Eric, this is an excellent primer. Thanks. Governing is a very different game, and I do agree that one must find a way to reveal one's principles and integrity through playing the separate but related game of getting elected.
In the recent yyj civic elections, I was dismayed to note that technique and tactics employed by some were at odds with their espoused values in in-person dialogue—and important relative to capacity and fitness for the job—that disconnect was not recognized by some candidates.
Manipulation of the public view is nothing new, of course, but we seem to have moved into a space where collecting data is less about building knowledge and more about supporting a pre-determined position. This is in itself a tactic that destroys any claim to integrity, transparency: listening.
It would be interesting, I think, to explore how using surveys to persuade for votes effects the understanding of the public—and importantly, the candidates—on issues that are actually far more complex and nuanced that the collected (skewed) data suggests.
Eric, this is an excellent primer. Thanks. Governing is a very different game, and I do agree that one must find a way to reveal one's principles and integrity through playing the separate but related game of getting elected.
In the recent yyj civic elections, I was dismayed to note that technique and tactics employed by some were at odds with their espoused values in in-person dialogue—and important relative to capacity and fitness for the job—that disconnect was not recognized by some candidates.
Manipulation of the public view is nothing new, of course, but we seem to have moved into a space where collecting data is less about building knowledge and more about supporting a pre-determined position. This is in itself a tactic that destroys any claim to integrity, transparency: listening.
It would be interesting, I think, to explore how using surveys to persuade for votes effects the understanding of the public—and importantly, the candidates—on issues that are actually far more complex and nuanced that the collected (skewed) data suggests.