Comments on: Collective Action

By: Sean-Paul

Sean-Paul — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

I love Terry Pratchett. DId you ever read ‘Good Omens’, the book he did with Neil Gaiman?

By: Kieran Healy

Kieran Healy — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Yeah, I know that one—- Anathema Device and Agnes Nutter’s book of prophecies. “Night Watch” is well worth reading, if you know the City Watch series of novels with Commander Vimes and Captain Carrott. One of his best.

By: Sean-Paul

Sean-Paul — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

I’ll make a note of it. Thanks.

By: Chris Bertram

Chris Bertram — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Kieran, what you say is rhetorically effective but no more than that since democratic choice is really quite unlike market choice is important respects (and public attitudinizing is even more unlike it!). To mention but one salient difference, individuals in markets in making their choices incur opportunity costs, but in a democracy the low probability my choice has of affecting the outcome I get means that I can indulge myself painlessly and costlessly in expressive display or self-indulgence: the aggregate outcome of which may be gross collective irresponsibility. For example, if I’m a bigot then expressing my bigotry in the marketplace may be costly for me: to avoid the shop run by the person whose colour or religion I don’t like may mean paying more or travelling further. But voting for a racist or sectarian party has no such immediate downside. See Brennan and Lomasky’s Democracy and Decision for instructive discussion.

By: Observer

Observer — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

This phenomenon was also at work during the Clinton Impeachment wars. The line then was that if we show people how corrupt Clinton is, they’ll want him out. When that didn’t happen, Bill Bennett and his ilk went on and on about the corruption of the public. It’s the exact same thing….

By: Kieran Healy

Kieran Healy — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Hi Chris,

what you say is rhetorically effective but no more than that since democratic choice is really quite unlike market choice is important respects (and public attitudinizing is even more unlike it!).

Yes, of course it is. I know that and you know that, but do the people I’m talking about here know that? One of the distinctive themes of popular American Conservatism thought in the 1990s was that democracy and the market were basically the same. Take a look at Tom Frank’s One Market Under God for an entertaining discussion of this kind of ‘market populism’. So my point in this post was that there seem to be a lot of pro-war types who shouldn’t be sneering at the demonstrators, because of other views they have. The broader point is that Conservative respect for the down-home, bred-in-the-bone wisdom of the great American public seems to have rapidly evaporated in the face of the public’s actions. As with Bill Bennett, cited above.

By: John Thacker

John Thacker — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Of course, one could merely point out that the protestors, while loud, are in fact in the minority opinion in this country, according to most polling. Not that would make one right or not, but surely it affects how hypocritical any hypothetical majoritarians are being. It rather invalidates your point—aren’t people rather being too extreme in their majoritarianism if they ruthlessly criticize the minority of protestors as stupid idiots? That’s not abandoning the thesis, but rather taking it too far.

Surely, of course, even if you believe that, over the long run, the aggregate mass of people make the best decisions, you can disagree with some segment of the population. Especially when there’s your own segment of the population agreeing with you that may even outnumber the protesting one. In addition, one is free to offer one’s own opinion, and to attempt to change others’ minds. Accepting the results of the political process does not mean that one should not attempt to influence it or offer one’s opinion about what to do.

By: Al-Muhajabah's Islamic Blogs

Al-Muhajabah's Islamic Blogs — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

last post on antiwar rally for awhile, inshallah

Best reading about deciding to become an antiwar protester: I’ll be seeing you at the antiwar march on Saturday and

By: highindustrial.slipstream

highindustrial.slipstream — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

goose, gander

Aye, there’s the rub.