilalti despre ei. Daca li se pare important se duc si gata. Nimic interpretabil in toata chestia asta. Tot asa, fiecare ‘intrebare’ de pe buletinul de vot este acolo pentru ca asa trebuia sa fie, formulata exact asa cum il cheama pe candidat/partid si  nu pentru ca cel care a proiectat cercetarea a considerat ca subiectul e suficient de important iar intrebarea trebuie formulata intr-un anume fel si nu in altul.
Esantionarea nu se mai face nici ea in functie de inspiratia proiectantului, diligenta operatorului si hazard. Votantul voteaza doar in functie de convingerea lui. Chiar si cei care o fac pentru bani sau alte favoruri o fac tot din convingere, n-am vazut inca pe nimeni dus la vot cu pistolul la ceafa. Bineinteles ca ar fi interesant de stiut cati voteaza in conditiile astea numai ca neavand date certe si nici scandaluri majore vom considera ca cei care voteaza ‘pe bani’ sunt o minoritate neglijabila.
Tot asa subiectele de campanie, adica ideile supuse aprobarii cetatenilor, nu sunt ‘scoase din palarie’ de vre-un (singur) deus ex-machina (sociolog/politolog) ci sunt rezultatul inspiratiei/transpiratiei mai multor echipe care, sau cel putin asa ar trebui sa fie, sunt foarte sensibile la nevoile reale ale societatii.

Acum ca am trecut cu bine – chiar nu v-ati plictisit inca? – de precizarile metodologice hai sa trecem la ‘fapte’. Sau mai bine spus la cifre. Datele sunt cele oferite de Biroul Electoral Central.

Interesul populatiei/prezenta la vot. 32%.
Cica slaba, sau in orice caz mai mica decat media europeana de 43%. Si totusi.

Prezenta la vot a fost calculata plecand de la niste liste electorale in care sunt ‘prezenti’ 18 219 749 de alegatori, adica cam tot atatia cati erau pe vremea cand USL-ul incerca, inca unit, sa-l debarce pe fostul ‘carmaci’ al Independentei. Unul din motivele nereusitei a fost si faptul ca nu s-au gandit sa perie listele inainte de a convoca referendumul. De ce n-or fi facut-o imediat dupa aia, si nici dupa ‘divort’… Dumnezeu cu mila. Le-o fi fost frica ca ar fi devenit evident ca s-au lasat dusi de manuta de tanti Europa atunci cand au facut pasul inapoi… Oricum, cifra vehiculata atunci, de vreo 16 milioane, pare mult mai aproape de un firesc al zilelor noastre. Iar in cazul asta ajungem la aproape 37% prezenta la vot. Inca departe de 42% dar nu chiar atat de departe ca 32%. Iar daca ne aducem aminte ca in restul Europei intre 5 si 25% la suta dintre voturi au fost indreptate catre eurosceptici, varianta indisponibila pentru alegatorul roman, diferenta devine aproape nesemnificativa.
Ar mai fi de discutat aici problema ‘boicotului electoral in semn de protest’ sugerat de ‘uniti-salvam’. N-am cum sa cuantific, cu nici un fel de aproximatie, influenta acestui apel asa ca ma voi abtine de la avansa vreo cifra dar oricum fiecare absenta ‘intentionata’ (in sensul participarii la boicot) este tot o dovada a interesului pentru actul electoral in general, chiar daca boicotul in sine nu are legatura cu ‘Europa’ ci cu dezgustul fata de modul in care se desfasoara viata politica de la noi. (Nu este momentul aici dar nu sunt de acord cu modul acesta de manifestare a dezacordului fata de ‘directia in care se indreapta lucrurile’)

Voturile nule. 5.83%! Nu-s cam multe? Hai sa spunem ca 1% dintre cei care s-au ostenit sa mearga la vot or fi fost destul de ‘nepriceputi’, dar nu mai multi. In general ‘nepriceputii’ nu prea au apasari ‘civice’ si oricum nici nu sunt chiar atat de multi pe cat vor unii sa ne faca sa credem. Si atunci? N-o fi cumva un semnal de tipul ‘Nici unul de pe lista asta nu prezinta suficienta incredere incat sa-l votez asa ca imi anulez votul. Dar aveti grija, suntem cu ochii pe voi!’?

