we are not alone
"Sixty-five percent of citizens across the world do not think their country is governed by the will of the people, a poll commissioned by the BBC suggests."
Read the rest of the article here.
Forty-five Hong Kong pro-democracy activists jailed up to 10 years in
landmark national security case
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The U.S government said the 45 were punished for peaceful participation in
political activities under the protection of Basic Law while the HK
government i...
27 minutes ago
9 comments:
The will of the people means nothing if the people themselves have no idea what's good for them.
They should conduct that poll here. The will of the people means something but not necessarily followed by the government.
my point was that dissatisfaction with government is a global phenomena.
It may well be that validity of the nation-state is declining.
citizen frank
...or it might indicate that most governments are not doing a good job!
or it might be both.
or it might be that the 24-hour news cycle is colliding with the slower legislative and administrative practice.
My own guess: we are at a watershed moment of redefining the role of government and the expectations of governance.
everyone sometimes feel they should have been born in a different country.
it's just that some people are made to feel it more often :-)
radioactive adobo,
(aside: are you a cousin to the radioactive sago?)
I agree. the project of democracy in the Philippines must be seen in the context of the 100 years past and the hundred years future. We are learning (as with the rest of the world) and redefining. It is frustrating at times but the cycle of change in governance (governance -NOT government) is much slower than the cycle of opinion.
I must admit I am negative about our prospects in the SHORT TERM, but positive about our prospects in the LONG TERM.
ed,
part of me wonders about the effect of TV during the martial law years. Our experience is unique among the southeast asian countries in that Marcos supplemented martial law propaganda with hollywood fare - supplying us with US sitcoms and soaps and prime time shows. -the other dictators - Suharto, Lee Kuan Yew, etc. -fed their citizens a steady diet of locally produced (antiseptic), nationalistic, propaganda shows.
Among the SEasians, we were exposed to western images of "idealized life." and you must remember that in the 70s, US tv intentionally showed government was working -- hence the surfeit of police shows and investigations. (this was an intentional project under J. Edgar Hoover)
So we saw more of the pretty pictures of how "wonderful" the US was and how law enforcement supposedly worked well -while we were kept in the dark about our own dictatorship.
This is a "kuro-kuro" -and I cannot support it with any study, but I strongly suspect that somehow this is at the root of our disillusionment and longing for life in other countries. (caveat: I think it's just one among many reasons).
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