Bine, mai e o varianta. S-ar putea ca unii primari, mai zelosi din fire, sa fi incolonat o parte dintre cei pe care ‘ii pastoresc’ si sa-i fi dus ‘de buna voie’ la vot iar unii dintre acestia sa-si fi anulat votul in semn de protest…

S-ar mai putea sa se mai fi intamplat inca ceva. Lumea o fi inceput sa inteleaga ca votul negativ, acela in urma caruia este ales ‘raul cel mai mic’ este de fapt o prostie. ‘Alesul’ interpreteaza voturile primite ca pe o ‘imputernicire in alb’, nimeni nu se gandeste ‘bai, m-au ales pe mine pentru ca au crezut ca eu sunt un pic mai putin prost/urat/hot decat contracandidatul meu’.

Voturi acordate partidelor minuscule/independentilor fara sanse. 4.88%!
Aici nu se poate spune daca sunt multe sau putine. In schimb aceste voturi pot fi interpretate ca avand doua ‘intelesuri’.
In primul rand ca cei care le-au dat n-au avut incredere in nici unul dintre partidele ‘mari’, iar in al doilea rand ca respectivul votant a ‘vazut ceva’ in acel candidat sau acea lista de candidati. Poate o idee din platforma ideologica sau exprimata de cineva de pe lista, poate o persoana anume. Ar fi pacat ca aceste informatii, pana la urma oferite cu generozitate de alegatori, sa ramana nebagate in seama.
Trebuie notat aici ca aproape toti dintre noi avem un fel de bucurie copilareasca atunci cand castiga cei cu care am votat fiecare dintre noi. Nu ma refer aici la bucuria ‘intelectuala’ ca a invins ideologia pe care o consideram noi cea mai potrivita sau la bucuria ‘etica’, cea care tanjeste dupa victoria canditatului cel mai bun ci pur si simplu la bucuria, copilareasca pana urma, a celui care a nimerit calul invingator. Tocmai din aceasta cauza a vota de la inceput cu cineva care nu are nici o sansa implica un anumit cost iar disponibilitatea de a plati acel cost plus efortul fizic de a se deplasa pana la sectia de votare da acestui gen de vot o greutate anume.

Voturi redistribuite. 15%! Daca le scadem pe cele acordate ‘minionilor’ (sub 1%) raman cam 10%

Astea sunt poate cele mai interesante, cel putin din punctul meu de vedere. Deci cam 10% dintre electoratul care a decis sa voteze valabil a incredintat votul sau unor liste care nu ofera vreo certitudine clara ca vor trece de pragul electoral dar care au o personalitate politica conturata suficient de clar incat sa aibe o notorietate suficienta incat alegatorii sa le tina minte si sa le recunoasca/aleaga. Asta ne spune ca acest gen de electorat este cam cel mai independent: voteaza de capul lui, nefiind conditionat nici macar de ‘nevoia de a face parte dintre invingatori’. Poate ca ar fi interesant de analizat ofertele politice, daca exista, propuse de fiecare dintre aceste partide.

In sfarsit am ajuns si la ‘cifrele mari’.
Rezultatul efectiv al votului a fost decis de 79.2% dintre cei care s-au ‘ostenit’ sa voteze. Am ajuns la cifra asta raportand voturile exprimate pentru partidele care au trecut de pragul electoral si intregul numar de voturi exprimate, inclusiv cele anulate.

Primul lucru care sare in ochi este ca Mircea Diaconu a fost mai ‘tare’ decat cea mai mare si disciplinata minoritate nationala din Romania si decat partidul sustinut la limita constitutiei de catre insusi presedintele tarii. (Va las pe voi sa decideti daca acea limita a fost incalcata sau nu). Nu prea e satisfacuta lumea, mai ales cei independenti in gandire, cu actualul establishment politic…

Si cu asta am ajuns la ceea ce numesc eu partide ‘centraliste’ si partide ‘difuze’.

Dupa cum le arata si numele partidele ‘centraliste’ au atat o organizare bine pusa la punct (primari, organizatii locale, etc.) dar si un mod de functionare conform caruia deciziile sunt luate mai degraba de activul central decat in urma consultarii ‘soldatilor’ de rand. In completare electoratul acestor partide tinde sa fie un electorat mai degraba ‘dependent’, nu atat material cat mai ales psihologic, de partidul respectiv. Iar pentru ca un partid sa devina ‘centralist’ este nevoie mai ales ca electoratul sau sa devina dependent de el decat ca partidul respectiv sa aiba o retea solida de primari si organizatii.

In mod evident paridele ‘difuze’ sunt cele ale caror electorat voteaza cu ele mai degraba dintr-o convingere atinsa pe cale rationala decat pentru motive de natura sentimentala sau ‘umorala’. Aceste partide nu sunt dependente de o retea de primari/organizatii dar nici nu beneficiaza de vre-un electorat stabil si cu atat mai putin de un asa numit ‘nucleu dur’. Evident ca asta nu inseamna ca nu exista si alegatori care voteaza rational cu partidele centraliste, consideratiile mele sunt de ordin statistic si oricum o convingere la care s-a ajuns pe cale rationala nu este neaparat mai buna decat una ‘umorala’. De exemplu alegerea raului cel mai mic se pretinde intotdeauna a fi rationala. Si chiar este rationala numai ca nu ia in considerare toate aspectele pertinente inainte de a incepe ca ‘cantareasca’ variantele supuse evaluarii.
Singura chestie cu adevarat importanta aici este faptul ca voturile ‘rationale’ sunt mult mai volatile decat cele ‘umorale’. Sa revenim.

Partide centraliste sunt PSD-UNPR-PC, PDL, UDMR si PRM iar PNL, PMP, FC, PER si Noua Republica sunt mai degraba partide difuze.

La PSD, UDMR si PRM lucrurile sunt evidente, nu cred ca mai este nevoie sa insist. Convingerile sunt clare, electorat captiv din belsug, organizare aproape militareasca.

PDL-ul este un caz foarte interesant care merita o analiza mai atenta. Desprins la inceput din FSN-ul originar (de fapt PDSR-ul lui Iliescu s-a desprins din FSN/PD-ul ramas cu Petre Roman) din cauza luptei pentru putere a continuat o vreme sa mearga paralel cu PDSR.
Amandoua partide ‘de lider’, amandoua de stanga, amandoua beneficiind de cate o buna organizare in teritoriu.
Totusi PD, devenit PDL, a dat o vreme impresia de a fi o varianta mult mai democratica a PDSR-ului. Lideri mai tineri, fara evidente conexiuni cu fostul PCR, o atmosfera mai degajata.
Iar cel mai remarcabil fapt a fost modul in care Basescu a reusit sa il duca din stanga in dreapta, din Internationala Socialista in care se afla inainte de alegerile din 2004 pana hat in PPE-ul in care s-a inscris in 2006, fara ca aceasta intoarcere a armelor sa provoace vre-un cutremur in partid. Inca nu mi-a atras nimani atentia ca pe vremea aia PDL-ul era condus de Boc, Basescu fiind deja presedinte?
Aceasta soliditate monolitica poate fi atribuita doar caracterului sau ‘centralist’, acesta fiind si singura explicatie posibila pentru cele 10% voturi pe care le-a obtinut acum in conditiile in care voturile anti-PSD-istilor convinsi, cei deranjati de alianta temporara dintre PNL si PSD, se puteau duce linistie la PMP, la FC sau chiar la Noua Republica, toate trei ‘sanctionate pozitiv’ de Basescu.

De ce e PNL partid difuz cu toate ca are o organizatie destul de puternica? Pentru ca cei care voteaza cu el o fac doar dupa o ‘matura’ chibzuinta, ‘chibzuinta’ care ii mai face cateodata sa stea comozi acasa sau chiar sa voteze umoral ‘anticomunist’ adica sa pedepseasca PNL-ul pentru alianta temporara cu PSD-ul…

De ce ar fi PMP, FC si Noua Republica partide difuze? In principal pentru ca nu prea au vreo organizare semnificativa in teren si nici vreo istorie care sa ne permita sa vorbim despre vre-un electorat captiv sau macar fidel. Toate trei fiind la prima evaluare electorala au luat doar atitea voturi cati oameni au reusit sa convinga cu argumente de ordin intelectual/rational.

Situatia PER-ului e clara, sper. Cei care voteaza acolo sunt fie rude ale membrilor de partid fie chiar au convingeri atat de ecologiste incat nu ii deranjeaza faptul ca voteaza degeaba din punctul de vedere al bucuriei ‘copilaresti’ despre care vorbeam mai devreme.

Unde vreau sa ajung cu polologhia asta?

La concluzii, unde altceva? De fapt chiar am ajuns.

Ideea e ca PSD-ul va avea mult de munca sa scoata mai multi oameni la vot decat a scos acum. Cam asta e, asta au putut, asta au scos. De unde si invitatia facuta PNL-ului de a reveni in USL. Si sa nu uitam ca erodarea partidului aflat la guvernare’ va produce in continuare efecte. Asta inseamna ca PSD-ul nu-si va putea permite inventarea vre-unui nou impozit sau altceva de genul asta, cel putin pana dupa prezidentiale.

Pe dreapta situatia e si mai incurcata. Aici se poate conta cu adevarat doar pe cele 10% ale PDL-ului. Problema care se pune e ‘vor putea anticomunistii furiosi sa treaca peste alianta pe care a facut-o PNL-ul cu PSD-ul pentru a-l debarca pe Basescu?’ Altfel o dreapta ‘scarbita’ nu va avea nici o sansa in fata nucleului dur al PSD-ului care va iesi disciplinat la vot.
Miscarea inspirata a lui Antonescu de a se muta la PPE va lua probabil apa ‘germana’ de la moara lui Basescu ceea ce ar trebui sa atenueze semnificativ lupta fratricida din aceasta zona a esichierului politic.

Chiar, voua nu vi s-a parut ciudat ca Basescu si Ponta au avut totusi trei lucruri in comun:

– Pactul de coabitare?!?
– Intensitatea cu care s-au certat intre ei, atat de convingator si de spectaculos incat n-a mai avut nimeni loc de ei ‘pe sticla’ iar dezbaterea electorala ce ar fi trebuit sa aiba loc pe teme europene s-a transformat in balacareala balcanica ad-hominem?
– Modul ingenios in care amandoi i-au dat la ‘gioale’ lui Antonescu, unul din stanga si altul din dreapta?

Pe de alta parte electoratul fidel PDL-ului a reusit sa treaca peste dezamagirea produsa de epoca Basescu. Acum daca suficient de multi simpatizanti ai dreaptei vor intelege ca USL –ul, cel votat de oameni la alegerile din 2012,  a fost mai degraba o constructie impotriva ‘baronilor locali’ decat orice altceva si ca asta a fost chiar motivul pentru care si destramat atat de repede: ‘baronii rosii’ impotriva carora este atat de pornit Antonescu n-au avut suficienta rabdare si s-au ‘dat in fapt’ atunci cand li s-a parut ca au agonisit suficienta putere.

Nota Bene. Fac vorbire aici despre ‘USL-ul votat de oameni la alegerile din 2012’ in sensul ca orice lucru, si cu atat mai mult o constructie sociala, facuta de oameni, are cel putin doua fete, doua laturi care nu sunt intotdeauna identice. Cateodata aproape ca nu seamana de loc intre ele.
Pe de o parte este fata reala, in cazul nostru intentiile reale ale fiecaruia dintre cei care au alcatuit USL-ul, iar cealalta fata este reprezentarea care apare in mintea celor din jurul acelei constructii. In cazul nostru imaginea pe care si-au facut-o despre USL cei care au votat pentru ca acesta sa ajunga la putere, cei care si-au pus sperantele in el. Sperante care au fost pana la urma inselate.
Lucrul extrem de interesant este ca USL-ul real si cel votat s-au identificat doar in momentul in care constructia sociala si politica s-a prabusit, atunci cand atat cei care au constituit USL-ul cat si cei care l-au votat au realizat ca acesta nu mai poate functiona in forma in care se afla la momentul respectiv.

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Pur si simplu ne impuscam singuri in picior cu chestia asta.
Avem nevoie de gaze si gata. Tehnologia asta, frackingul, ca toate tehnologiile din lume, e intr-adevar potential periculoasa.
Solutia este sa o aplicam corect, acolo unde se poate aplica cu costuri minime si sa ii despagubim pe cei care sufera efectele unor eventuale accidente.
Daca nu o aplicam de loc singurii castigatori vor fi rusii.
Pe de alta parte nu ne impiedica nimeni sa negociem conditii comerciale civilizate cu alde Chevron si altii ca ei.
Avem si politicieni corupti care ne-ar vinde pe la spate? Hai sa-i schimbam, asta nu e motiv sa nu exploatam gazele de sist. Daca astora le e a fura, o sa fure cu orice prilej, nu rezolvam nimic alungandu-i pe cei cu gazele de sist.

Treziti-va ba! 
Sa nu-mi veniti acuma cu argumentul ca melodia asta a fost folosita in campania electorala a lui Basescu. Asta nu schimba cu nimic faptul ca Morometii au pus degetul pe rana:

Se vede ca dormim cu totii si visam sperante
In vreme ce altii ne iau banii si ne dau chitante
Daca toate astea le vad eu le vedeti si voi
Deci ce mai asteptati acum, viata de apoi?”

Morometii ne-au spus doar sa ne trezim, ce-am facut noi dupa ce ne-am trezit e responsabilitatea noastra, nu a lor.